Comparative Gender Mainstreaming in a Global Era by Walby

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Recommended: Essay on gender theory

For my analysis I have chosen the article Comparative Gender Mainstreaming in a Global Era, written by Walby from the Institute of Women´s studies at Lancaster University. This essay analyses gender mainstreaming as a new form of feminist policies, which is often contested. But there are more issues to discuss. The essay deals with several key words: gender, gender equality and inequality, gender mainstreaming, intersectionality, gender politics. These terms describe the different processes which are often interrelated. In the next part I will explain the terms mentioned in the essay and I will give you examples of gender mainstreaming on local/regional, national and transnational level.
Gender
First, I would like to start with brief explanation of the term gender, what is crucial for explanation of the processes mentioned in the article. According to Braidotti there are three possible levels how we can investigate gender:
1. Gender as a dimension of personal identity („gender as an interpersonal process of self-consciousness and as the dynamic relation of self-images to individual and collective identity“)
2. Gender as a principle of organization („gender as the foundation of social institutions ranging from family and kinship structures to the division of labour in social, economic, political and cultural life“)
3. Gender as the basis for normative values. („gender as a system that produces socially enacted meanings, representations of masculinity and feminity which are shot through with issues of ethnicity, nationality and religion“.) (Braidotti, 2002, p. 287)
Kiczkova claims that while the sex refers to the biological givenness of men and women, starting by the differences of genitals and reproductive dispositions, physiologic...

... middle of paper ...

...p://www.db-decision.de/GenderMainstreaming/belgium.html
Lubelcová et al. (2011) Inovácie v sociálnych a verejných politikách. Problémy konceptualizácie a nových nástrojov. Univerzita Komenského, Bratislava
Verloo, M. (2001) Another Velvet Revolution? Gender Mainstreaming and the Politics of Implementation. IWM Working Papers.
Sunderland, J. (2004). Gendered Discourses. Palgrave Maximilian, London, str. 14 – 22.
Verloo, M. and Lombardo, E. (2007). Contested Gender Equality and Policy Variety in Europe: Introducing a Critical Frame Analysis Approach. In Verloo, E. (Ed.): Multiple Meanings of Gender Equality. A Critical Frame Analysis of Gender Policies in Europe. Central European University Press, Budapest – New York, pp. 21 – 49
Yuval-Davis, N. Intersectionality and Feminist Politics. In European Journal of Women´s Studies. August 2006, Vol. 13, No. 3. pp. 193 – 209.

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