No description available.

published_or_final_version / History / Master / Master of Philosophy

In the early 1980s, feminist councillors and the women's movement pushed for the establishment of structured provision in UK local government to address the issue of women's equality. Women's initiatives were set up by a small number of Labour controlled councils. At the height of their activities in 1987 there were 45 Women's Committees, by 1995 only 9 remained (Halford 1988). A central question of this thesis was to examine why the delivery of equal opportunities for women was changing and what form the new initiatives were taking. The wider significance of studying the political activity of women's initiatives relates to the development of a new approach to women's equality delivery. Previous approaches can be classified as a legislative approach, based on the principle of equal treatment, and a positive action approach, which foregrounds women's material and social oppression. The new approach promoted, most notably, by the European Union argues for the need to 'mainstream' the work of equality practitioners so that every member of an organisation routinely and systematically adopts a 'gender perspective' in their work. A focus on gendered differences, rather than on women, aims to provide a more inclusive agenda which will appeal to a wider number of policy-makers, businesses and citizens. The second main thrust of this thesis was to explore the development of a mainstreaming approach to equality delivery in the UK. It contrasts UK practice to that advocated by the European initiative, and also begins to theorise the concept of mainstreaming in terms of feminist, organisational and sociological theory. Using a new concept of the'equality stool' to describe the historical development of equality practice, the thesis attempts to explain why practitioners in the UK local government have been averse to a mainstreaming approach. The thesis used qualitative methodology and a case study design to examine, in depth, the experience of women practitioners in three local authorities, over the last 20 years. It reports on practitioners' attitudes and opinions and makes the links between their views of the world, and the actions and events which they have described. The thesis has three main findings. First, that past practice holds important insights for the development of a mainstreaming approach in the UK and European member states. Second, that mainstreaming in the UK has been developed for different reasons and from different perspectives than those of the European initiative. Third, that women's equality practice can be seen as a strategy of embodiment, which demands that individuals transform themselves into gender aware actors. Women practitioners' underlying purpose has been to challenge the gendered conception of women's roles at work and in society. The findings are used to construct a table of prerequisites (organised according to Connell's 1987 gender order) which UK practitioners have identified as important for a mainstreaming approach to be successful. These prerequisites suggest that the development of a structured women's equality initiative may be a crucial first step before a mainstreaming strategy can be pursued.

This thesis investigates to what degree women developed a politicised gender consciousness and participated in political activity in Dundee in the period 1870 to 1997. It is a gender and political study on Scotland's fourth city which has three key objectives. The first is to examine whether gender was relevant in the city's history of representation and whether it made a difference to political structures, policy and activity. The second charts the advance of women in the city's political elites to determine whether they shared common interests which formed the basis for collective action, which could be characterised as women's politics. The third sets out to further our understanding of why there is a commonly-held and repeated public view that Dundee was a woman's town and that Dundee women were and are in some way radically "different" because of the city's unique industrial circumstances and the intervention of gender into local political activity. The thesis uses several sites to explore whether the women involved made a difference in terms of political outcomes. It examines parliamentary and local government elections. It looks at the emergence of trade unions, elected bodies and autonomous women's organisations. It involves an interdisciplinary exploration of issues and problems in political studies, political history, community politics and the analysis of gender relations. It is an idiographic study of gender and political activity that utilises new evidence to challenge myths associated with the object of analysis. It argues that the distinction between the voluntary welfare associations in which women were involved and political activity was often blurred. Influential women's activity which does not fall within conventional definitions of "political" activity is also highlighted. The study seeks also to place these discourses within the context of theories about representation and equality. Within political science the thesis explores empirical explanations within the context of Dundee, and contends that analysis of the situation in the city during the study period, in particular the role of middle-class women in the 20th century, goes some way to providing a flexible alternative to important feminist approaches on political participation and representation. It is also argued in this thesis that time and place are important factors in charting representation, and that they are factors seldom prominent within feminist theoretical scholarship. Thus, this thesis is as much a first women's political history of a major Scottish city as it is an important analysis of political representation and a framework for establishing new ideas about political activity in Dundee. It provides an original contribution of a historically and socially-specific location and in so doing provides a basis for further comparative work on gender and political activity and in placing tacit assumptions in the research literature in question.

No description available.

The Muslim-American community faced a crucial moment after the events of September 11th to define themselves both at home in the United States and abroad. The years which followed brought about an increasingly mobilized, better organized group of Muslim-Americans who made a decision to become more active members of American society through participating in the political system, something very difficult if not impossible in their native countries. Those who answered the call did so in different ways. One way as shown in this study was through taking a bold step and running for the United States Congress and for the first time in U.S. history, the first Muslim was elected to the House of Representatives. For the first time, the oath of office was taken on the Qur'an. The Muslim-American community, especially the immigrant population, is highly educated and successful and as generations pass, they will become a more visible part of the American landscape.

4 maps in end pocket of v.2 / 2 v. (439 leaves) : ill., maps, tables ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.1976)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Politics, 1976?

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation contributes to understanding the political behavior of two underrepresented groups: women and ethnoracial minorities. It explores how these groups' political behavior and beliefs are associated with existent gaps in representation. Each chapter approaches a different aspect concerning this common problem. Chapter 1 inquires about the mechanisms assumed to link descriptive and substantive representation for women. By analyzing the combination of electoral data segregated by gender in Ecuador with census data and the results of an original candidates' survey, I confirm the existence of a `gender affinity vote' and the importance of the type of female candidate for understanding gender gaps in support for women candidates. Chapter 2 presents the results of two survey experiments that study how gender stereotypes affect political behavior at the mass level. It identifies a gendered `issue ownership' based on these stereotypes and tests if counterstereotypical exposures promote more engagement of those underrepresented. The findings suggest that counterstereotypical exposure is not equally effective in promoting participation for both genders. Women do not get more engaged in male-dominated issues when encouraged by other women. Men get more engaged on women's issues when other men encourage them and when the invitee is similar to them. However, the interaction between the two factors has a negative effect, suggesting that seeing someone identical to them creates a dissonance that hinders the direct effects of the two variables. Chapter 3 presents the results of an audit study of US state legislators that explores the existence of a cominority solidarity between Blacks and Latinos. The results show that Latinos are not only the most disadvantaged because White legislators are biased against them, but also because their cominority solidarity towards Blacks is not reciprocated.