Transcript AAA 16) Feminist IR Theories

Monday, July 5, 2010
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The fairer sex in theory – gender
approaches in IR and integration
studies
Recommended reading:
J.A.Tickner/L.Sjoberg, Feminism, in
Dunne/Kurki/Smith op.cit.
J.A.Tickner, Gender in World Politics, in:
Baylis/Smith/Owens op.cit.
J.True, Feminism, in Burchill et al, op.cit.
B.Locher/E.Prügl: Gender and European
Integration, in Wiener/Diez, op.cit.
Preliminary points
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One of the more interesting things about
feminism is that unlike postmodernism, much
of feminist theorising directly emerges from the
experience of political struggle. This means
that the insights it attempts to draw are often
concrete and have some application in daily
life.
An important thing to understand is that there
is not one feminism. There are multiple
approaches to the study of gender in
international relations, many of which overlap
or contradict each other.
Preliminary points II
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„…gender is not just about women but also about
the way international policies are framed, studied,
and implemented…“
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„Conventional IR relies on generalized rationalist
explanations of asocial states‘ behaviour in an
anarchic international system. IR feminist theories
focus on social relations, particularly gender
relations; rather than anarchy, they see an
international system constituted by socially
constructed gender hierarchies which contribute
to gender subordination.“
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Tickner/Sjoberg, Feminism, in Dunne/Kurki/Smith, pp 210,
pp197
Very briefly…
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A feminist IR involves looking at how international
politics affects and is affected by both men and
women and also at how the core concepts that are
employed within the discipline of IR (e.g. war,
security, etc.) are themselves gendered. Feminist IR
has not only concerned itself with the traditional
focus of IR on states, wars, diplomacy, and security,
but feminist IR scholars have also emphasized the
importance of looking at how gender shapes the
current global political economy. In this sense, there
is no clear cut division between feminists working in
IR and those working in the area of IPE.
A post - Cold War child ?
Feminist IR emerged largely from the late 1980s
onwards. The end of the Cold War and the reevaluation of traditional IR theory during the 1990s
opened up a space for gendering International
Relations. Because feminist IR is linked broadly to
the critical project in IR, most feminist scholarship
has sought to problematise the politics of knowledge
construction within the discipline - often by adopting
methodologies of deconstructivism associated with
postmodernism/poststructuralism. However, the
growing influence of feminist and women-centric
approaches within the international policy
communities is more reflective of the liberal feminist
emphasis on equality of opportunity for women
Gender Equality politics/Gleichstellungspolitik
Outline
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Gender, Not Sex
Where are the Women?
Masculine Logic
Key Concepts
Diversity of Feminist Theory
Main Points
Gender, Not Sex
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Core concept around which feminist theorising has
developed: idea of gender.
Most of us know what sex we are: male or female.
This is biological. However, gender, feminists
claim, is social not biological.
Why is this distinction important? The point
feminists make is that social categorization is not
automatic and typically reflects the imposition of a
particular view of the right social order.
This order usually attaches different values to the
two genders. For example, masculinity is
associated with autonomy, sovereignty, objectivity,
universalism, the capacity for reason and
abstraction. Femininity is held to be the absence of
these qualities.
Where are the Women?
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Women are ignored by mainstream IR research,
claim Feminist IR thinkers. Women's lives and
experiences are excluded in thinking and
theorising in IR, as are female scholars. Current
research in IR represents only a partial
"malestream" view as a consequence.
Many feminist writers argue that thinking of IR only
as high politics (... of war...) ignores the degree to
which diplomacy reflects the intervention of
women. It also ignores the consequences of
military action on the social and material survival
of communities.
Where are the Women? (cont)
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Being concerned to look for women in politics
leads to gender-sensitive research designed to
change the sort of knowledge produced about
politics. Examples include:
evaluating the role of women in third world
development;
the effect on women of changed social policies in
industrial societies;
the gender-particular effects of the activities of
international organizations; and
the re-institutionalization of rigid gender divisions
in the post-Communist societies of central and east
Europe.
Masculine Logic
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Key concepts of IR theory are gendered.
Feminists argue that gender relations have not
been studied in IR because the field is
gendered. That is, the study of IR is not neutral
but reflects in its key concepts - power,
sovereignty, anarchy and security - elements of
a patriarchal division between the public and
private.
In this view, male experiences and forms of
knowledge are inside the public sphere,
whereas those of women have been historically
located within the private sphere, which has
been thought not to count in IR thinking.
Masculine Logic (cont)
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So, not only IR excludes/marginalizes women, it’s
based on gender-specific assumptions linked to
the dominance of men. From an analytical point of
view, feminist IR theorists argue the failure of
malestream IR to see that the gendering of their
theory limits the ability of most IR thinking to
explain change and continuity in world politics.
