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Introduction: Goals, Research Questions and Comparative Framework

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When Gender Equality Policies in Practice Matter

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Abstract

The goal of this chapter is twofold: to identify the research questions and framework for the book based on the GEPP approach and to introduce the individual cases of gender equality policy implementation in France that are analyzed in the seven chapters by 18 leading policy experts of gender policy in France. The GEPP approach and framework are introduced in the first section of the chapter in terms of the larger questions and goals of the study and how the researchers who conducted the seven cases of policy implementation used the framework in data collection and analysis. In the second section of the chapter, the comparative rationale for selecting France as a fertile laboratory in which to examine the complex dynamics, outcomes and determinants of gender equality policy in practice is covered. The road map for the rest of the book is then outlined in the last section of the chapter.

“While a rich scholarship examines gender policy, the recipe for successful policies still remains as elusive as the formula to turn lead into gold” (Engeli and Mazur 2018, p. 112).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Mazur (2002) and others have asserted that “feminist” or “gender equality” policy is a transversal area of policy cutting across numerous many “sub sectors” of feminist policy, such as blueprint, political representation, family law, equal employment, combining work and family, reproductive rights and gender-based violence.

  2. 2.

    Montoya (2013) first used the term “practice” in the study of violence against women policy in the European Union.

  3. 3.

    For more on the use of symbolic and concrete reform to assess policy outcomes, based on Edelman’s (1964) notion of symbolic politics, see Mazur (1995 and 2017).

  4. 4.

    For more on the importance of bringing-in intersectionality see for example Mügge et al. (2018).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Exeter, Bristol, UK

    Isabelle Engeli

  2. School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Amy G. Mazur

Authors
  1. Isabelle Engeli
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  2. Amy G. Mazur
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Correspondence to Amy G. Mazur .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Exeter, Bristol, UK

    Isabelle Engeli

  2. Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Washington State University, Moscow, ID, USA

    Amy G. Mazur

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Engeli, I., Mazur, A.G. (2024). Introduction: Goals, Research Questions and Comparative Framework. In: Engeli, I., Mazur, A.G. (eds) When Gender Equality Policies in Practice Matter. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44108-0_1

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