Gender, participation and citizenship in the Netherlands - Jet Bussemaker

This is an edited volume of papers written specifically for this book on the theme of participation and citizenship for women. This perspective fills a gap in contemporary publications on citizenship and feminism. It focuses in particular on the necessary conditions for full participation of women as citizens within a modern liberal democracy. For this question it takes The Netherlands as an interesting case-study because it shows the need for a close connection between social and political participation. The editors aim to draw together often separate discussions about citizenship in international literature: a political-theoretical discussion on democracy and a social-policy discussion on the welfare state. The papers address issues including the labour market, public goods, welfare laws, affirmative action programmes and future development for girls. The book also develops the interrelation of social and political participation from the perspective of citizenship. It relates information on the Dutch case-study to international comparative research on democracy and welfare states, as well as to broader international discussions on gender and citizenship.