Already Doin' It for Ourselves? Skeptical Notes on Feminism and Institutionalism

Bibliographic Data

ID7973607
AuthorsMeryl Kenny (0000-0002-0455-1219, University of Edinburgh), Fiona Mackay (0000-0001-5389-7083, University of Edinburgh)
Year2009
Volume5
Issue2
Pages271-280
Publication date2009-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitics & Gender (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1743-923X • E-ISSN: 1743-9248
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1743923x09000221
OpenAlexW2115708046
LanguageEN
Citations received38
References cited29

Let us first lay our cards on the table: We are both invested in the “feminist institutionalist project” and have highlighted the potential benefits of such a synthesis in earlier interventions (Kenny 2007; Lovenduski 1998; Mackay and Meier 2003; see also Lovenduski 1998). However, in this essay we sound a cautionary note and urge a more skeptical approach. We pose the questions: Why does feminism need new institutionalism? What do neoinstitutionalist approaches contribute to feminist scholarship on political institutions, broadly defined? When considering the potential for intellectual “borrowing” between feminism and new institutionalism, it is important to consider whether new institutional theory is “an enabling framework—or an intellectual strait-jacket” for feminist scholarship (Mackay and Meier 2003, 6). The question, then, is not only what the new institutionalism can contribute to feminist research but also what scope there is to “gender” the new institutionalism

Epistemology · Feminism · Institutionalism · Political science · Politics · Skepticism · Sociology · Gender Politics and Representation · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Philosophy · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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