
Designing Feminist Institutions
The Making of the Good Parliament
Sarah Childs(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Will be published approx. on 5. September 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-0-19-785159-3 (ISBN)
Description
Is it possible to design and build feminist legislatures? If so, how and by and with whom? Designing Feminist Institutions provides a novel study of feminist institutionalism in practice. Drawing on her own ethnographic research within the UK Parliament, Sarah Childs suggests that political institutions in need of gender sensitizing would benefit from the perspective of feminist academic critical actors. Childs defines these scholars as both analysts and agents of change, who are embedded in legislatures to think about institutional design from the inside out. As a feminist academic critical actor inside the UK House of Commons, Childs negotiated the highly masculinized political arena--confronting questions of access, legitimacy, authority, accountability, ethics, and safety. In this book, she evaluates these experiences, as well as new gendered dynamics, and critical moments to present her vision of The Good Parliament. In so doing, she explores the 'why', 'how' and 'what' of institutional re-gendering.
Through vignettes, participant observation, original interviews, and parliamentary analysis, Childs illustrates wider lessons in redesigning and refashioning feminist institutions and sheds light on the particularities of allyship, resistance, and backlash. She asks, too, what new ethical issues arise when academics are intent on bringing about change, how to navigate competing political objectives, and what is 'in the interest' of women when it comes to representative democracy. Designing Feminist Institutions advances feminist institutionalist theory through a novel consideration of the experience, knowledge, and perspectives necessary to instigate and institute feminist change.
Through vignettes, participant observation, original interviews, and parliamentary analysis, Childs illustrates wider lessons in redesigning and refashioning feminist institutions and sheds light on the particularities of allyship, resistance, and backlash. She asks, too, what new ethical issues arise when academics are intent on bringing about change, how to navigate competing political objectives, and what is 'in the interest' of women when it comes to representative democracy. Designing Feminist Institutions advances feminist institutionalist theory through a novel consideration of the experience, knowledge, and perspectives necessary to instigate and institute feminist change.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-19-785159-3 (9780197851593)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Sarah Childs is Professor of Politics and Gender at the University of Edinburgh. She researches the theory and practice of women's political representation, gender and political parties, and gender (in)sensitive parliaments. Childs is the author of five previous books, including the award-winning Feminist Democratic Representation (with Karen Celis). An impactful academic, she works with international organizations drafting gender sensitive parliament (GSP) materials and undertaking audits, and advises the UK and Scottish Parliaments on their gender sensitizing parliament efforts.
Author
Professor of Politics and GenderProfessor of Politics and Gender, University of Edinburgh
Content
- Foreword, by the Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman KC, Baroness Harman of Peckham
- Introduction: Re-Gendering Political Institutions
- Chapter 1: The Feminist Politics of (re)Fashioning Political Institutions: The Why
- Chapter 2: Feminist Parliamentary Ethnography: The How
- Chapter 3: Parliamentary Design: The 'What' of Feminist Institutionalist (re)Fashioning, with Karen Celis and Sonia Palmieri
- Chapter 4: A Feminist Design for the House of Commons: The Good Parliament Report Reconsidered
- Chapter 5: Power Struggles and the Feminist Academic Critical Actor, En Cours De Route
- Chapter 6: From Designing to Building: Proxy Voting for 'BabyLeave', a Case Study
- Chapter 7: Reflections of a Feminist Academic Critical Actor at Westminster
- Chapter 8: Conclusion: Feminist Institutional Change Revisited, (Re)Design and Building Work
- Afterword by Paul Evans, CBE, former Clerk of Committees and my 'Secret Clerk'