ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the ways in which the subject of women and politics could be examined and why such approaches are important. It reviews how the subject has been treated by political scientists so far and the critiques that have been made of this work. Among the most serious and extensive omissions from political science are studies of the family and the labour market. The price and conditions under which labour power is sold are of interest to the state. Political parties offer power both through access to public office and in the party organisation itself. As in political life, so in economic activity and the public domain generally where women had access to crafts and trades through family connections. The political system is a battlefield where women have gained some victories which help them to use the machinery of the state for their own advancement in society.
