Empowered by design : decentralization and the gender policy trifecta /

Rincker (Purdue Univ. Northwest) offers a fascinating analysis of women's representation, developing a model for understanding the relationship between decentralization and variations in women's representation and policy outcomes. Rincker focuses on why decentralization--where national powers are shifted to lower levels of government--doesn't always lead to increased women's empowerment, even though scholars and international organizations view decentralization as a tool to promote equality. Rincker develops the gender policy trifecta model to account for these variations, asserting that three key nodes must exist at the subnational level for women to gain power through decentralization: gender quotas, substantive women's policy agencies, and gender-responsive budgeting. She examines these nodes through rich case studies, including interviews with women's organization leaders in Poland (possessing one node), Pakistan (possessing two), and the UK (possessing all three). Rincker's model provides a strong foundation for future analyses of other countries and for other questions about the relationship between decentralization and equality. Her research is well-written and highly accessible to undergraduate and graduate students as well as general readers, offering an outstanding example of how to conduct a comparative analysis. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Melinda A. Mueller, Eastern Illinois University