Feminism Flashcards
Is traditional IR gender neutral?
No. It is gender blind
What are the 3 key aims of feminist IR?
- To make women visible
- To challenge women’s absence from decision-making + institutional structures
- To expose + deconstruct social constructed gender norms
Feminist theorists have revealed that women are routinely exposed to gendered violence. What has exposed about IR?
In making violence against women visible, an international system that accepted a large amount of violence against women as a normal state of affairs was also exposed
What is the UN “UniTE” campaign?
- Campaign to end violence against women
- Estimated 7/10 women will experience violence at some point in life
Is violence specific to any particular political or economic system?
Violence against women is prevalent globally
Not specific to any particular political or economic system
Nowhere do women share…
The same economic, political or social rights as men
Many societies are thought of as predominantly peaceful or stable despite…
High levels of gendered violence
What does gendered violence present?
Presents a very different image of violence + insecurity to that views through the security agendas of states, which is characteristic of traditional IR
Globally, what proportion do women make up of national parliaments?
In 2015, World Bank estimated that globally women made up just 22.9% of national parliaments
How does traditional IR’s focus on areas of high politics exclude women exclude women? (4)
- Focus on areas of high politics e.g. sovereignty, the state, military security
- traditional state-centric focus overlooks fact that men are predominantly in charge of state institutions, dominating power + decision-making structures
- this is a gendered exclusion
- as women still contribute in essential ways to global politics
Traditional perspectives that ignore gender not only overlook the contributions of women and the impact global politics has on them… (3)
- But also perpetually justify this exclusion
- Present false dichotomy between public + private realms
- If women are outside these domains of power, then their experiences + contributions are not relevant
What is masculinity associated with? (4)
Rationality
Power
Independence
The public sphere
What is femininity associated with? (4)
Irrationality
Dependent
Domestic
The private sphere
How do assumptions about who should do what and why impact where women are in global politics? (6)
- By perpetuating assumptions about who should do what + why
- These gender identities are imbued with power
- In particular patriarchal power
- Which subordinates women + feminine gender identities
- Thus socially constructed gender identities determine distributions of power
- Which impact where women are in global politics
What did Cynthia Enloe (1989) ask? (3)
- “Where are the women”
- Encouraging IR scholars to see the spaces that women inhabit in global politics
- Demonstrating that women are essential actors in international system
- Deconstructed distinctions between public + private
In what ways have the military + war making traditionally been seen as masculine endeavours? (2)
- Linked with the idea that men are warriors and protectors
- That they are legitimate armed actors who fight to protect those in need of protection - women, children, the elderly
What has the masculinisation of war meant in practice?
That contributions of women to conflict, + their experiences of it, have been considered peripheral + outside the realm of IR’s considerations
When did the issue of gendered violence in conflict enter the international agenda? (4)
- The issue of gendered violence in conflict has only recently entered the international agenda
- Mass rape of women during + after WW2 not prosecuted, as considered an unfortunate by-product of war
- This has since changed, with 2002 Rome Statue recognising rape as a war crime
- But gendered violence remains endemic in many conflicts, as does impunity for its occurrence
In examining wartime rape, what has Lori Handrahan shown? (3)
- The intersection of gender + ethnic identities
- Where the enemy’s women become constructed as ‘other’
- Thus violence against them represents the expansion of ethnic territory by the male conqueror
What do gendered characterisations that see women characterised as protected mean? (3)
- That conquering them, through rape or sexual violence, is representative of power + domination over one’s enemy
- Rape of male opponents is seen to ‘feminise’ (humiliate) opponents
- This demonstrates how the feminine is devalued
Why does feminism challenge gendered constructions of women as inherently peaceful? (2)
- See these constructions as further evidence of gender inequality
- And as contributing to the exclusion of women from traditional IR perspectives
What is the impact of women being viewed as victims rather than actors?
- If women are assumed to be victims rather than actors, or peaceful rather than aggressive
- Or as only existing in private realm
- Then their experiences + perspectives on global politics are justified as marginal
How have assumptions of women as peaceful been challenged? (2)
- Accounts of women being agents of political violence have challenged these assumptions
- And challenged IR’s limited engagement with women, which in practice perpetuates women’s limited access to power
In what ways is peacekeeping shaped by masculine notions of militarised security? (5)
- Peacekeeping is security-seeking behaviour
- Violence against women often continues and increases in post-conflict period
- The dominant approaches to peacekeeping obscure these kinds of violence
- Issues like gender equality + domestic violence are considered soft issues
- This understanding of peace is thus one in which women’s security is not central
Why does violence against women continue in the post-conflict period? (3)
- Women are generally excluded from positions of power + decision-making in reconstruction efforts
- And have limited access to economic resources
- Making them more susceptible to gendered violence
Gender identities construct women as victims with limited agency. What is the impact of this assumption in peacekeeping missions? (3)
Means women are
- Excluded from disarmament programs because of socially produced gender norms
- Unable to access material + economic benefits that may flow from such programs
- Such as political or social gains they could make from being recognised as legitimate veterans in post-conflict societies
How does peacekeeping itself also contribute to continuation of violence? (3)
- Numerous reports of peacekeepers perpetrating sexual violence while on mission
- e.g. 2015/16 reports of sexual abuse of children in Central African Republic by French peacekeepers
- And the UN’s inaction in the face of these reports
Why do peacekeepers enjoy impunity, despite commitments to zero tolerance?
- Result of gendered security imperatives
- In which militarised security + coherence of the institutions
- Is prioritised over the welfare of the individual
