ABSTRACT
This chapter begins from the observation that women’s movements and their organizations were sometimes active participants in the design of the post-1945 citizenship regimes, and that they were certainly major actors in the extension of programmes crucial to that regime in the 1960s and 1970s. It therefore focuses on the actions of these movements and organizations in the face of retrenchment and redesign of citizenship since the mid-1980s. It uses two cases – Canada and France – to show that women’s participation and influence can differ widely across movements. The chapter demonstrates that a central wing of the French movement has made a major shift in strategy, focusing on changing the rules of the political game, and more specifically the electoral law. It argues that strategic choices about policy and alliances have determining effects on the capacity of women’s movements to participate in and influence regime redesign.
