ABSTRACT
Women have interests in common. They also have interests in conflict. In this book we are interested in exploring some of those points at which women’s interests coincide and how they can be aggregated in such a way as to be able to shape the way in which political discourses, rules and institutions affect women. The chapters are mainly comparative in nature, drawing on experiences internationally as well as in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US, and the United Kingdom. We take a broad view of political institutions to include the bureaucracy, parliament, legal structures, civil society and electoral institutions, as well as regional and international political institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations. The concept of ‘interest’ is understood to consist of two related aspects: ‘the form aspect’ which denotes the demand for involvement and control over politics and public affairs and the ‘content or result aspect’ relating to the issue of the substantive values ‘that politics puts into effect and distributes’ ( Jónasdóttir 1988: 40).
