Full Description
Now in its third edition, Women, Politics, and Public Policy continues to incorporate uniquely Canadian perspectives on the intersectionality of feminism, womenâs politics, and public policy-making. This third edition balances historical content and contemporary politics and offers completely updated statistical data and the latest directions in public policy. Highlighting womenâs politics and policy advocacy in Canada, this comprehensive volume serves students of political science and womenâs studies as well as those studying sociology, history, law, and social work.
This core text for second- and third-year students of political science and womenâs studies has been extensively updated to reflect the most current debates, research, and data on contemporary issues such as gender politics and equality, LGBTQ+ issues, global feminist campaigns such as the #MeToo and Timeâs Up movements, the impact of digital generations on politics, and the impacts of policy on minority and marginalized women.
Contents
NOTE: Each chapter includes
- Questions for Critical Thought
- Annotated Bibliography
- Notes
- References
1. Introduction
Feminism: What's in a Name?
Gender and the Social Construction of Women and Womanhood
Equality in the Face of Subtle but Daily Effects of Distinction/Discrimination
What Is "Public" and "Private"?
Conclusion: Feminism, Post-Feminism, and Intersections: Do Feminism and Women's Movements still have a Role to Play?
2. Modern Feminist Theory
"Sister, Can You Paradigm?": The Importance of Theory
Theorizing about Women: A Modern Herstory
Conclusion: From Sameness to Difference, from Ideas to the Body
3. Contemporary Debates in Feminist Theory
Difference Feminism
Identity Politics: The Politics of "Who I Am and Who I Become"
Postmodern Feminism: Irony and Deconstruction
Intersectionality: Finding Common Ground through a Geography of the Oppression
Conclusion: Global Solidarity
4. The Women's Movement in Canada
What Is a Social Movement?
Generational Waves: Mobilization, Latency, and Abeyance
The Canadian Women's Movement
Old Waves, New Waves, and the Million Women March
5. Contextualizing Policy Change
Question 1: What Do Women Want and What Avenues Exist to Express Demands?
Question 2: How Do Women Go About Achieving Their Demands? Debates over Insider versus Outsider
Question 3: Do Women's Actions Succeed? Changing the Substance of Public Policy
Conclusion: Has Women's Activism Made a Difference?
6. Women's Participation in Formal Politics
Women as Representatives: The Numbers
Quality versus Quantity: Trustee, Delegate, or Mirror Representative?
Barriers to Women's Success in Achieving Elected Office
Conclusion: The Problems of Supply and Demand
7. The Construction of Families and Family Policy
Family at the Centre of Political Debates
Other-Mothering: Race, Culture, and the "Preferred" Family Form
The Evolution and Structure of the Family in Canada
Policy and the Law: Who Can Be a Family in Canada?
When Marriage Breaks Down
Divorce, Spousal Support, and Child Support
Child Custody
Family Violence
Conclusion
8. Production, Reproduction, and Women's Bodily Autonomy
Government Regulation of Reproduction
Abortion: Individual Choice or an Affront to Family Values?
Feminist Challenges to Restrictions on Reproductive Rights
New Challenges for Pro-Choice Feminists
From Rights to Reproductive Freedom
Regulating the Making of Families
Assisted Reproduction: Feminist Policy Prescriptions
Assisted Reproduction: The Government's Response
Conclusion
9. Pin Money, McJobs, and Glass Ceilings
The Story of Women's Work in Canada
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Reserve Labour Force
The Grounds of Economic Inequality
The Value of a Stay-at-Home Mother
Explaining Gender Roles and the Wage Gap: It's Not Rocket Science, It's Social Science
10. Challenging Market Rule and Balancing Work and Family
A History of Workplace-Based Policy Change
Anti-Discrimination, Equity, and Equality: Pay and Employment Equity Policies
Balancing Work and Family Life: Parental Leave and Child Care
Conclusion: What Is to Be Done?
11. Regulation and Control of Women's Bodies
Beauty and the Body
Prostitution
Pornography
Conclusion: The Problem of Harm, Lessons from the Body Wars
12. Canada in the World
Gendering International Relations
The Women's Movement and International Relations
Women's Issues in Global Politics
Continuing Struggles for Inclusion and Recognition
Index
