Women and representation in local government. International case studies.

Women and Representation in Local Government opens up an opportunity to critique and move beyond suppositions and labels in relation to women in local government.

Presenting new empirical material, this book brings together international experts to examine and compare the presence of women at this level and features case studies on the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Finland, Uganda, China, Australia and New Zealand. Divided into four main sections, each explores a key theme related to the subject of women and representation in local government and engages with contemporary gender theory and the broader literature on women and politics. The contributors explore local government as a gendered environment; critiquing strategies to address the limited number of elected female members in local government and examine the impact of significant recent changes on local government through a gender lens.

Addressing key questions of how gender equality can be achieved in this sector, it will be of interest to students and academics working in the fields of gender studies, local government and international politics.

Contents:

1. Introduction Barbara Pini and Paula McDonald

Part 1: Women’s Representation in Local Government: Facilitators and Constraints
2. Moving through the Pipeline: Women’s Representation in Municipal Government in the New England Region of the United States Paige Ransford and Meryl Thomson
3. Women in Local Assemblies: Rare Guests or (Almost) Equal Partners? An Analysis of the Causes of Women’s Underrepresentation in the German County Councils Raphael Magin

Part 2: Strategies to Increase Women’s Representation in Local Government
4. Women and Local Politics in Spain: Exploring Gender Regimes and Biased Party Candidate Selection Processes Tania Verge
5. Making it Happen in Practice: Organized Efforts to Recruit Rural Women for Local Government Leadership Louise Carbert
6. Missing from the Picture: Women’s Initiatives in English Local Government Wendy Stokes

Part 3: Making a Difference? The Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Women in Local Government
7. How Gender Shapes Local Party Politics: The Case of Belgium Petra Meier and Dries Verlet
8. Critical Acts and Critical Contexts: Understanding the Substantive Representation of Women at the Regional Level in France Katherine Opello
9. Transforming Local Politics? The Impact of Gender Quotas in Finland Anne Maria Holli

Part 4: Gender and a Changing Local Government Sector
10. Gendering Local Government Amalgamations: An Australian Case Study Denise Conroy
11. Women in New Zealand Local Government: The Effect of Reform on Women’s Presence in Leadership Marianne Tremaine and Jean Drage
12. New Public Management and Gender in Swedish Local Government Gun Hedlund