Governance Feminism: An Introduction

Description

Describing and assessing feminist inroads into the state Feminists walk the halls of power. Governance Feminism: An Introduction shows how some feminists and feminist ideas—but by no means all—have entered into state and state-like power in recent years. Being a feminist can qualify you for a job in the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Criminal Court, the local prosecutor’s office, or the child welfare bureaucracy. Feminists have built institutions and participate in governance. The authors argue that governance feminism is institutionally diverse and globally distributed. It emerges from grassroots activism as well as statutes and treaties, as crime control and as immanent bureaucracy. Conflicts among feminists—global North and South; left, center, and right—emerge as struggles over governance. This volume collects examples from the United States, Israel, India, and from transnational human rights law. Governance feminism poses new challenges for feminists: How shall we assess our successes and failures? What responsibility do we shoulder for the outcomes of our work? For the compromises and strange bedfellows we took on along the way? Can feminism foster a critique of its own successes? This volume offers a pathway to critical engagement with these pressing and significant questions. Governance Feminism shows how some feminists and feminist ideas have entered into state and state-like power in recent years. Collecting examples from the U.S., Israel, India, and from transnational human rights law, the authors argue that governance feminism is institutionally diverse and globally distributed—emerging from grassroots activism as well as statutes and treaties, as crime control and as immanent bureaucracy. Introduction: An Ethic of Responsibility Janet Halley Part I. Varieties of Governance Feminism 1. Where in the Legal Order Have Feminists Gained Inclusion? Janet Halley 2. Which Forms of Feminism Have Gained Inclusion? Janet Halley 3. Dancing across the Minefield: Feminists Reflect on Generating, Owning, and Critiquing Power Janet Halley Part II. From the Transnational to the Local 4. Governance Feminism in the Postcolony: Reforming India’s Rape Laws Prabha Kotiswaran 5. Anti-trafficking in Israel: Neo-abolitionist Feminists, Markets, Borders, and the State Hila Shamir 6. When Rights Return: Feminist Advocacy for Women’s Reproductive Rights and against Sex-selective Abortion Rachel Rebouché Conclusion. Distribution and Decision: Assessing Governance Feminism Janet Halley Acknowledgments Index