Roundtable: Political regimes, women’s movements, and feminist analysis: New directions in gender and comparative politics research

Abstract

This panel considers new themes and directions in gender and comparative politics research, emphasizing the interplay between political regimes, women’s movements, and feminist and intersectional approaches to studying behaviour and institutions. The panel draws on three new books written for wider audiences: The Women’s Rights Era: 50 Years of Gender Equality Advocacy and Reform (by Jennifer Piscopo); Gender and Comparative Politics: Actors and Institutions (by Rosalind Shorrocks and Georgina Waylen); and Autocratic Genderwashing: Women’s Rights as Authoritarian Strategies (by Elin Bjarnegård and Pär Zetterberg). Together, the books address questions relevant to the current moment: with de-democratization and autocratization on the rise, what prospects exist for meaningful gender equality advocacy and reform? What analytic, state-of-the-art tools do gender and politics scholars have for understanding political processes and outcomes? Each book proposes a different point of departure: Piscopo begins with transnational women’s movements, whereas Bjarnegård and Zetterberg begin with autocrats’ strategies vis-à-vis women’s rights reforms, while Shorrocks and Waylen develop the importance of feminist behavioralism, feminist institutionalism, and intersectionality as analytic lenses. Panellists will tackle three main questions: (1) What are the main takeaway messages about the state of the field in gender and politics, based on the three books? (2) How do the three books add to or transform conventional wisdom in the field? (3) What do the books imply about the prospects for gender equality change or feminist futures in an era of de-democratization? Each panellist will reflect on the book’s or books’ contribution in light of the three questions, emphasizing the information most related to their expertise as authors or as commentators. Finally, panellists will reflect on writing academic books that go beyond conventional monographs to also reach students, non-specialists, and the general public. How does the research become packaged and communicated in these projects? What are the promises, pitfalls, and challenges of writing such books? When should such books be written? In covering questions related to both the substance of contemporary gender and politics scholarship alongside its publication, this panel will interest gender and politics scholars working across subfields and at all career stages.

Title	Details
Leah McCabe (Panellist)	View Paper Details
Gefjon Off (Panellist)	View Paper Details
Rosalind Shorrocks (panellist)	View Paper Details
Pär Zetterberg (panellist)	View Paper Details
Georgina Waylen (co-chair)	View Paper Details