Introduction

Abstract

Studying democratic politics from the point of view of women’s, rights and status leads to unexpected paradoxes. Women’s mobilization and participation have dynamics of their own that entertain a complex relationship with patterns of democratization, especially when one considers the differing social, economic, and cultural context of different groups of women within the same nation-state (Yuval-Davis 1997). While apparently women as a social category should and have benefited from enhanced public freedoms and more accountable state institutions, historically varied and sometimes contradictory situations have been found (Melzer and Rabine 1993; Jaquette and Wolchik 1998; Waylen 2007).