The Changing Politics of Gender Equality in Britain

This comprehensive collection brings together key academics, activists and practitioners to review the changing politics of the 'project' of gender equality. It gives an account of the evolution of gender equality policies and practice at different levels of governance in Britain over the past three decades. Thinking and working around equal opportunities have been fundamentally shaped by changing political conditions. Written during the period of the Labour government of 1997-2001 - itself a time of social and constitutional change - the contributors provide both a rich and stimulating account of the recent past and the fluid present, and offer a provocative set of predictions and prescriptions about the future.The collection first discusses equal opportunities within a national or supra-national context. It next examines the dynamics of resistance and change in public sector organizations before moving on to offer practitioner insight and experience of gender equality politics and practice in local government. The book argues that complex understandings of equality need to be taken into the political arena in such a way that they can be better understood and equality more fully realized.

Esther Breitenbach is Teaching Fellow in the Department of Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh and is currently on secondment to the Women and Equality Unit in the Cabinet Office. She is co-editor of Women and Contemporary Scottish Politics: An Anthology.

Alice Brown is Professor of Politics and Co-Director of the Governance of Scotland Forum. She is co-editor of New Scotland, New Politics? and The Scottish Electorate: The 1997 General Election and Beyond.

Fiona Mackay is Lecturer in the Department of Politics at the University of Edinburgh. She is co-editor of Women and Contemporary Scottish Politics: An Anthology.

Janette Webb is Reader in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh. She is co-author of Organizational Change and the Management of Expertise.