Gendering Discretion: Why Street-Level Bureaucracy Needs a Gendered Lens

Durose, Catherine ORCID: 0000-0002-1712-9914 and Lowndes, Vivien (2023) Gendering Discretion: Why Street-Level Bureaucracy Needs a Gendered Lens. Political Studies.

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Abstract

<jats:p> Street-level bureaucrats shape policy through using discretion in their interactions with citizens and service users in delivering public services. Discretion allows street-level bureaucrats to bridge between public policy and the complex, individual, human situations they encounter. Drawing on insights from feminist institutionalism, this article establishes gender as a relevant analytical category in understanding discretion. We set out three analytical propositions: street-level bureaucrats work in gendered institutional contexts that shape their discretion; street-level bureaucrats are gendered actors, whose discretion is shaped by their individual gendered dispositions; and street-level bureaucrats’ discretion has gendered effects. We investigate these propositions through a case study of the early implementation of the classification of misogyny as a hate crime among police forces in England and Wales. In addressing this analytical intersection between street-level bureaucracy and feminist institutionalism, we bring a gendered perspective to street-level bureaucracy, and a focus on how rules are interpreted to feminist institutionalism, forging new ground in public administration. </jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	street-level bureaucracy, feminist institutionalism, gender, discretion, policing
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	20 Jun 2023 08:46
Last Modified:	28 Jun 2023 17:41
DOI:	10.1177/00323217231178630
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217231178630
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3171123