Going Global with State Feminism: Methodological Challenges

Abstract

Under the label of ‘State Feminism’, scholars from almost 20 OECD-countries researched how demands of women and feminists led to policy changes since the 1960s. States feminism means that a state changes its policy in favour of more equal gender relations because of the political mobilisation of an alliance of women’s movements and women’s policy agencies. Coordinated by the Research Network on Gender and the State (RNGS) researchers have developed theoretical explanations, concepts and a rich body of analyses. They found failed and successful instances of state feminism for a variety of issues (e.g. abortion, labour market, political representation and prostitution) thanks to qualitative case studies and small n comparisons in post-industrial countries. But how transferable are those concepts and findings when studying countries with other conditions? Inspired by these works of two decades, a new research generation follows the invitation of RNGS-scholars to apply those concepts beyond their context of origin and going global with state feminism research. The panel is about methodological challenges in a wide range of contexts. How are state feminist concepts challenged theoretically and methodologically by three historical experiences not present in the initial RNGS-sample: periods of dictatorship, first elected female president and regional transnational women’s movement mobilisations? Do the state feminist concepts have an universal core similarly applicable to patrimonial states in crisis (e.g. Yemen) and developing, semi-democratic countries with a strong ethnic religious political context (e.g. Malaysia)? How can concepts of Feminist Institutionalism facilitate analysis in such cases? How beneficial is royal state feminism if a government is dependent on international financial organisations (Jordan)? Has the state to be conceptualised as vehicle for change to discover state feminism? The careful considerations of those manifold methodological challenges stirs further reflection and enhances our understanding which conceptual adaptations are useful in which contexts.

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