Gendered political space: civil society, contingency theory, and the substantive representation of women

Figures & data

Figure 1. Civil society and the SRW as a contingent process: three contextual spheres shaping CSOs’ translation of motives into action.

Table 1. Analytical framework: contingent factors shaping CSOs’ promotion of the SRW.

Factor		Contingent upon	Sphere^a	Illustration of salience to/impact on CSOs’ advancement of SRW
1. Collective incentives for political engagement	a	Prevailing model of democracy, party/electoral politics	P	Does a universal franchise operate? Level of women’s descriptive representation in legislative settings. Extent to which parties favour interventionist (affirmative action) measures over laissez faire attitude to gender equality
	b	Trust	O	Key predictor of political/policy engagement
	c	Governance structures	P, S	Existence of partnership arrangements/ state feminism/institutional structures linking civil society and state allowing promotion of gender equality/SRW
	d	Economy	P, S	Available resources for gendered policy reform/prevailing inequalities/need for redistribution
	e	Cultural attitudes/prevailing gender relations	S, P	Recognition of gender (in)equality/Is there a need to tackle gender oppression or does post-feminist/ gender-equal society prevail?
	f	Embeddedness of gender equality laws	P, S	Existence of mechanisms of redress for sex discrimination/gender oppression
2. CSO action repertoires	a	CSOs’ human capital (skills, leadership, expertise)/organizational culture and practices	O, S, P	Extent to which education system/social norms educate and empower women to engage in gender politics/advance SRW
	b	Capacity/financial capital/resources of CSOs	O, P	Gendered patterns of resource allocation
	c	Networking practices/civic traditions	O, S, P	Social capital, bonding factors, shared gender identities, feminist orientation
	d	Institutional configuration of the state	P, O	The types of state machinery present in a polity will determine the means by which CSOs engage (e.g. using virtual techniques and web-based engagement—or more traditional forms of lobbying and claims-making—including protest)
	e	Organizational resilience and psychological capital	O	Civil society as a site of resistance to gender oppression
	f	Norms	O, S, P	Discursive power and the way that CSOs’ claims-making is contingent on individuals’ conceptions and expressions of their own gendered identity/what is seen as socially acceptable. In turn, this is reflected in framing/use of language

Note: O, organizational, P, political, and S, socioeconomic.

^aKey to Spheres (see Figure 1).