Women in Politics

Mariz Tadros is a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies in the UK. She was formerly a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo and worked for almost ten years as a journalist for Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper. Her most recent publications are Copts at the Crossroads: The Struggle for Inclusive Democracy in Egypt (2013), The Muslim Brotherhood in Contemporary Egypt: Democracy Redefined or Confined? (2012), and two recent IDS Bulletins: The Pulse of Egypt's Revolt (January 2012) and Religion, Gender and Rights at the Crossroads (January 2011).She works on democratization in the Middle East, religion and development, the politics of gender and development, and Islamist political movements in the Middle East. Her work has featured in The Guardian, Opendemocracy and Middle East Report.

• Introduction. Engaging Politically: Rethinking Women's Pathways to Power? - Mariz Tadros1. Politics as Service: Pathways of District Assembly Women in Ghana - Takyiwaa Manuh2. Exceptional Women: Reserved Councillors in Municipal Corporations in Bangladesh - Sohela Nazneen, Iqbal Ehsan and Bayazid Hasan3. Ejecting Women from Formal Politics in the 'Old-New' Egypt (2011-12) - Mariz Tadros4. Local Power and Women's Empowerment in a Conflict Context: Palestinian Women Contesting Power in Chaos - Islah Jad5. Pathways to Political Power in Sudan - Sara Abbas6. Crafting Political Pathways through the Exclusionary Mesh in India - Kanchan Mathur7. Independent Candidacy: An Alternative Political Pathway for Women in Sierra Leone? - Hussaina J. Abdullah8. Conservative Modernization in Brazil: Blocking Local Women's Political Pathways to Power - Ana Alice Alcantara Costa and Andrea Cornwall

The focus here is on the process of women's engagement in political competition ... These are inspiring accounts of women's individual and collective triumphs over patriarchal interests, often achieved via independent, non-party paths to public office. This volume is packed with original data from recent research and it is a must-read for analysts of politics in contexts of transitions and decentralization.