Introduction
Abstract
BY KAREN ROSS THIS collection of articles looks speciï¬cally at issues concerning the relationship that women have with the political process, as national politicians, as councillors and as activists. It originally developed out of discussions between members of the Political Studies Associationâs Women and Politics Group at our annual conference at Oxford in Spring 2000. We recognised the need for a re-engagement of the genderpolitics relation, not only because many of us were and are engaged in important work which deserves a wider audience but because the incursion of women into both formal and informal political processes had ï¬nally begun to achieve a critical mass. From Carlisle to Kosova, from Belfast to Brisbane, women were getting more strategically involved in local and national politics, raising their voices in protest against laws made with only men in mind but which masqueraded as legislation for all, against debates which privileged only the interests of men at the expense of listening to the more diverse perspectives of women. It became clear that a lot of politics was going on around the world where women were beginning to make a difference but accounts of those interventions remained hidden. And so this volume