With or without feminism? Researching gender and politics in the 21st century

Abstract

Studying politics and gender without feminism is akin to institutionalising democracy without women. We argue that it is not possible to understand the gender dynamics of politics without feminism. We show the benefits of doing ‘Politics and Gender’ with feminist analysis and of analysing gender and doing feminism grounded in the study of politics. The article is organised around a series of critical questions that researchers investigating the relationship between politics and gender should ask to improve both the rigour and the transformative impact of their research. Our answers illustrate the essential role of feminism to gendered inquiry.