ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains women's use of politics and the political system in pursuit of gender equality. It explores the complexity, tension, and controversy created by an overarching paradox in the unique nature of women's claims to equality. The book shows that gender equality is most evident when women demand autonomy and work toward acquiring the rights and privileges that flow from eliminating the distinction between the public and private spheres. It analyzes women's political experiences, attitudes, and behaviors, and evaluates their successes as well as their failures to understand more clearly where women stand in their pursuit of gender equality. Thus women's relationship to politics and, more broadly, the development of women's movements have largely proceeded down two paths toward equality: one group advocating the legal equality doctrine and the other the fairness doctrine.
