Conclusion: Assessing Policy Change

Abstract

At the beginning of this book, a central theme was established, asking how the role of women’s movements in gender-related policy making might be evaluated in two seemingly very different cultures. Through developing case studies on related policies in each nation, the analysis sought to investigate the conditions in which women’s “agency” may be likely to have a more significant political impact in creating policy, examining the political meaning of gender in two distinct cultures and political systems. This study fits best within the framework of qualitative analysis, as a set of “first step” studies of relatively uncharted areas identifying the complex forces at work in a small number of cases through “thick description” and “process tracing” (Mazur, 2002, 173).