Sponsored by the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, the Summer Feminist Politics Book Club will provide a forum to discuss some of the latest books on feminist and gendered politics.

This free virtual webinar series is organized by Farida Jalalzai (Virginia Tech, USA) and Jessica C. Smith (University of Southampton, UK). Each event will kick off with a 30-minute “in conversation” between the author or authors and the host, followed by a discussion of approximately 45 minutes with audience members.

Attendees need to register in advance and must be logged into a Zoom account to access the webinar. Questions about the webinar series can be addressed to Farida Jalalzai or Jessica C. Smith.

Past Events

July 16: Feminist Democratic Representation

Date and Time: Friday, July 16, 2021 (10:00 to 11:15 a.m. ET; 3 to 4:15 p.m. GMT+1)

Book: Feminist Democratic Representation (Oxford University Press)

Authors: Karen Celis (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Sarah Childs (Royal Holloway University of London)  

Host: Jessica C. Smith, University of Southampton

Zoom Webinar Registration Link: https://virginiatech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Vh56xb-OQJG0grdF4pfVIQ

Book Description: Popular consensus has long been that if “enough women” are present in political institutions they will represent “women’s interests.” Yet many believe that differences among women — women disagreeing about what is in “their interest” — fatally undermine both the principle and the practice of women’s group representation. In this book, Karen Celis and Sarah Childs redress women’s poverty of political representation with a new feminist account of democratic representation. Rather than giving up on women’s group representation, Celis and Childs re-think and re-design representative institutions, taking women’s differences — both ideological and intersectional — as their starting point. 

August 16: Seeing Women, Strengthening Democracy

Date and Time: Monday, August 16, 2021 (8:00 to 9:15 a.m. PST; 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. ET; 4 to 5:15 p.m. GMT+1)

Book: Seeing Women, Strengthening Democracy: How Women in Politics Foster Connected Citizens (Oxford University Press)  

Authors: Magda Hinojosa (Arizona State University) and Miki Caul Kittilson (Arizona State University)

Host: Malliga Och, Idaho State University

Zoom Webinar Registration Link: https://virginiatech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2qkrWueAQ-K8sMgntpmvYQ

Book Description: Seeing Women, Strengthening Democracy: How Women in Politics Foster Connected Citizens asks how contexts promote women’s interest and connection to democracy, and it looks to Latin America for answers. Magda Hinojosa and Miki Caul Kittilson find that the election of women to political office — particularly where women’s presence is highly visible to the public — strengthens the connections between women and the democratic process. For women, seeing more “people like me” in politics changes attitudes and orientations toward government and politics. The authors therefore argue that far-reaching gender gaps can be overcome by more equitable representation in our political institutions.

September 17: Violence Against Women in Politics

Date and Time: Friday, September 17, 2021 (10 to 11:15 a.m. ET; 3 to 4:15 p.m. GMT+1)

Book: Violence Against Women in Politics (Oxford University Press)

Author: Mona Lena Krook (Rutgers University)

Host: Farida Jalalzai (Virginia Tech)  

Zoom Webinar Registration Link: https://virginiatech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-T95AvPuSO2hczQ8dYhOCw

Book Description: Women have made significant inroads into politics in recent years, but in many parts of the world, their increased engagement has spurred attacks, intimidation, and harassment intended to deter their participation. Violence Against Women in Politics provides the first comprehensive account of this phenomenon, exploring how women came to give these experiences a name — violence against women in politics — and lobby for its increased recognition by citizens, states, and international organizations. Drawing on research in multiple disciplines, Krook argues that violence against women in politics is not simply a gendered extension of existing definitions of political violence privileging physical aggressions against rivals. Rather, it is a distinct phenomenon involving a broad range of harms to attack and undermine women as political actors.