Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Merrindahl Andrew
Key terms/names
backlash, bodies, institutions, leadership, numerical representation, parties, public/
private divide, quotas, substantive representation, suffrage
Gender pervades social and political life. It is impossible to function in the world
without using gendered categories and concepts and impossible to avoid gender roles,
whether one ends up conforming to or resisting them – or, as is more likely, doing
a complex mixture of both. Gender is one of the perpetually unresolved matters of
politics; woven into power structures but continually challenged, gender shapes many
of the most fraught and controversial political issues, such as reproductive rights,
welfare, violence and poverty. For feminists and their allies, gender politics offers the
hope of transformation and a centuries-long record of progress towards equality.
Over the last half-century, sexuality and gender diversity have increasingly
become topics of contention, with moves to end discrimination and promote
inclusiveness met by intensifying attempts at conservative repression. Lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) people’s rights and women’s
rights are framed as threatening and, at times, as foreign agendas, strengthening
neo-traditional sexual and gender diversity politics within nationalist political
movements. 1 In Australia, LGBTIQ+ issues have become more prominent due to
Andrew, Merrindahl (2019). Gender and sexuality in Australian politics. In Peter J. Chen, Nicholas
Barry, John R. Butcher, David Clune, Ian Cook, Adele Garnier, Yvonne Haigh, Sara C. Motta and
Marija Taflaga, eds. Australian politics and policy: senior edition. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
DOI: 10.30722/sup.9781743326671
1 Altman and Symons 2016.
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