[Review] 'So many worlds, so much to do: historical specificity and gender politics.' Jo Freeman (2000) A room at a time: how women entered party politics; Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt (2000) Gendered compromises: political cultures and the state in chile, 1920-1950; Aili Mari Tripp (2000) Women and politics in Uganda; Diane Urquhart (2000) Women in Ulster politics 1890-1940: a history not yet told
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 08:30authored byVivien Hart
Jo Freeman. A Room at a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000. xii + 352 pp. ISBN 0-8476-9804-1 (cl). Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt. Gendered Compromises: Political Cultures and the State in Chile, 1920-1950. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. xiv + 346 pp.; ill. ISBN 0-8078-2567-0 (cl); 0-8078-4881-6 (pb). Aili Mari Tripp. Women and Politics in Uganda. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000. xxvii + 277 pp; ill. ISBN 0-299-16480-2 (cl); 0-299-16484-5 (pb). Diane Urquhart. Women in Ulster Politics 1890-1940: A History Not Yet Told. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2000. 276 pp. ISBN 0-7165-2627-1 (cl). Can there be such a thing as a woman-friendly state? Not one of these four studies of women and the state offers assurance of such a happy outcome, although each reports women's progress in gaining access to and recognition from states that were once the exclusive creation and possession of men. Still, none recounts any fundamental change in the organization of the state that can be attributed to women. In no case has a redistribution of power to women from men approached equity. Where women have succeeded in changing the agenda of politics, they have not necessarily seen outcomes going their way nor controlled the implementation of public policies that deeply affect their lives.