Doing Politics Differently? Applying a Feminist Institutionalist Lens to the U.K. Women's Equality Party

Abstract

The UK Women's Equality Party (WEP) was established in 2015 in order to 'bring about change by winning -support, votes and seats'. It has thus far recruited tens of thousands of members and run candidates in national, devolved and local elections. This article provides one of the first empirical analyses of this new actor in UK politics. Adopting a feminist institutionalist lens we examine the extent to which WEP 'does things differently' by looking at discourse, formal party rules and informal ways of doing things 'on the ground'. Drawing upon a set of semi-structured interviews, observations of local and national party meetings, and document analysis, we argue that while WEP has to some extent tried to set up alternative participatory structures and new 'ways of working', it has also at times fallen back on more traditional, centralised and hierarchical modes of party organising, as well as informalized practices, which are more typically associated with male-dominated parties.

Gender and policy response to COVID-19 in Canada and Scotland

“…A feminist SI perspective enables the exploration of the macro and micro levels of change from conformity with traditional institutional gender norms and practices (DiMaggio and Powel, 1991), so that one can interrogate the level and extent of the impact of gender integration processes. Changes at the macro levels are often readily and directly associated with formal rules (Bjarnegård and Kenny 2016;Evans and Kenny 2020), whereas the gendered perceptions of individuals at the micro level, go a long way to influence "how things are done" within the institution (Lowndes, 2014, 685). Therefore, micro perspectives, even if they go unnoticed for a while, have gendered consequences (Bjarnegård and Kenny 2016).…”

“…This points to the feedback loop associated with the link between practices at the micro level and formal rules introduced at the macro level. According to Evans and Kenny (2020), individual action which are in line with formal rules, can reinforce institutional changes at the macro level. This shows that the impact of formal rules that are initiated to change gender perceptions and attain gender equality, is dependent on changes to individual practices at the micro-level.…”

“…While the responsibility to take urgent action rests squarely on the leader, the individual will mostly act within the ambit of institutional rules, as discussed above. Institutional rules constrain actors in their understanding and compliance with what is appropriate or inappropriate (Evans and Kenny 2020). According to Mackay, Kenny, and Chappell (2010), "institutions and individual action are … mutually constitutive" (256), so that institutions can also be shaped by the individuals and groups who embody and enact the institutional norms.…”

Gender at the crossroads: the role of gender in the UN’s global counterterrorism reform at the humanitarian-development-peace nexus

“…They have provided insights into how institutional policy making and agenda-setting is influenced by and perpetuates gender biases. For example, scholars have shown how gendered practices in institutions affect and often hamper the representation of women in politics and the implementation of gender mainstreaming policies (Evans and Kenny 2020;Bjarnegard and Kenny 2016). At the same time, seeing gender as a key structuring aspect of institutions also opens spaces for feminist actors to "re-gender" institutions and promote gender equality.…”

Women's Parties: A New Party Family

“…Our limited knowledge of women's parties relies on individual case studies (Cowell-Meyers 2011, 2017; Dominelli and Jonsdottir 1988; Evans and Kenny 2019a; Krupavicius and Matonyte 2003; Levin 1999; Racioppi and See 1995; Slater 1995; Zaborszky 1987), with only a couple of comparative analyses (Cowell-Meyers 2016; Ishiyama 2003). To enhance our understanding of women's political parties, we offer the first comprehensive effort to document and analyze women's parties and then propose a comparative research framework for their analysis.…”