LIST OF PANELS

Feminist policy studies is a broad field ranging from analysis of substantive issue areas to those addressing the micro-dimensions of policy processes and outcomes. Borrowing heavily from but also challenging critical policy studies, feminist policy studies has resulted in an impressive range of theoretical and methodological frameworks designed to expose the ubiquity of gender in policy processes and outcomes. As part of a broader feminist project, feminist policy analysis is concerned with the mechanisms through which power is developed and maintained in all aspects of the policy process, including problem definition, policy formulation and policy implementation (Bacchi, 1999: Marshall, 1999). As Marshall explains (1999:59), feminist critical policy analysis “directly questions the entire policy analysis process, from the formation of research questions to the development and use of methodology to the analysis and write-up of results. It assumes that policymakers (i.e., the state) will act in ways to sustain and build dominance in society”. Recognizing differences among women, feminist critical policy analysis also makes social location, including in intersecting factors, such as gender, race, class, ability, sexuality and gender identity and expression relevant and central to policy theory, inquiry and practice.

The panel, the second of two panel proposals on feminist governance and policy (see Feminist Governance in the 21st Century), builds on this work by directly engaging with feminist critical policy analysis through case studies on policy issues in different country settings. Individually and together, the case studies will advance theory-building in feminist policy studies as well as provide insights on the benefits and challenges of ‘doing’ feminist policy analysis as both research and practice.

We invite contributions that use a case study approach and that draws on both theoretical perspectives and empirical examination to explore a policy issue through a feminist lens.  While the panel is open to a range of topics, country settings, and methodologies, papers are asked to use feminist critical policy analysis to examine the gendered nature and consequences of how policies are developed and implemented. Structuring their analysis around questions of difference and power, papers should also highlight how gender intersects with other categories of marginalization such as race, class and age to produce and maintain inequalities. Questions addressed by the case studies include but are not limited to:

• How does the policy reflect notions of gender and gender relations?
• How do problems representations exclude and disadvantage others?
• How do gender ideologies and norms shape policy processes and outcomes?
• How does the policy shape, reinforce, or modify particular notions of identities and to what effect?
• How is gender and the public/private distinction inscribed in the policy?
• How does the policy shape gender relations in households and the public domain?
• Are women included or excluded as actors in the policy process?