Theme: Parties & Elections | Content Type: Journal article

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Gender Politics after Corbynism

Bice Maiguashca and Jonathan Dean

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Henry & Co.

| 1 min read

Abstract

This article examines Corbynism's gender politics, and its relationship with feminism. We note that in the early years of the Corbyn period there were starkly opposed positions on the gender dynamics and feminist-friendliness of the Corbyn project. This, in turn, reflected wider factional divisions, often mapping onto different articulations of the relationship between feminism, race/whiteness, and trans rights. We then describe how initial prospects for the cultivation of a more gender-sensitive left politics were ultimately undermined by two key developments: first, a discursive terrain in which feminism increasingly became pitted against the Corbynite left; and second, a defensiveness within the Corbyn project that made it resistant to immanent critique. We conclude by arguing that the failure of pro-Corbyn feminists to gain much traction must be contextualised within the dynamics of personalisation, instrumentalisation and polarisation that increasingly shape our political culture.

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  • Bice Maiguashca

    Bice Maiguashca

    Bice Maiguashca is Associate Professor in the Politics Department at Exeter University.

    Articles by Bice Maiguashca
  • Jonathan Dean

    Jonathan Dean

    Jonathan Dean is Associate Professor in the School of Politics and International Studies at Leeds University.

    Articles by Jonathan Dean
Volume 96, Issue 3

Latest Journal Issue

Volume 96, Issue 3

This issue features a collection titled 'The Intellectual and Political Legacy of David Marquand', who died in April 2024, edited by Colin Crouch, Ben Jackson and Peter Sloman. In this collection, authors including Jean Seaton, Will Hutton and Hilary Wainwright consider Marquand's legacy as a great progressive thinker, his biography of Ramsay MacDonald, Labour's first prime minister, and the role of socialism for Marquand. Other articles include a commentary by Deborah Mabbett titled 'Welfare reform by numbers'; Jeremy Gilbert and Alex Williams on 'The Vices of Values: Matthew Goodwin and the Politics of Motivation'; Helen McCarthy on 'Why the WASPI has no Sting: Gender, Generation and Pension Inequalities'; and Sam Taylor Hill, Tariq Modood and John Denham on 'Multicultural Nationalism: Saving the White Working Class from Blue Labour?' A selection of book reviews feature Edmund Fawcett's review of 'Nationalism: A World History' by Eric Storm and Samuel Cohn's review of 'Controlling Contagion: Epidemics and Institutions from the Black Death to Covid' by Sheilagh Ogilvie.

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