Confronting Neo-conservatism: Anglo-American Women's Movements under Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney

Bashevkin, Sylvia

doi:10.1177/019251219401500304

Cited by 21 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In recent years, elected conservative women representatives speaking as, for , and to women (or at least claiming to) have been increasingly documented (Childs and Webb 2012; Reingold 2000, 2008; Schreiber 2008; Walsh 2002; Wiliarty 2010). Yet with the relationship between feminism and conservatism frequently regarded as uneasy at best (Bashevkin 1994; Bryson and Heppell 2010; Dolan 1997; Fraser 2009; O'Regan 2000), gender and politics scholars have often seemed rather unsure about what to do with these representative claims (Celis and Childs 2012). In Anglo-American and established European democracies, feminists—academic and activist—contend that conservative politics is detrimental to women.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservatism and Women's Political Representation

Celis

Childs

2018

Pol & Gen

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conservative political actors appear rather troubling for many gender and politics scholars and feminist activists. What should we make of their claims to represent women? How should we best understand their actions? This article, based on a critical rereading of the empirical literature and informed by contemporary representation theory, develops a new conceptual framework for assessing the quality of women's substantive representation by conservatives. We find that under specified conditions, conservative representatives do further women's substantive representation. A first set of conditions relates to conservative claims to represent women. These are considered to be “for women” when they marry conservative women's concerns in society; when conservative representatives act and do not simply engage in rhetoric; and when their actions are not undercut by other acts, policies, or outcomes unfavorable to women. A second set of criteria considers the quality of the process of women's substantive representation. We contend that a feminist process of deliberation about women's interests can include conservative claims as long as they meet the requirements of responsiveness, inclusiveness, and egalitarianism.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservatism and Women's Political Representation

Celis

Childs

2018

Pol & Gen

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…During this time, the Reagan and Thatcher administrations introduced cuts and increased privatisation, both of which negatively and disproportionately affected women (Eisenstein, 1984;Bashevkin, 1994). At the same time, larger feminist organisations underwent a process of professionalisation, whilst feminist activism and women's services moved off the streets and into town halls and university departments (Bashevkin, 1996).…”

Section: Reclaiming and Rebranding Feminist Activismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Third Wave Feminisms

Evans

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This timely new series publishes leading monographs and edited collections from scholars working in the disciplinary areas of politics, international relations, and public policy with specific reference to questions of gender. The series showcases cutting-edge research in Gender and Politics, publishing topical and innovative approaches to gender politics. It will include exciting work from new authors and well-known academics and will also publish high-impact writings by practitioners working in issues relating to gender and politics.The series covers politics, international relations, and public policy, including gendered engagement with mainstream political science issues, such as political systems and policymaking, representation and participation, citizenship and identity, equality, and women's movements; gender and international relations, including feminist approaches to international institutions, political economy, and global politics; and interdisciplinary and emergent areas of study, such as masculinities studies, gender and multiculturalism, and intersectionality.

show abstract

“…In facing the strategic divide of movement autonomy or state involvement, women's movements often fracture (Jenson & Sineau 1994 on France: 250-253;Lovenduski & Randall 1993 on Britain; Jahan 1995 on Bangladesh: 101). Where splits occur and women's movements choose to disengage from the state, however, they may be foreclosed from policy influence (Rowbotham 1996: 14, although see also Bashevkin 1998Bashevkin , 1994aBashevkin , 1994b). Rowbotham sees a major failure for West European feminist movements, for example, in their inability "to reorient their strategies to new circumstances in the economy and in the role of the state" (Rowbotham 1996: 13).…”

Section: Autonomy Involvement and The Statementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A change of governing regime, within a single state, may transform the context within which women's movements mobilize and act collectively. In Britain, for example, the Thatcher governments constituted a regime shift sufficient to marginalize the British feminist movement and to encourage its abeyance in the 1980s (Bashevkin 1998(Bashevkin , 1996(Bashevkin , 1994a. In other cases, regime change facilitates feminist movement activism and development.…”

Section: Autonomy Involvement and The Statementioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond compare? Women's movements in comparative perspective

Beckwith

2000

European J Political Res

152

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article reviews a selected range of comparative political research on women's movements, a subfield of political science whose recent proliferation now positions it at the leading edge of women and politics scholarship. Recognizing that "women" as a category of research is of necessity heterogeneous and informed by differences of race, class, ethnicity, nationality, generation, and religion, the article argues that this complex intersectionality need not mean that women's movements are beyond the scope of comparative political research. Rather, as the research focus of women and politics scholars has become increasingly carefully specified, general patterns are evident in the research that should serve to advance the comparative study of women's movements and comparative political research more generally. The article focuses on definitional challenges and the limitations of conflating "women's movements", "feminist movements", and "women in social movements", and discusses four major research arenas within which cross-national commonalities among women's movements are evidenced. These include the relationship between women's movements and political parties; "double militancy" as a potentially distinctive collective identity problem for women's movement activists; the extent to which political opportunities for women's movements are (or can be) gendered; and the relationship between women's movements and the state. The article concludes with suggestions for future research in the subfields of comparative women's movements and comparative politics.

show abstract

Confronting Neo-conservatism: Anglo-American Women's Movements under Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney

Cited by 21 publications

References 21 publications

Conservatism and Women's Political Representation

Conservatism and Women's Political Representation

The Politics of Third Wave Feminisms

Beyond compare? Women's movements in comparative perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About