Gender and Theories of the State

It can be said that 'the state' is a category of abstraction that is too aggregative, too unitary and too unspecific to be of much use in addressing the disaggregated, diverse and specific (or local) sites that must be of most pressing concern to feminists. (Allen 1990) The difficulty of any theory of 'the state' is an obvious one. 'The state' is a generalization that is constantly shifting and redefining 'itself' and the power paradigms that …

…eory' in Nicholson, Linda (ed.) The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory: New York: Routledge 1982 (1997) as quoted in van Acker, Different Voices: Gender and politics in Australia. van Acker, Elizabeth. Different Voices: Gender and Politics in Australia. South Yarra: Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd, 1999. Watson, Sophie, 'The State of Play: An Introduction' in Watson, Sophie (ed.) Playing the State: Australian feminist interventions, Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1990. Yuval-Davis, Nira, Gender & Nation, London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 1997.