389 Policy & Politics฀฀vol฀38฀no฀3฀•฀389–406฀(2010)฀•฀10.1332/030557310X521071 ©฀The฀Policy฀Press,฀2010฀•฀ISSN฀0305฀5736 Final฀submission฀February฀2010฀฀•฀฀Acceptance฀February฀2010 Key฀words:฀gender฀•฀governance฀•฀policy฀change฀•฀New฀Labour Engendering politics and policy: the legacy of New Labour Claire Annesley, Francesca Gains and Kirstein Rummery This฀article฀analyses฀the฀capacity฀of฀a฀single฀political฀party฀–฀New฀Labour฀in฀the฀UK฀–฀to฀ engender฀politics฀and฀policy.฀It฀draws฀on฀Kingdon’s฀(1984)฀policy฀streams฀approach฀to฀ demonstrate฀how฀with฀the฀election฀of฀New฀Labour฀in฀1997฀a฀window฀of฀opportunity฀ emerged฀ for฀ gender฀ changes฀ in฀ political฀ representation,฀ governance฀ and฀ policy฀ terms.฀ It฀argues฀that฀the฀commitment฀to฀engendering฀politics฀was฀an฀important฀step฀towards฀ engendering฀policy,฀but฀that฀policy฀promoting฀gender฀equality฀does฀not฀automatically฀follow฀ from฀more฀gender-balanced฀political฀representation.฀Despite฀some฀successes,฀gendered฀ policy฀change฀is฀constrained฀by:฀the฀way฀gendered฀policy฀problems฀are฀framed;฀the฀slow฀ pace฀of฀change฀in฀institutions฀of฀politics฀and฀governance;฀and฀the฀limits฀posed฀by฀policy฀ solutions฀that฀had฀to฀ft฀with฀the฀dominant฀liberal฀market฀economic฀approach.฀ Engendering politics and policy: New Labour’s commitment In the first ever debate on women’s policy in the UK’s House of Commons, the first Minister for Women, Harriet Harman, declared ‘we are committed to building and sustaining a new habit of Government that has women’s voices and women’s interests at its very heart’ (Harman, 1998). Two years on the-then Minister for Employment and deputy Minister for Women, Tessa Jowell, declared New Labour to be ‘the most feminist government in British history’, adding that New Labour ‘should be proud of that [and] judged by what we have achieved’ (Ashley, 2000). New Labour governments in the UK from 1997–2010 offer an invaluable case study of the opportunities and constraints facing parties in power that are intent on engendering politics and policy. By engendering politics we refer to a process that leads to a more equal balance between men and women in political institutions. We are interested not just in a higher number of women in political institutions but also in their capacity to operate on equal terms to men in those institutions. Similarly, when referring to engendering policy, we are interested not just in the development of policy for women but also in a realignment of mainstream policy to produce more equality between the sexes. We are particularly concerned with gender equality policies that encourage women into quality paid work, facilitate women’s economic independence and promote the redistribution of unpaid work between the sexes. After three parliamentary terms we are presented with an ideal platform for examining how and when a committed political party is able to engender politics and policy.This we do by identifying significant changes to the gender composition and practice of politics. We argue that the engendering of politics is an important prerequisite to engendering policy and assess the impact this has had, if any, on policy outcomes. Delivered by Ingenta to: Simon Fraser University IP : 185.46.86.87 On: Sun, 05 Jun 2016 16:20:55 Copyright The Policy Press