Gender and Institutions of Multi-Level Governance: Child Care and Social Policy Debates in Canada

Abstract

It could be said that to study Canadian politics is to study institutions.While much has been written about the formal and informal practices that have animated the Canadian institutional landscape, analysing macro governing structures through a feminist lens remains remarkably understudied. To be sure, there have been important contributions. Early work by Teghtsoonian (1992) investigated the influence of federal institutions on child-care policy development, a key policy sector of the feminist movement activism, while the contribution of Vickers (1994) squarely placed the tension between feminism, women’s policy objectives, and federalism at the centre of analysis. More recently, Chappell’s (2002a) analysis of feminist policy advocacy in Canada and Australia added comprehensive and significant comparative insights about the impact of federal structures.