{"product_id":"inside-agitators-australian-femocrats-and-the-state-by-hester-eisenstein","title":"'Inside Agitators: Australian Femocrats and the State' by Hester Eisenstein","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eInside Agitators\u003c\/em\u003e examines one of Australian feminism’s stranger political experiments: the “femocrats,” feminist activists who entered government departments and attempted to change the state from within.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning with the Whitlam government’s appointment of Elizabeth Reid as the world’s first adviser to a national leader on women’s affairs, Eisenstein traces how feminist bureaucrats helped move childcare, domestic violence, workplace discrimination, women’s health and economic independence from activist demands into public policy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEisenstein was herself employed within the NSW public service, so this is not simply a distant institutional history. The book asks what happens when a movement built to pressure power acquires offices, budgets and administrative authority of its own: whether bureaucracy can become an instrument of liberation, or whether entry into the state slowly converts political demands into manageable programs. It also follows the experiment into the neoliberal turn, when the public sector being used to secure feminist reforms became the object of political attack. A particularly useful history of reform from inside the machinery, including who gains access to the controls and who remains outside the building. \u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAllen \u0026amp; Unwin paperback, first Australian edition, 1996. Good condition with cover wear and corner creasing.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45722745503827,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/thebowerbooker-2026-06-21T115228.192.png?v=1782006760","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/inside-agitators-australian-femocrats-and-the-state-by-hester-eisenstein","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}