The Logics of Gender Justice: State Action on Women’s Rights Around the World

When and why do governments promote women's rights? Through comparative analysis of state action in seventy countries from 1975 to 2005, this book shows how different women's rights issues involve different histories, trigger different conflicts, and activate different sets of protagonists. Change on violence against women and workplace equality involves a logic of status politics: feminist movements leverage international norms to contest women's subordination. Family law, abortion, and contraception, which challenge the historical claim of religious groups to regulate kinship and reproduction, conform to a logic of doctrinal politics, which turns on relations between religious groups and the state. Publicly-paid parental leave and child care follow a logic of class politics, in which the strength of Left parties and overall economic conditions are more salient. The book reveals the multiple and complex pathways to gender justice, illuminating the opportunities and obstacles to social change for policymakers, advocates, and others seeking to advance women's rights. The Logics of Gender Justice: State Action on Women’s Rights around the World 4 Contents 8 List of Figures 10 List of Tables 12 Preface and Acknowledgments 14 1 Introduction: States and Gender Justice 20 Dimensions of Gender 23 Disaggregating Policies 27 Status versus Class Policies 29 Doctrinal versus Nondoctrinal Policies 33 Different Issues, Different Political Dynamics 35 Research Design 41 Conclusion 46 2 Feminist Mobilization and Status Politics: Combatting Violence against Women 47 Defining Government Responsiveness to Violence against Women 50 Global Overview of Government Action on Violence against Women 53 International Women’s Rights Meetings and Conventions 56 North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand 57 Latin America 59 Eastern Europe 61 Africa 62 Middle East and North Africa 63 Asia 67 Summary of Global Overview 69 Movements, Global Norms, and Progressive Policy Change 70 Feminist Movements 71 Women’s Policy Machineries or State Feminism 78 Transnational Feminism 79 International Norms and Global Civil Society 80 Global Norms 81 Regional Norms 83 Tipping Points for Global and Regional Norms 84 Regional Diffusion 86 Why Feminist Activism Magnifies Norms’ Effects 87 The Changing Relative Importance of Movements and Institutions 88 Controls 88 Statistical Analysis 89 Strong Autonomous Feminist Movement 90 Women’s Policy Machineries 94 Global and Regional Norms 94 Control Variables 96 Conclusion 98 3 Governing Women’s Legal Status at Work 101 Disaggregating Economic Equality 102 Measuring Equal Opportunity Laws 107 The Indices 110 Explanation for Historical and Cross-National Variation 113 Feminist Movements 118 International Norms 123 Women’s Policy Agencies 125 Left Parties 126 Statistical Analysis 127 Conclusion 135 4 Doctrinal Politics: Religious Power, the State, and Family Law 137 Families and Family Law 141 Global Variation in Family Law 144 The Role of Religion 150 Colonialism 155 Communism 156 Feminism and Women’s Movements 158 Analysis 161 Religious Factors 161 Colonialism and communism 171 Feminist Movements and CEDAW 171 Controls 173 Conclusion 173 5 Class Politics: Family Leave and Childcare Policy 175 Social Provision and Gender Justice 176 The Logic of Class Politics 180 Left Party Power 180 National Wealth 183 Part I. Family Leave 185 Mechanisms behind Leave Policy 191 Statistical Analysis 196 Findings 199 Part II: Childcare 203 Cross-National Trends in Childcare Policy 203 Accounting for Childcare Policy 206 Statistical Analysis 208 Conclusion 211 Appendix: Fertility and Childcare Policy 214 6 Reproductive Rights: Class, Status, and Doctrinal Politics 218 Politics of Reproduction 219 Doctrine 221 Status 224 Class 225 Combining Class, Status, and Doctrine 226 Indices of Reproductive Rights 226 Global Variation 229 Explaining Government Action 231 Religion 232 Communism 233 Left Parties 234 Feminist Movements 235 International Norms on Women’s Rights 237 Control Variables 237 Analysis 238 Left Parties 241 Feminist Movements 242 International Norms 243 Conclusion 244 7 The Multiple Logics of Gender Justice 246 The Theoretical Foundation for Cross-Issue Analysis 247 The Rationale for the Model 248 Analysis 252 Status Issues: Quadrant 1 252 Doctrinal Issues (Quadrant 2) 253 Class Issues: Quadrant 3 254 Doctrinal, Class-Based Issues: Quadrant 4 256 Women in Parliament and Feminist Movements 256 Comparative Politics and Variation across Policy Issues 257 Institutions and Issues: New and Old 258 Development and Democracy 260 Conclusion 260 Conclusion 262 Quotas and Same-Sex Marriage 265 Racial Inequality 267 Health Policy 270 The Implementation of Gender Justice Policies 271 Gender Justice and the State 272 Appendix A: Data and Methods 274 Dependent Variables 276 VAW Index 277 Family Law Index 278 Workplace Equality 281 Index of Abortion Law 283 Reproductive Rights Funding 283 Family Leave 284 Childcare 284 Independent Variables 284 Official Religion 286 Religious Legislation 287 High Religiosity 287 Cumulative Left Party Power 287 Appendix B: Family Law in the World’s Legal Traditions 290 Muslim Family Law 290 Multiple Legal Systems 302 Civil Law 308 Socialist/Communist Law 314 References 320 Index 356