This new study reveals how institutional practices and discourses shape the way men and women are conceived of, and how through this process, gender stereotypes and expectations are created.
Informed by the latest research and trends, these expert authors examine the way in which domestic and global institutions shape and reflect gender interests and the extent to which feminists can challenge gender norms through political institutions.
They examine regional, national and international institutions including the EU, ICC and UN and take a broad view of political institutions to include bureaucracy; federalism; legal structures; parliaments; voting and electoral institutions; and media coverage of womena (TM)s involvement in such institutions.
Drawing on experiences in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of gender studies, political science and comparative politics.

Louise Chappell is Senior Lecturer in the School of Economics and Political Science at the University of Sydney, NSW, Australia. Lisa Hill is a Senior Research Fellow in Politics at the University Adelaide, SA, Australia.

1. Introduction: The Politics of Women's Interests 2. The Problem with Interests: Making Political Claims for 'Women' 3. Is There Such a Thing as a Political Women's Interest in Britain? 4. Women's Interests and Political Orientations: The Gender Voting Gap in Three Industrialized Settings 5. Advancing Women's Interest in Formal Politics: The Politics of Presence and Proportional Representation in the Antipodes 6. From Women's Interests to Special Interests: Reframing Equality Claims 7. Disparate Fates in Challenging Times: Women's Policy Agencies and Neoliberalism in Aotearoa/New Zealand and British Columbia 8. Gender Inequality and Feminist Activism in Institutions: Challenges of Marginalization and Feminist 'Fading' 9. Women's Interests, Gender Mainstreaming and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights 10. International Citizenship and Women's Interests 11. 'Women's Interests' as 'Women's Rights': Developments at the UN Criminal Tribunals and the International Criminal Court