The women’s movement is in resurgence across the western world with US and UK feminist activism becomingly increasingly high profile and (arguably) mainstream. As befits a trans-national movement, feminism has several inter-connected foci all of which, at least on some level, require legislative change. As such, productive relationships between women’s civil society organisations and political parties are vital. Despite this, there have long been debates within the women’s movement about the extent to which feminists should seek to engage with political parties and institutions. Furthermore, it is problematic for parties and politicians to claim they are representing feminist interests when those ‘interests’ are not always homogenous. This paper explores the relationship between the women’s movement and political parties, illustrating the often fraught connections and the difficulties in evaluating the extent to which the former influences the latter or the claims of the latter to represent the former.
