Gender Politics and Public Policy Making: Prospects for Advancing Gender Equality

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate a re-envisioning of gender politics in public policy making by applying a new approach to understanding them. Our approach is based on, and illustrated by, a study of gender dynamics in policy-making processes in the NSW public sector in Australia. The study draws on theoretical developments in the sociological study of gender arrangements in large organisations. Central to the analysis is the concept of gender regime (Connell 2002). The study finds that gender dynamics in policy making are not played out in a uniform and generalised way that stifles opportunities for resistance and change. Nor, however, are they random and contingent. There are various structures of gendered policy-making practice that suggest both possibilities for, and obstacles to, the advancement of gender equality in policy making. Based on these findings, the paper proposes a new method and language for studying, and advancing change in, gender and policy making in public sector settings.