Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Designing Feminist Institutions is an autoethnographic account of the author’s secondment to the UK House of Commons, 2015–16, where she invited herself believing that if she could only inhabit the place for a short time, she could bring about substantial change. This book explores the ‘why’, ‘how’, and ‘what’ of institutional re-gendering. Inserted into feminist institutionalist theory, the character of the feminist academic critical actor is conceived as both agent and analyst. In situ, she must determine how to negotiate the highly masculinized political arena—confronting questions of access, insiderness, authority, accountability, and ethics, including one’s own safety. Subjecting the Commons to a diversity-sensitive audit—a development of the gender-sensitive parliaments framework—Designing Feminist Institutions systematically evaluates the recommendations of the resultant The Good Parliament Report. At the heart of the book is, then, an explication institutional re-gendering. Three new gendered dynamics are identified: (i) Gendered Parliamentarianism; (ii) Gendered Executive; and (iii) Gendered Administrative/Political coalescence. The feminist academic critical actor must also successfully negotiate critical moments. One case study chapter recounts the successful story of a new Commons’ Standing Order in 2019—proxy voting for babyleave—and illustrates the emergence of a new institution: the Mother of the House. Concluding chapters reflect on the particularities of this feminist academic critical actor and draw wider lessons regarding re-designing and refashioning feminist institutions, not least resistance and backlash. In so doing this book advances feminist institutionalism through consideration of the feminist designer-builder and feminist democratic design.</jats:p>