When Does Federalism Matter? Gender Equality Policies in Germany and Austria

In recent years comparative research on gender and federalism has impressively grown. At the center of these studies are questions such as the impact of federal state architecture on gender equality policies, on the power of women’s policy agencies and on the federal opportunity structure for women’s movements mobilizing for gender equality. This research shows that federalism makes a difference, depending on national and regional contexts: Federalist architecture might create opportunities for women’s movements actors as well as for feminist politicians and bureaucrats to foster gender equality; however federalism might also trap equality policies in opaque structures of federalist and provincial legislatives and executives. This paper aims at scrutinizing context factors that might influence the success or failure of women’s politics and policies in federalist states. Focusing on childcare and gender budgeting policies in German and Austrian states, we analyze the push and pull factors that shape gendered policy agency in federations.