Marian Sawer

This open access book shows how the #MeToo movement and revelations of sexual harassment and bullying have spurred on reform of the parliamentary workplace in four Westminster countries – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Long-standing conventions included extreme power imbalances between parliamentarians and staff and a lack of professionalised employment practices. Codes of conduct and independent complaints bodies were resisted on grounds of parliamentary privilege: the ballot box was supposedly the best means of holding parliamentarians accountable for their conduct. The taken-for-granted status of adversarial politics and its silencing effects also rendered gendered mistreatment invisible. The authors examine the institutional backdrop and the different trajectories of reform in the four countries, with most detail on the dramatic developments in Australia after angry women marched on parliament houses in 2021. They show how the different parliaments have responded to escalating evidence of misconduct, the role of policy borrowing, and the possibilities of lasting institutional change.

This open access book shows how the #MeToo movement and revelations of sexual harassment and bullying have spurred on reform of the parliamentary workplace in four Westminster countries – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Long-standing conventions included extreme power imbalances between parliamentarians and staff and a lack of professionalised employment practices. Codes of conduct and independent complaints bodies were resisted on grounds of parliamentary privilege: the ballot box was supposedly the best means of holding parliamentarians accountable for their conduct. The taken-for-granted status of adversarial politics and its silencing effects also rendered gendered mistreatment invisible. The authors examine the institutional backdrop and the different trajectories of reform in the four countries, with most detail on the dramatic developments in Australia after angry women marched on parliament houses in 2021. They show how the different parliaments have responded to escalating evidence of misconduct, the role of policy borrowing, and the possibilities of lasting institutional change.

Until recently, few gender scholars took notice of the impact of state architecture on women's representation, political opportunities, and policy achievements. Likewise scholars of federalism, devolution and multilevel governance have largely ignored their gender impact. For the first time, this book explores how women's politics is affected by and affects federalism, whether in Australia, Canada, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia or the US. Equally, it assesses the gender implications of devolution and multilevel governance in the European Union, including case studies of the UK and Germany. Globally, multilevel governance is providing new arenas for women's politics. For example, CEDAW (the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) has led most governments to adopt gender-equality norms while other UN instruments have supported Aboriginal self-government. Gender scholars will find especially valuable what is revealed about the impact of political architecture on a broad range of policy issues, including gay marriage, reproductive rights and childcare. Federalism scholars will benefit from the book's wide range of cases, comparative themes and combination of gender and federalism perspectives. Written by leading experts, this book fills an important gap in both literatures.

Until recently, few gender scholars took notice of the impact of state architecture on women's representation, political opportunities, and policy achievements. Likewise scholars of federalism, devolution and multilevel governance have largely ignored their gender impact. For the first time, this book explores how women's politics is affected by and affects federalism, whether in Australia, Canada, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia or the US. Equally, it assesses the gender implications of devolution and multilevel governance in the European Union, including case studies of the UK and Germany. Globally, multilevel governance is providing new arenas for women's politics. For example, CEDAW (the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) has led most governments to adopt gender-equality norms while other UN instruments have supported Aboriginal self-government. Gender scholars will find especially valuable what is revealed about the impact of political architecture on a broad range of policy issues, including gay marriage, reproductive rights and childcare. Federalism scholars will benefit from the book's wide range of cases, comparative themes and combination of gender and federalism perspectives. Written by leading experts, this book fills an important gap in both literatures.

The ethical state, a state committed to the common good and equal opportunity, was the central tenet of the social liberalist theory that emerged in the late 19th century. Here, the author explores how Australia embraced the ideal. The title offers an critique of the challenges facing social-liberal thought.