"Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State" reflects the commitment of the United Nations to promote mechanisms that aim to achieve equality between women and men. It identifies institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women including national machineries as one of twelve critical areas of concern. National machineries are the primary institutional mechanism entrusted with the implementation of the strategic objectives contained in the goals for equity set by the United Nations. The mandate of these national institutions has evolved from promoting women-specific projects to ensuring that equality concerns are integrated into all government legislation, policy, programs, and budgetary processes. National machineries face serious constraints in fulfilling their mandate including; inadequate financial and human resources, relatively powerless locations within government structures, and insufficient linkage with civil societies. This volume illustrates that the ability of UN-member states to subscribe to the agenda of equality between women and men has been significantly enhanced by the creation of these national-level institutions. National machineries for the advancement of women were initially conceived at the World Conference on the International Women's Year held in Mexico City in 1975 and since then have been considered systematically by world conferences on women in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995), as well as the sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women. The twenty-third special session of the General Assembly in Beijing reiterated the significant role that national machineries play in promoting equality between women and men, gender mainstreaming, and monitoring of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action as well as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. There has been a long-standing need for a volume to bring together discussions on theory and practice as well as comparative analysis and in-depth case studies of national machineries; this book responds to that need.

Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of literature on gender and democratization by looking at the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. It considers the appropriate mechanisms through which the mainstreaming of gender can take place, and the levels of governance involved; defines what the interests of women are, and how and by what processes these interests are represented to the state policy making structures. Global strategies for the advancement of women are considered, and how far these have penetrated at national level, illuminated by a series of case studies - gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries, the Ugandan ministry of Gender, Culture and Social services, gender awareness in Central and Eastern Europe, and further examples from South Korea, the Lebanon, Beijing and Australia. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5, Gender equality. -- .

First published in 1994 Stirring It debates the challenges which confront feminism and Women's Studies in the 1990s. In the face of current worldwide political and social upheavals, Stirring It poses questions about women, their bodies, their identities, and positions which need to be addressed by contemporary feminists. The chapters therefore challenge the orthodoxies and theories which are exploded by contemporary feminist practice. They raise new issues for feminist debate. The volume is divided into four sections: ‘Feminist Politics in Action’ investigates the inter-relationship between politics and action with reference to issues such as the women's movement in Britain and women's position in and in relation to Ireland; ‘Disrupting Sexual Identities’ provides critiques of heterosexuality, monogamy, and conceptualization of the female body; ‘Imaging and Imagining’ explores the politics of women's cultural production and ‘Women's Studies and Feminist Practice’ analyzes the often fraught connections between theory and practice. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of Women's Studies, Sociology, and Gender Studies.

This volume brings together the work of outstanding feminist scholars who reflect on the achievements of feminist political economy and the challenges it faces in the 21st century. The volume develops further some key areas of research in feminist political economy - understanding economies as gendered structures and economic crises as crises in social reproduction, as well as in finance and production; assessing economic policies through the lens of women's rights; analysing global transformations in women's work; making visible the unpaid economy in which care is provided for family and communities, and critiquing the ways in which policy makers are addressing ( or failing to address) this unpaid economy.

This volume brings together the work of outstanding feminist scholars who reflect on the achievements of feminist political economy and the challenges it faces in the 21st century. The volume develops further some key areas of research in feminist political economy - understanding economies as gendered structures and economic crises as crises in social reproduction, as well as in finance and production; assessing economic policies through the lens of women's rights; analysing global transformations in women's work; making visible the unpaid economy in which care is provided for family and communities, and critiquing the ways in which policy makers are addressing ( or failing to address) this unpaid economy.

"Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State" reflects the commitment of the United Nations to promote mechanisms that aim to achieve equality between women and men. It identifies institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women including national machineries as one of twelve critical areas of concern.

National machineries are the primary institutional mechanism entrusted with the implementation of the strategic objectives contained in the goals for equity set by the United Nations. The mandate of these national institutions has evolved from promoting women-specific projects to ensuring that equality concerns are integrated into all government legislation, policy, programs, and budgetary processes.

National machineries face serious constraints in fulfilling their mandate including; inadequate financial and human resources, relatively powerless locations within government structures, and insufficient linkage with civil societies. This volume illustrates that the ability of UN-member states to subscribe to the agenda of equality between women and men has been significantly enhanced by the creation of these national-level institutions.

National machineries for the advancement of women were initially conceived at the World Conference on the International Women's Year held in Mexico City in 1975 and since then have been considered systematically by world conferences on women in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995), as well as the sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women. The twenty-third special session of the General Assembly in Beijing reiterated the significant role that national machineries play in promoting equality between women and men, gender mainstreaming, and monitoring of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action as well as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

There has been a long-standing need for a volume to bring together discussions on theory and practice as well as comparative analysis and in-depth case studies of national machineries; this book responds to that need.

This volume examines the idea of civil society in its historical and contemporary dimensions. It provides a comprehensive and critical mapping of the idea, the burden of expectation that it has carried, and the intellectual and political dimensions that surround it.

This volume examines the idea of civil society in its historical and contemporary dimensions. It provides a comprehensive and critical mapping of the idea, the burden of expectation that it has carried, and the intellectual and political dimensions that surround it.

An introduction to Chinese Politics which provides an accessible overview of the structures and dynamics of Chinese politics today. Concentrating on the era since 1949, the text takes a look at politics in the widest sense, analysing political institutions within the crucial broader context of Chinese history and the pressures of social, economic and cultural changes.

Offering a wide-ranging selection of case studies, this book evaluates women's political, social and economic involvement in Third World countries. It explores both specific experiences of women as well as common themes such as identity, empowerment and the conflict between tradition and modernity.

Offering a wide-ranging selection of case studies, this book evaluates women's political, social and economic involvement in Third World countries. It explores both specific experiences of women as well as common themes such as identity, empowerment and the conflict between tradition and modernity.

The years 1989 and 1990 will probably be best remembered for the speed and breadth of political and economic change which swept through what used to be referred to as the Communist Bloc. With the disintegration of this bloc, there has been no shortage of western advice on how to "democratize" economy and polity in these societies. However, little thought has been given to what this change means for the millions of women who have toiled for decades alongside men in the factories and fields as well as performing their "womanly mission" in the home. This collection from women in Eastern and Western Europe, and covering both Europe and China, poses many questions about the impact of change. It contributes to the debate that seeks to combat inertia and ethnocentrism within western feminism and also to the separate and the critical "women's voice" which is re-emerging in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China.