How Gender Can Transform the Social Sciences: Innovation and Impact

by Marian Sawer, Fiona Jenkins, Karen Downing

Overview

This collection turns a spotlight on gender innovation in the social sciences. Eighteen short and accessibly written case studies show how feminist and gender perspectives bring new concepts, theories and policy solutions. Scholars across five disciplines– economics, history, philosophy, political science and sociology – demonstrate how paying attention to gender can sharpen the focus of the social sciences, improve the public policy they inform, and change the way we measure things. Gender innovation provokes rethinking at both the core and the margins of established disciplines, sometimes developing alternative fields of research that chart new territory. These case studies celebrate the contribution of feminist and gender scholars and span topics ranging from budgeting, electoral systems and security studies to the ethics of care, emotional labor and climate change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030432355
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	05/21/2020
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	197
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Marian Sawer is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University, an Officer of the Order of Australia and Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Fiona Jenkins is Associate Professor in the School of Philosophy at the Australian National University and current convenor of the ANU Gender Institute.

Karen Downing, is a historian at the Australian National University and a researcher on the Gendered Excellence in the Social Sciences project.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: The Gender Lens and Innovation in the Social Sciences; Fiona Jenkins & Marian Sawer.- Part 1. Philosophy.- 2. The Ethics of Care: Valuing or Essentialising Women's Work?; Fiona Jenkins.- 3. Epistemic Injustice and Questions of Credibility; Katrina Hutchinson.- Part 2. Political Science.- 4. Political Representation: The Gendered Effects of Voting Systems; Marian Sawer & Manon Tremblay.- 5. Parliaments as Gendered Workplaces; Sonia Palmieri.- 6. Violence Against Women in Politics; Mona Lena Krook.- 7. Feminist Interventions in Security Studies; Katrina Lee-Koo.- Part 3. History.- 8. Reconceiving the Situation; Kate Laing.- 9. Gendered Perspectives on War and Nationhood: The Prism of Anzac; Carolyn Holbrook.- 10. Women in Economic History; Catherine Bishop.- Part 4. Economics.- 11. New Ways to Measure Economic Activity: Breastfeeding as an Economic Indicator; Julie P Smith & Nancy Folbre.- 12. Gender Budgeting; Marian Sawer & Miranda Stewart.- 13.Feminist Economics and Retirement Income and Savings Policy; Siobhan Austen & Rhonda Sharp.- 14. The Individual Deprivation Measure: A Gender Sensitive Approach to Multi-dimensional Poverty Measurement; Sharon Bessell.- Part 5. Sociology.- 15. Emotional Labour: Valuing Skills in Service Sector Employment; Anne Junor.- 16. Smoking as a Gendered Activity; Helen Keane.- 17. Applying a Gender Lens to Reduce Disaster Risk in Southern Africa: The Role of Men's Organisations; Kylah Forbes-Biggs.- 18. Toxic Chemicals and their Effects on Reproduction.- 19. Moving Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries to Respond to Climate Change; Margaret Jolly.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Gender inclusion in science and technology fields demands more than an increase in women’s descriptive representation. Adding a gender-aware lens to the knowledge-production process reveals that man-centered definitions of concepts and measurement standards have distorted what we thought we knew. This brilliant volume takes social sciences seriously as science, issue by issue, to track down these biased questions and dubious answers across multiple fields of research. The authors move beyond critique to suggest high-impact ways to remedy these shortcomings, a smart concept carried out consistently well. By using feminist interventions into the scholarship in each specific area they show how both knowledge and policy dramatically differ when inclusive science is done.” —Myra Marx Ferree, Alice H. Cook Professor of Sociology Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Local Affiliate at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University, USA