Gender in World Politics

How do women participate in IR?

Always had a role BUT in non-gov settings i.e social movements rather than
policy-making

Womens voices rarely heard in leadership settings, yet they are affected by
leadership decisions

i.e: women and children make up most of the civilian casualties

: women are the majority of the poorest population

What do feminists mean by gender?

Everyday use gender = biological sex

Feminist view gender = set of socially and culturally constructed

characteristics that vary/time&space

Characteristics such as power, autonomy, rationality associated with

masculinity => perceived to have a more positive value by both men AND
women as well as most valued in states foreign policies

Female and male characteristics are mutually exclusive => if we give men
power, we give women weakness

These are social constructs as powerful, influential women often act like real
men

Gender becomes a mechanism for the unequal distribution of social benefits

and costs => we need to make unequal gender structures visible to remove
them

Gender in Global Politics

Women are disproportionately situated in low-paid occupations far from power WHY?

Liberal Feminism: observe how womens presence (or lack of) in practices of global
politics affect international policy-making removing legal obstacles to women would
achieve equality

Feminist Critical Theory: gender depends on the relations between men and women
changes in the meaning of gender have different effects on policies

Feminist Social Constructivism: study how gender influences global politics and politics
influence gender; regulating home-based work is important for feminists -> analysed
how home workers (usually women) were treated poorly as they were not considered as
important

Feminist Poststructuralism: concerned with the knowledge power relationship (those

who construct meaning and create knowledge gain power through it); men historically
seen as the knowers -> gained power; gendered messages are encoded in society
regardless of the intentions of the authors

Post-colonial Feminism: relations of domination-subordination still exist; womens

subordinations must be addressed within their own cultural context rather than
universal understanding

Gendering Security

men fight wars to protect women and children yet 90% of casualties are civilian,
mostly women and children- challenge the protection myth

Women particularly vulnerable in states of conflict systematic rape and

prostitution i.e Bosnia: rape= ethnic cleansing through forced pregnancies

Military training degrades all that is feminine; young men fight wars to protect the
helpless women and children, so they have to be strong enemy often given
feminine characteristics: weak, coward

Now there are more women in military tension with embedded view with what it
means to be a warrior often negative effect on combat readiness should women
fight in mens wars?

In conflict, both women and men look towards strong figures often associated with
men might explain why there are few women in military / top executive positions

Gender in the Economy

Women disproportionately located at the bottom of the socio-economic scale

in ALL societies earn 2/3 of a mans wage

Association of women with domestic roles housewife has become

institutionalised => now seen as almost natural reduces autonomy and
economic security

Women choose low-paid, caring positions not just due to rationality but also
expectations as mothers and caregivers that they are socialised in from a
young age -> often seen as supplemental wage earners to the male head

When women do work for wages, this undermines the legitimacy of male
domination that occurs due to the mens traditional head of family view

How are we working to change this?

UN Decade for Women

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

Pressure from womens groups to disaggregate data by sex

Adoption of the Gender Development Index

Gender Mainstream adoption requires organisations to evaluate the

gendered effects of all aspects of their institutional decision-making