Social capital and feminist power: promoting gender mainstreaming in Taiwan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Feminist researchers have used social movement concepts such as the “velvet triangle,” mobilizing structures, and political opportunity to explain why national governments and international organizations adopt gender mainstreaming. However, these theories are unable to explain patriarchy’s profound influence on bureaucrats or to propose strategies to reduce bureaucratic resistance. This study suggests that Putnam’s social capital theory allows us to see that, in the political process of gender mainstreaming, feminist activists need social relations to strengthen their mobilizing solidarity, potential allies, legitimacy, and power. We examined how and why the Taiwanese feminist activists who participated in women’s policy machineries from 2005 to 2009 successfully institutionalized gender mainstreaming throughout the central government, including the installation of individual gender equality committees in all ministries. We found that their success lay in their ability to utilize political opportunities, emotion work, and confrontational tactics to enhance their social capital. They also created and established important social capital with and among politicians and civil servants. Their experience shows that gender equality mechanisms that allow civil society groups to engage in decision-making processes and that provide regular opportunities for dialogue between feminists and state actors can improve gender mainstreaming implementation and reduce bureaucratic resistance.