미국 의회내의 여성문제 비공식위원회(C. C. W. I.)의 활동과 기능에 관한 일고찰

• 영문명: Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues
• 발행기관: 이화여자대학교 한국여성연구원
• 저자명: 백영옥(Paek Young-Ok)
• 간행물 정보: 『여성학논집』제3집, 93~115쪽, 전체 23쪽
• 주제분류: 사회과학 > 여성학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 1986.12.01

영문 초록

Incorporated in 1977, the Congresswomen's Caucus originally consisted of fifteen of the eighteen women representatives serving at the time and tried to fill a gap in the representative structures of Congress by dealing with an issue which was of public concern but for which no formal congressional structure could formulate a response. The Congresswomen's Caucus identified and dramatized problems such as family violence; gathered information on bureaucratic performance in implementing laws; and established contacts with a clientele of interest groups representing women professionals and other feminists. However, the decision to expand by admitting men was necessitated by a House rules change requiring that informal groups divorce themselves from outside funding sources if they wished to remain in House office space. Even if all the women in Congress had belonged, it would not have been possible to exist totally on membership contributions. In 1982, the Congresswomen's Caucus changed its name to the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues and admitted men. Now, with a bipartisan membership of 127 inculding speaker Tip O'Neill, the Caucus is becoming a force for con-census on those issues which concern it. Exploring such recent and ongoing change is difficult for academic researchers since written materials on Congress are not adequate. Therefore, the discussion of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues which follows is based primarily upon information gained through participant observation and interviews. In this paper, we focus on Caucus functions and membership, membership's benefits for women and for men, and the emerging ingluence of the Caucus. Our analysis shows that the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues serves an important function in the House. Its influence is real and growing, but it will always be limited to a few proposals in one specific field. Information collection and dissemination is its first function, but legislative initiation and passage have been possibilities because of its enlarged size and the political impact of the gender gap. We can conclude that the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues is not a light-weighty Caucus, not trendy. It works hard and is respected. It would seem the Caucus made the right choice and is capitalizing effectively on a favorable climate of opinion and the fact that women, though a minority in the House, are a majority in the electorate. Although our legislative structure and processes are quite different from U.S., the experiences of the Caucus members can be lessons which benefit legislative members in Korea. However, it is difficult to analyze and adopt the political system cross-culturally. Thus this paper needs still further analysis and serves as a starting point.

목차

Ⅰ. 서론

Ⅱ. 여성문제 비공식위원회의 기능과 구성원자격

Ⅲ. 여성문제 비공식위원회가 소속의원에게 주는 혜택

Ⅳ. 여성문제 비공식위원회의 영향력

Ⅳ. 결론 및 제언

참고문헌

Abstract