Theorizing Feminist Policy

by Amy G. Mazur

Theorizing Feminist Policy avoids the usual clash between feminist analysis and non-feminist social science in mapping out the new field of feminist comparative policy. Instead, it intersects empirical feminist policy analysis with non-feminist policy studies to define and contribute to this new and emerging field of study. Consulting a wide sweep of empirical and theoretical work, the book first defines Feminist Comparative Policy showing how it...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199246726
• ISBN13: 9780199246724
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A new approach to policy formation

Amy Mazur contributes the first feminist perspective on the policy formation process, a field dominated by traditional male theorists who take gender for granted. Political science is changing as new gender, ethnic, and other social groups are being accounted for in theories that never considered the human factor. This departure from traditional political science adds to our understanding of why governments do what they do and how that affects the citizens it governs. Mazur creates a framework for evaluating how governments have progressed with women's concerns, since the second wave feminist movement made these concerns mainstream. This book is mainly academic, serving political science and women's studies. As a grad student in this field, Mazur's book was enormously helpful to me. It would be helpful for undergrads and non-academic policy wonks as well, because she only spends the first couple of chapters laying out the theory, and the rest of the book looking at practical examples in different sectors of women's issues (reproductive rights, employment law, political representation,etc.) The caveat is that this theory has only been applied and created with western, developed countries in mind. Whether this theory can be applied to lesser developed countries and the Global South still needs to be examined. But its a start in the right direction, and political science definitely needs more contributions from female theorists, so it will be interesting to see how influential this book will be.