1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910815633903321

Autore

Scott Joan Wallach

Titolo

Parite! : sexual equality and the crisis of French universalism / / Joan Wallach Scott

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, 2005

ISBN

1-281-12606-3

9786611126063

0-226-74109-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (203 p.)

Collana

Chicago studies in practices of meaning

Disciplina

320/.082/0944

Soggetti

Women - Political activity - France

Women political candidates - France

Equality - France

Feminism - France

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [153]-182) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter One. The Crisis of Representation -- Chapter Two. The Rejection of Quotas -- Chapter Three. The Dilemma of Difference -- Chapter Four. The Campaign for Parité -- Chapter Five. The Discourse of the Couple -- Chapter Six. The Power of the Law -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

France today is in the throes of a crisis about whether to represent social differences within its political system and, if so, how. It is a crisis defined by the rhetoric of a universalism that takes the abstract individual to be the representative not only of citizens but also of the nation. In Parité! Joan Wallach Scott shows how the requirement for abstraction has led to the exclusion of women from French politics. During the 1990's, le mouvement pour la parité successfully campaigned for women's inclusion in elective office with an argument that is unprecedented in the annals of feminism. The paritaristes insisted that if the abstract individual were thought of as sexed, then sexual difference would no longer be a relevant consideration in politics. Scott insists that this argument was neither essentialist nor



separatist; it was not about women's special qualities or interests. Instead, parité was rigorously universalist-and for that reason was both misunderstood and a source of heated debate.