What Makes Some Democracies More ‘Women-Friendly’? By Jill Vickers, FRSC,
[email protected] Chancellor’s Professor of Political Science, Carleton University, Ottawa. Abstract Although many gender scholars see states and nationalism as invariably violent, exclusionary and oppressive for women, I argue that organized women sometimes ‘got in on the ground floor’ ,when new nation-states are being founded; and before political and state institutions became male bastions. Generally, these women were mobilized by nationalism, which promoted their participation in establishing nation- states. This early entry following (nearly) simultaneous citizenship, also increased women’s ‘presence’ in democratic governments with higher proportions of women earlier and more quickly. Incorporation into (path-dependent) institutions was reinforced by founding discourses which legitimized women’s ‘presence’ because of their contributions to nation- state founding. Similar opportunities may occur when nation- states undergo restructuring” and organized women participate in movements to remake them. Of the ten ‘western’ countries I survey, Finland , Norway and New Zealand best fit the profile of ‘women-friendly’ democracies. They share these characteristics : organized women were active in nation-state founding, or restructuring; participation in national movements established the legitimacy of women’s active citizenship; despite their small populations and relative lack of power internationally, they are relatively affluent; they have a significant ‘presence’