Women Making Constitutions: New Politics and Comparative Perspectives. Edited by Alexandra Dobrowolsky and Vivien Hart. Basingstoke, Hampshire, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2004. 277 pp. $90.00.

This edited volume addresses themes pertinent to all who study politics and gender, namely, how to incorporate claims for both equality and difference into politics, constitutional politics particularly. It achieves a difficult balance for any edited volume by discussing common themes and avoiding a focus on overly narrow debates. Thus, a range of problems and concepts are explored using empirical and theoretical research that provides a comprehensive insight into women's attempts to transform constitutions. The chapters are synthesized in the introduction and the conclusion, providing the reader with a more general insight. The editors highlight the tendency for mainstream analysis to oversimplify women's role in constitutional change. This theme is developed in other chapters. Anne Marie Goetz considers gender and accountability systems. She demonstrates the gendered assumptions underlying what is usually described as accountability failure. For example, should audit offices review whether resources are unequally distributed between the sexes?