Conclusions: Theorising Gendered Institutional Constraints and Feminist Strategies for Institutional Change

Abstract

In the concluding chapter, we address the critical question of what has changed and what has remained the same for the past 100 years since universal suffrage was adopted. Bringing together the findings provided in the individual chapters, here we discuss similarities and differences across time, especially in respect to gendered obstacles and feminist strategies for women’s political inclusion. This historical perspective enables us to see how women’s political inclusion is a multilayered concept; at different points in time, different aspects of women’s political inclusion has been brought to the fore and challenged; such as the formal right to vote, the right to stand for election, but also actual possibilities to exercise (different aspects of) these rights in practice. On the basis of these insights, we seek to develop the feminist institutional perspective on the conditions for gendered institutional change, by developing two analytical typologies: (1) on different types of gendered institutional constraints, and (2) on feminist institutional strategies used to counter them. Finally, we highlight the need to look beyond the category of gender and discuss the methodological contributions provided by a historical perspective.