Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 

About: Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society is an academic journal published by Oxford University Press. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Politics & Welfare state. It has an ISSN identifier of 1072-4745. Over the lifetime, 488 publications have been published receiving 17453 citations. The journal is also known as: Social politics online.

Faces of Inequality: Gender, Class, and Patterns of Inequalities in Different Types of Welfare States

Abstract: Research on welfare states and inequality has tended to be bifurcated, focusing either on class or on gender This paper combines gender and class in an analysis of patterns of inequalities in different types of welfare states in 18 countries Whereas a major dimension of class inequality can be described in terms of material standards of living, in the advanced Western countries it is fruitful to conceptualize gender inequality in terms of agency In analyses of gender as well as of class inequalities, welfare states have been seen as significant intervening variables However, major problems have emerged in attempts to devise typologies of welfare states that are of heuristic value in analyses of gender inequality as well as of class inequality This paper describes the development of gendered agency inequality during the period after the Second World War in 18 OECD countries in the arenas of democratic politics, tertiary education, and labor force participation Class inequality is measured in terms of disposable house income based on LIS data The paper develops a new typology of welfare states based on institutional structures of relevance for gender inequality as well as class inequality The combination of gender and class throws new light on the driving forces behind inequalities and on the role of welfare states in this context Gender inequality is conceptualized in terms of agency The paper presents a new typology of welfare states based on institutional structures of relevance for gender inequality as well as class inequality The combination of gender and class throws new light on the driving forces behind inequalities and on the role of welfare states in this context

Gender Mainstreaming: Productive Tensions in Theory and Practice

Abstract: The articles in this special issue of Social Politics take these debates forward in many significant ways. Most of the articles contributed to and drew from a series of seminars funded by the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council on gender mainstreaming. They address the meaning of gender equality as well as the project of gender mainstreaming (Verloo) engage with diverse inequalities and their intersectionality and their implications for theories of democracy (Squires) consider the implications of the wider economic and political context for the potential of gender mainstreaming to create change (Perrons) address the tension between the agenda-setting potential of the strategy and integration into the mainstream (Lombardo) and investigate the relationship between theory and practice in diverse European settings (Daly). (excerpt)

Gender Mainstreaming in Theory and Practice

Abstract: This article utilizes the findings of a recently completed, eight-country research project to visit some key issues in the theory and practice of gender mainstreaming. The research results indicate that gender mainstreaming is a diverse entity when looked at from a cross- national perspective but rather hollow when considered within the national setting. To the extent that there is a "common core" to gender mainstreaming in action across countries, it lies in the ten- dency to apply the approach in a technocratic way and to be non- systemic in compass. The argument is advanced that this is at least in part attributable to particularities in the development of main- streaming. The article suggests that gender mainstreaming is under- developed as a concept and identifies a need to elaborate further on some fundaments. In particular, the conceptualization of main- streaming needs to be rethought with special attention devoted to the understanding of the problematic of gender inequality that underlies it and the articulation of the relationship between gender mainstreaming and societal change.