A major feature of the feminist incorporation of
gender into IR theory is rejection of the separation
of domestic and "international" politics, just as the
idea of private and public spheres is rejected. The
domestic and international are conceived instead
as interdependent. Attempts to exclude the
domestic, like the private, from IR thinking reflect
gendered notions of what counts in IR.
Key Concepts
Some feminist scholars have sought to
painstakingly reveal how the supposedly nongendered actors of Realism, for example, in
fact reflect male assumptions and concerns.
Here are five examples:
1. Man. As you know, Realism and Liberalism see
people as rational, self-maximizing actors. But
is this an accurate model of humanity, ask
feminist IR thinkers, or is it actually a model
made by men about how some men operate in
a particular context of relations between
genders?
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Key Concepts (cont)
2. The State. Rather than conceive of the state as a
reflection of sovereignty, some gender
theorists see states as reflective of gender
power, which acts on men and women to
socialize narrow versions of gender identities
into them.
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Men are identified with the public realm as
bringers of order, while women are identified
with private thinking or anarchy, which, of
course, is in principle the source of threats to
the international system in Realist and Liberal
thought.
Key Concepts (cont)
3. Power. This is typically conceived as "powerover" in most IR theory: the ability of A to get B
to do something B would not otherwise have
done. But, say feminist IR theorists, this rests
on the male-centered assumption that
autonomy equals being free from the direct
influence of others.
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An alternative view of power is to focus on the
ways in which the rules of the game are
organized in advance of 'power-over'. Power is
then a much broader and more significant thing
altogether in feminist IR theory.
Key Concepts (cont)
4. Rationality. Realists argue that instrumental
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reasoning is central to IR. This is when thinking is a
means to an end and therefore where relationships
are also means to an end. In IR, this means that
international cooperation and collaboration is
always just a means to an end for Realists.
Feminist IR theorists respond by arguing that this
version of rationality is gendered. Rationality here
is a disembodied and detached masculine way of
seeing the world that abstracts from historical
context and the human relationships which women
are responsible for maintaining. But the world isn't
like this, say the feminists.
Key Concepts (cont)
5. Security. The role of deterrence in creating stability in
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anarchy is rejected as an adequate definition of
security by feminist IR theorists. Realism is seen as
endangering by elevating a male concern with
power-over to the supreme value of the global
system.
Security: Defined broadly in multidimensional and
multilevel terms.
Security of individuals is related to national and
international politics
Security threats include: domestic violence, rape,
poverty, gender subordination, ecological
destruction, war
Those at the margins of states may be rendered
more insecure by their state’s security policies
Key Concepts (cont)
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Much of the legitimacy of war is based on the cultural
construction that men fight wars to protect ‘vulnerable
people’
Yet, women and children constitute a majority of
casualties in recent wars
Feminists highlight:
 Militaries are often threats to individuals’ (particularly
women’s) security and competitors for scarce resources
on which women may depend more than men
 Wartime rape as a deliberate military strategy
Economic insecurity: women are disproportionately
located at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale in all
societies.
Disproportionate poverty cannot be explained by market
conditions alone. Gendered role expectations contribute
to women’s economic insecurity :
 economic worth of women’s work
 kinds of tasks that women are expected to do
Diversity of Feminist Theory
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It is important to understand that there are a variety of
different feminist approaches and debates. Here are some
examples from the world of feminist thought.
Liberal feminism is the most commonsense-like version. It
looks at the roles women play in world politics. How are
women excluded from power, ask the Liberal Feminists?
Liberal Feminists want the same rights men enjoy
extended to women.
Marxist/socialist feminism focuses on the international
capitalist system. Marxist feminists see the oppression of
women as a result of capitalism, whereas socialist
feminists see both capitalism and patriarchy as the
structures to be overcome.
Critical feminism applies Robert Cox’s approach but with a
focus on women. Puts much emphasis on the ideas men
and women attach to their relationships and where those
ideas come from.
Diversity (cont)
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Feminist Constructivism also focuses on
ideational elements of world politics. Challenge
Neorealist notions of states as unitary actors.
Postmodernist feminists are concerned with
examining how societies shape masculinity
and femininity (and how these differ over time
and between societies) especially through
language.
Postcolonial feminism are concerned with
racial stereotypes, being especially critical of
the domination of feminism by white western
women.
Main Points
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The three most important things to keep in mind
about feminist IR theory in general:
like feminist thinking throughout the social
sciences, the central claim is that gender is a
social issue and not a biological one;
the rejection of fixed elements or structures in
IR theory (such as anarchy); and
passionate interest in the possibilities for
change in world politics.
…also have a look at the next PPT set…
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...in this sense…