Sex, gender and the Conservative Party : from Iron Lady to Kitten Heels / Sarah Childs, Paul Webb.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Childs, Sarah, 1969-

Contributor:

Webb, Paul, 1959 April 15-

Series:

Gender and politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Conservative Party (Great Britain).

Women legislators--Great Britain.

Women legislators.

Women--Political activity--Great Britain.

Women.

Women--Political activity.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xiii, 299 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Summary:

Sex, Gender and the Conservative Party provides a comprehensive gendered analysis of the contemporary UK Conservative Party. The modernization of the Conservative Party under David Cameron's leadership has garnered much comment. However, scholars have rarely considered the role of feminization in this. As leader of the party, Cameron inherited a multi-faceted gender problem: only 17 women MPs; an unhappy women's organization; electorally uncompetitive policies 'for women'; and a party which was seemingly unattractive to women voters. Written by leading gender politics and party scholars this book draws on extensive new empirical research to fill this gap. It examines how the party sought to increase the number of Conservative women MPs and looks at the nature and role of the women's organizations. It also analyzes how the party 'acted for women' in the 2005 Parliament, the nature of its electoral offer to women in 2010 and how party members and voters responded to the party's feminization efforts; Book jacket.

Contents:

Section I Women's Political Representation 17

Chapter 1 Conservatism, Representation and Feminization 19

Section II Women's Descriptive Representation in the Conservative Party 37

Chapter 2 Women Members and the Party's Women's Organizations 39

Chapter 3 Conservative Legislative Recruitment 62

Chapter 4 Reforming Parliamentary Selection: Party Change, Parliamentarian and Party Member Attitudes 85

Section III Women's Substantive Representation 111

Chapter 5 Party Member Attitudes and Women's Policy (by and for women?) 113

Chapter 6 Sex, Gender and Parliamentary Behaviour in the 2005 Parliament 138

Section IV Feminization and Party Strategy 163

Chapter 7 Feminization and Party Cohesion: Conservative Ideological Tendencies and Gender Politics 165

Chapter 8 The Feminization Strategy and the Electorate 182.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230279001

0230279007

OCLC:

729342606