The study of institutions is a core line of research in political science. For institutionalists, political institutions matter: their mechanisms, contexts, and rules shape political behavior. Feminist scholars who share this perspective emphasize that political institutions are also fundamentally gendered. This virtual special issue brings together articles published in Politics & Gender that have helped to develop feminist institutionalism (FI) as an approach, exploring interactions between gender and institutional dynamics.
The first group of articles consider how feminist perspectives can be integrated (or not) into traditional schools of institutionalism. Georgina Waylen explores how historical institutionalism and its concepts, such as path dependence, can aid feminists in their analyses. Teresa Kulawik proposes that a feminist discursive institutionalism can contribute to better understandings of continuous and dynamic interplays between institutions, actors, and discourse. Fiona Macka, Surya Monro, and Georgina Waylen argue that, in combination with a feminist lens, sociological institutionalism can shed light on power and agency in political institutions. Amanda Driscoll and Mona Lena Krook consider the potential for dialogue among feminist and rational choice institutionalism. Meryl Kenny and Fiona Mackay reflect on the degree to which feminists might gain – or lose – from closer engagement with institutionalist frameworks.
The second set of articles maps theoretical contributions of FI to political analysis, particularly in terms of opportunities and barriers to institutional change. Louise Chappell argues that attention to gender deepens our understanding of institutional dynamics and how they may be disrupted. Vivien Lowndes outlines criteria for identifying gendered institutions, especially informal ones that may be hidden from the view of outsiders. Fiona Mackay theorizes how feminist reforms may be undermined when “new” institutions are “nested” within “old” institutions. Louise Chappell further develops this argument, using the case of the International Criminal Court, to suggest that interactions between these factors are key to gender justice outcomes.
The third collection of articles explores methodological dimensions of feminist institutionalist research. Meryl Kenny highlights the need for in-depth interviews and case studies to identify informal institutions and their gendered effects. Melinda Adams and Michal Smrek outline how an FI lens on formal and informal rules can shed light on male dominance in politics. Emma Crewe and Michal Grahn and Cherry M. Miller explore how the immersive tools of ethnography can provide insights into subtle gendered practices within institutions. Michal Grahn considers the advantages of using a multi-method approach and an abductive-retroductive research design.
The final group of articles showcases empirical applications of FI approaches to a wide range of topics in political science. Josefina Erikson and Cecilia Josefsson and Edalina Rodrigues Sanches and Ana Espírito-Santo illustrate how FI helps explain gendered leadership conditions in the Swedish and South African parliaments, respectively. Elizabeth Evans and Meryl Kenny analyze how women’s parties can achieve change, despite gendered mechanisms of exclusion. Lenita Freidenvall and Madeleine Ramberg show how strong systems of governance can help mitigate barriers to gender mainstreaming efforts in Swedish municipalities, while Erin Hern considers how the cooptation of women’s issues by the Zambian state has undermined women’s political participation. Petrice R. Flowers explores how informal institutions have limited the effectiveness of work-family policies for Japanese diplomats, while Annika Marlen Hinze shows how they have shaped women’s experiences in political science departments across the U.S.
- Beatriz Carvalho, Rutgers University, Politics & Gender graduate editorial assistant