Engendering politics and policy: the legacy of New Labour

Abstract

This article analyses the capacity of a single political party - New Labour in the UK - to engender politics and policy. It draws on Kingdon's (1984) policy streams approach to demonstrate how with the election of New Labour in 1997 a window of opportunity emerged for gender changes in political representation, governance and policy terms. It argues that the commitment to engendering politics was an important step towards engendering policy, but that policy promoting gender equality does not automatically follow from more gender-balanced political representation. Despite some successes, gendered policy change is constrained by: the way gendered policy problems are framed; the slow pace of change in institutions of politics and governance; and the limits posed by policy solutions that had to fit with the dominant liberal market economic approach.