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Gender in the Aggregate, Gender in the Individual, Gender and Political Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2007

Nancy Burns
Nancy Burns
Affiliation:
University of Michigan Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
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Extract

The literature on gender and political action comes in two forms—one that is aggregate, sometimes institutional, and often centered historically, and one that is individual and largely focused on the here and now. We care about both, of course—about the social organization and deployment of gender and about what gender means in individual lives. In this essay, I argue that we should encourage these two kinds of analysis to engage each other more intimately. This engagement would give political scientists the tools to say more about when, for whom, and for which outcomes gender matters. The conversation would give us better ways to understand how context makes gender relevant.Kate Gallagher provided incredibly thoughtful research assistance for this essay. Support for her work was provided by the Center for Political Studies at Michigan and by the Miller Professorship. I want to thank Jane Junn for a fabulous conversation about how to improve the essay. Lisa Baldez, Karen Beckwith, and Christina Wolbrecht provided important, critical feedback. The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences gave me the space in my life—and the amazing library staff—to finish the essay. Of course, all of the mistakes and omissions are mine.

Type
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER AND POLITICS
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , March 2007 , pp. 104 - 124
Copyright
© 2007 The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

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