Femocrat

Abstract

The term “femocrat” was invented in Australia as a derogatory term to describe feminists entering women's policy positions in government. Subsequently it has been used more neutrally to describe feminists in government, whether in women's policy agencies or elsewhere, and whether at national, subnational, or transnational levels of governance. There is now a significant comparative literature on “state feminism” and continuing scholarly debate over whether the institutionalising of feminism weakens autonomous women's movements or whether femocrats should be conceptualized as women's movement actors in their own right.