31. Women and Politics

Debra J. Liebowitz, Drew University, dliebowi@drew.edu

The 2008 meeting theme “Categories and the Politics of Global Inequalities” brings to the fore issues that are, and have always been, central to inquiry in the women and politics subfield.  Focus on the relationships between identity and inequality offers scholars of gender and politics an opportunity to highlight the myriad ways of theorizing and researching the connections between processes of categorization or differentiation on the one hand, and the lines of inequality that get mapped onto bodies, locations, and social, cultural or political groupings on the other.  The conference theme also provides space to explore the ways that politically salient categories are themselves constituted and conceived and asks us to think creatively about how political processes can be used to redress the pernicious nature of inequality.  Indeed, in many cases, it is activism (in all its forms) to redress gendered and racialized hierarchies that lead the way toward change. 

The Women and Politics section welcomes submissions from a broad range of theoretical and empirical approaches and encourages theme and non-theme panel proposals that bring together junior and senior scholars.