Meryl Kenny

New Institutionalism Through a Gender Lens: Towards a Feminist Institutionalism?

New institutionalism (NI) may no longer qualify as being ‘new’, but since re-emphasizing institutions as a central explanatory variable in political analysis over two decades ago, it continues to provide scholars with a useful perspective through which to analyse political dynamics and outcomes that shape everyday life. The renewed focus on institutions has rebalanced the structure/agency scales back toward the former without losing important insights about the role and impact of political actors. NI has allowed for greater understanding about the co-constitutive nature of politics: the various ways in which actors bring about or resist change in institutions; and the way institutions shape the nature of actors’ behaviour through the construction of rules, norms and policies.

Gender, Institutions and Power: A Critical Review:

Both feminist and mainstream political science has taken an institutional ‘turn’, opening up possibilities for interchange between the two fields. This article explores the potential for theoretical synthesis between feminist gender analysis and new institutional theory, focusing particularly on issues of power. After providing a brief overview of approaches to power in the institutionalist and feminist literature, it outlines some initial possibilities for dialogue between the two fields. The article concludes by considering some potential insights that a gendered approach to institutions and power would offer to new institutionalism, establishing a preliminary foundation for a wider ‘feminist institutionalist’ research agenda.

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

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.

Gender and Institutions of Political Recruitment: Candidate Selection in Post-Devolution Scotland

This chapter adopts a feminist institutionalist approach in order to explore the gendered dynamics of the institutions of political recruitment in post-devolution Scotland. The term ‘feminist institutionalism’ (FI) is understood here as an approach that synthesizes elements of the new institutionalism (NI) – specifically historical institutionalism (HI) – and feminist political science (FPS). The chapter sees this is a relationship of mutual benefit. On the one hand, NI can offer a number of useful tools to FPS, particularly with regards to key issues of institutional innovation, continuity, and change. On the other hand, a gendered approach can enrich NI theory, drawing attention to the complex ways in which gender power relations play out in political institutions.

Revealing the “Secret Garden" : The Informal Dimensions of Political Recruitment

Candidate selection and recruitment has been notably described as the “secret garden” of politics—an obscure process, often hidden from view, that is regulated largely by internal party rules, info ...

A Feminist Institutionalist Approach

Having laid the foundations in Chapter 2, this chapter sets out what a feminist institutionalist approach means in theory and in practice. Feminist political science has taken a decidedly institutional turn, moving gradually from a focus on ‘women in politics’ to ‘gender and politics’. A gendered focus shifts the emphasis from ‘women in to the gendering of political institutions’, highlighting the ways in which political institutions reflect, structure and reinforce gendered patterns of power (Kenney, 1996, p. 455; original emphasis). Yet, while feminist research on political institutions has yielded rich insights, there is a growing recognition that innovative conceptual tools and methods are needed in order to explore and understand gendered modes of interaction and to expose the ways in which seemingly neutral institutional processes and practices are, in fact, gendered (Kenny, 2007, p. 91; see also Lovenduski, 1998; Mackay, 2004a).

Pathways to power: Women's representation in the 2014 European Parliament elections

The 2014 European Parliament (EP) elections produced a record proportion of women MEPs overall (37 per cent). Yet, these results vary widely across countries and parties. This article aims to explain these variations, evaluating not only who the elected representatives of the 8th EP are, but also how they got there. Are the paths to the EP the same for women and men? Are there gender differences in terms of MEPs’ political experience? A unique dataset listing more than 700 elected MEPs and their background, party and country characteristics is used to empirically examine who makes it to the EP and through which route. The results of the analysis suggest no significant gender differences in the pathways to the EP. Yet, parties matter: more women were elected to the 8th EP from left-wing than from right-wing or ‘new’ parties, and both men and (especially) women representing right-wing parties tend to be politically more experienced than their fellow MEPs from other types of parties. Furthermore, it is found that men are more likely than women to be promoted straight from party office to the EP, suggesting that some pathways to the EP are less open to women than others.

Gender and Devolution in Spain and the United Kingdom

The starting point of this essay is that the emerging literature on gender politics and state architecture needs to take seriously the insights from devolving multilevel states, as well as from formal federations and classic unitary states. The formal components of state architecture, and the dynamics of scale, are important—but hitherto neglected—features to consider in any gendered analysis of politics. We argue, however, that it is impossible to read off in any straightforward manner whether a particular form of state architecture provides a “gendered advantage.” Instead, we argue that the practice and interplay of state architecture and political actors is as important as formal features.

Who Runs the World? Gender and Politics in the UK and Beyond

POLITICAL INSIGHT • SEPTEMBER 2017 ‘R ecord-breaking’, ‘unprecedented’, ‘historic’ – these were the headlines after the snap 2017 UK General Election. The articles attached to these celebratory proclamations heralded the fact that more female MPs had been elected than ever before, with many highlighting that the ‘200 women’ mark had been breached for the first time, along with rising numbers of black and minority ethnic (BME) and LGBTQ MPs, as well as MPs with disabilities. As the dust settled in the aftermath of the election result, many of the key power players left standing (at time of writing) were women – including Britain’s second-ever female Prime Minister, Theresa May, DUP leader Arlene Foster, SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson. Do these gains signal a potential fracturing of the political glass ceiling? Looking past the headlines, the House of Commons is still unrepresentative. Despite the increasingly female face of political leadership in the United Kingdom, gains in women’s representation have been incremental overall Who Runs the World? Gender and Politics in the UK and Beyond

Why Aren't There More Women in British Politics?

Despite gains in Mays General Election, women remain heavily under-represented in British politics. Meryl Kenny examines the evidence and asks if the time has come for gender quotas to deliver real change.