The Logics of Gender Justice: State Action on Women’s Rights Around the World

367 Pages·2018·4.33 MB·English

by  Mala Htun

The Logics of Gender Justice
When and why do governments promote women’s rights? Through
comparative analysis of state action in  countries from  to
, this book shows how different women’s rights issues involve
different histories, trigger different conflicts, and activate different sets
of protagonists. Change on violence against women and workplace
equalityinvolvesalogicofstatuspolitics:feministmovementsleverage
international norms to contest women’s subordination. Family law,
abortion, and contraception, which challenge the historical claim of
religious groups to regulate kinship and reproduction, conform to a
logic of doctrinal politics, which turns on relations between religious
groupsandthestate.Publicly-paidparentalleaveandchildcarefollow
alogicofclasspolitics,inwhichthestrengthofLeftpartiesandoverall
economic conditions are more salient. The book reveals the multiple
andcomplexpathwaystogenderjustice,illuminatingtheopportunities
andobstaclestosocialchangeforpolicymakers,advocates,andothers
seekingtoadvancewomen’srights.
  is Professor of Political Science at the University of New
Mexico.SheistheauthorofInclusionWithoutRepresentationinLatin
AmericaandSexandtheState.ShehasbeennamedanAndrewCarne-
gieFellow,heldtheCouncilonForeignRelationsInternationalAffairs
Fellowship in Japan, and was a fellow at the Kellogg Institute of the
University of Notre Dame and the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard. She
hasreceivedgrantsfromtheNationalScienceFoundation,theNational
InstitutesofHealth,andtheNorwegianResearchCouncil.
.   isDistinguishedProfessorofPoliticalScienceand
Director of the Purdue Policy Research Institute at Purdue University.
Weldon has authored more than twenty articles and book chapters
and two books, including When Protest Makes Policy: How Social
Movements Represent Disadvantaged Groups (), which won the
Victoria Schuck Award. She is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on
Politics and Gender () and of the journal Politics, Groups and
Identities.ShehasservedontheeditorialboardoftheAmericanPolit-
icalScienceReview,Politics&Gender,Women,PoliticsandPolicyand
EuropeanJournalofPoliticsandGender.
Cambridge Studies inGender and Politics
Cambridge Studies in Gender and Politics addresses theoretical, empirical, and
normative issues at the intersection of politics and gender. Books in this series
adoptincisiveandcomprehensiveapproachestokeyresearchthemesconcerning
theconstructionandimpactofsexandgender,aswellastheirpoliticalandsocial
consequences.
GeneralEditors
KarenBeckwith,CaseWesternReserveUniversity(Lead)
LisaBaldez,DartmouthCollege
ChristinaWolbrecht,UniversityofNotreDame
EditorialAdvisoryBoard
NancyBurns,UniversityofMichigan
MatthewEvangelista,CornellUniversity
NancyHirschmann,UniversityofPennsylvania
SarahSong,UniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeley
AnnTowns,UniversityofGothenburg
AiliMariTripp,UniversityofWisconsinatMadison
GeorginaWaylen,UniversityofManchester
BooksinThisSeries
J.KevinCorderandChristinaWolbrecht,CountingWomen’sBallots
MalaHtun,InclusionwithoutRepresentationinLatinAmerica
AiliMariTripp,WomenandPowerinPostconflictAfrica
KristinN.Wylie,PartyInstitutionalizationandWomen’sRepresentationinDemocratic
Brazil
The Logics of Gender Justice
’
State Action on Women s Rights around the World
MALA HTUN
UniversityofNewMexico
S. LAUREL WELDON
PurdueUniversity
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:Htun,Mala,-author.|Weldon,S.Laurel,author.
:Thelogicsofgenderjustice:stateactiononwomen’srightsaroundtheworld/Mala
Htun,UniversityofNewMexico,S.LaurelWeldon,PurdueUniversity.
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To our families, and to the memories of our grandmothers

Contents
List of Figures pageix
List of Tables xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
 Introduction: States and Gender Justice 
 FeministMobilization and Status Politics: Combatting
Violence againstWomen 
 Governing Women’sLegalStatus atWork 
 Doctrinal Politics: Religious Power, theState, and
Family Law 
 Class Politics: FamilyLeave and Childcare Policy 
 Reproductive Rights: Class, Status, and Doctrinal Politics 
 The Multiple Logicsof Gender Justice 
Conclusion 
Appendix A Data andMethods 
Appendix B Family Law inthe World’sLegalTraditions 
References 
Index 
vii

Figures
. Violence againstWomen Index, page 
. Violence againstWomen Index, 
. Violence againstWomen Index, 
. Violence againstWomen Index, 
. Violence againstWomen Index and women’s share of
parliamentary seats 
. Coefficient plot ofModels  and  of Table . 
. Legal equality in theworkplace,  
. Legal equality in theworkplace,  
. Legal equality in theworkplace,  
. Legal equality in theworkplace,  
. Coefficient plot ofModel of Table. 
. Map ofFamily Law Index,  
. Map ofFamily Law Index,  
. Map ofFamily Law Index,  
. Map ofFamily Law Index,  
. Family Law Index in Muslim-majority and non-Muslim-
majority countries 
. Family Law Index and Religious Legislation Index,pooled
 and  
. Family Law Index coefficient plot of models ,,and  of
Table . 
. Family Law Index and religiosityscale,pooled 
and  
ix