Feminism In International Relations
Feminist theories entered the discipline of International Relations (IR) in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a critique of the mainstream theories, which largely excluded gender as a category of analysis. Feminists argued that gender hierarchies are inherent in the international system, and that only by examining them can we fully understand global politics. They emphasized that most IR knowledge has been created by and focused on men, rendering women invisible. As such, feminists have advocated for analyzing how individuals, especially marginalized people, are impacted by and impact global politics.
Feminist perspectives in IR are diverse, but share a commitment to gender equality and emancipation. They have illuminated issues like security, conflict, development, and the global economy through a gendered lens. This article will provide an overview of the main feminist approaches in IR theory, their perspectives on gender and security, and an application of feminist analysis to economic sanctions in Iraq. The goal is to demonstrate how feminism deepens our understanding of global politics.
Liberal Feminism
Liberal feminism calls attention to the subordinate position of women in global politics but remains committed to investigating the causes of this subordination within a positivist framework. This perspective pushes for legal reforms as the path to achieving women’s equality, granting women the same rights and opportunities as men in society.
Methodologically, liberal feminism often uses gender as a statistical inquiry. For example, some argue that greater gender equality within states makes them less prone to violence compared to other states. The liberal feminist perspective stays committed to institutional approaches, believing legal reforms provide the best chance to eliminate gender disparities. In this view, the law should not discriminate based on gender.
Overall, liberal feminism aligns with core tenets of liberalism - a focus on individual legal rights, incremental institutional change through policy, and social progress guided by empirical research. While not revolutionary, liberal feminists believe working within existing power structures provides the most pragmatic strategy for empowering women and moving towards equality under the law.
Critical Feminism
Critical feminism explores the ideational and material manifestations of gendered identities and gendered power in global politics.
Critical feminists take an emancipatory approach and are committed to trying to understand the world in order to try to change it. As Sandra Whitworth (1994) suggests gender is constituted not just by material conditions but also by the meaning given to that reality ideas that men and women have about their relationships to one another.
Critical feminists analyze both the material and ideational factors that contribute to gendered power dynamics in global politics. On the material side, they examine how gender roles, relations, and identities are shaped by political, economic, and social institutions and systems. At the same time, critical feminists also explore how ideas about gender influence global politics and vice versa.
With an emancipatory approach, the goal of critical feminism is not just explanation and understanding, but using knowledge to facilitate progressive change. Critical feminists aim to reveal gender biases and inequalities in global politics as a step toward transforming unjust gender relations and empowering disadvantaged groups. Through praxis, or the integration of theory and practice, critical feminists combine scholarly analysis with political activism and advocacy.
Overall, critical feminism provides a multifaceted analysis of gender and global politics that engages with both material realities and social constructions. This enables a deeper understanding of gender subordination and offers pathways toward more equitable gender relations in the international system.
Constructivist Feminism
Constructivist feminism focuses on the way ideas about gender influence global politics as well as the ways that global politics shape ideas about gender. Constructivists examine the role of norms, ideas, cultures and identities in shaping gender roles and relations.
From a linguistically based feminist constructivist perspective, Elisabeth Prugl argues that gender politics pervade world politics, creating a set of linguistically-based rules about how states interact with each other and with their own citizens. For example, nation states and the language of nationalism have tended to portray the nation as a ‘family’ with the head of state as the ‘father’ who must protect the ‘motherland’. This shapes certain expectations about masculinity and femininity in global politics.
Linguistic analysis also reveals how states assert their power and justify their actions using gendered language. For instance, powerful states have justified colonialism, war and intervention by framing themselves as the protector or civilizer, taking on a masculine role, while framing the recipient state with feminine qualities of weakness, irrationality or innocence.
Constructivists examine how these gendered ideas and discourses are created, shared, internalized and transformed through global political processes and interactions. This shapes identities, interests and distributions of power between men and women globally.
Poststructural Feminism
Poststructuralist feminism is concerned with the relationship between knowledge and power; those who construct meaning and create knowledge thereby gain a great deal of power. They seek to expose and deconstruct the hierarchies found in dichotomized linguistic constructions such as civilized/uncivilized, order/anarchy, and developed/underdeveloped.
Poststructural feminists focus on analyzing texts and their meaning in order to reveal the underlying power structures. They argue that mainstream IR theory reinforces male dominance by framing world politics in terms of masculinized concepts like anarchy, conflict, and power politics. By deconstructing such binary oppositions, poststructural feminists aim to show how gendered assumptions and norms permeate global politics.
According to poststructural feminists, language does not simply reflect reality - it actively shapes and constructs it. They are concerned with how certain groups are marginalized or subordinated through discourse. For example, the dichotomy between developed and underdeveloped states justifies and perpetuates global inequalities and obscures the complex relations of interdependence.
By exposing and challenging masculine biases in IR theory and international practices, poststructural feminists seek to transform the field into one that promotes gender justice and equality. Their focus on discourse, knowledge, and power provides important insights into the gendered nature of global politics.
Postcolonial Feminism
Postcolonial feminism focuses on the way Western feminists have constructed knowledge about non-Western women. Postcolonial feminists aim to redress subordinations within their own cultural context, rather than through some universal understanding of women’s needs promoted by Western feminism.
Postcolonial feminists critique the assumption held by some Western feminists that their view of women’s rights should apply universally. They argue that Western feminist discourse ignores cultural differences and imposes Western ideals upon non-Western cultures. Postcolonial feminists emphasize that women face differing forms of patriarchy across cultures, and solutions for women’s empowerment must arise from within each unique cultural context.
For example, postcolonial feminists have criticized campaigns against female genital mutilation led by Western feminists. They argue these campaigns portray African women as passive victims of barbaric traditions, failing to account for the cultural meaning behind such practices. Postcolonial feminists call for African women to lead reform efforts arising from their own cultural values and realities.
Overall, postcolonial feminists aim to avoid paternalistic assumptions that developing countries must follow the same feminist path as the West. They advocate for locally-grounded women’s movements tailored to each culture’s distinct traditions and social norms. Postcolonial feminism asserts that Western feminism should not dominate global discourse on women’s rights.
Gender, security, and global politics
Feminists emphasize the significance of gender as a crucial analytical category in understanding security and insecurity. In the realm of International Relations (IR), feminists adopt a comprehensive approach to security, encompassing various forms of violence such as physical, structural, and ecological issues. This perspective includes not only traditional security threats like war but also addresses domestic violence, gender subordination, poverty, and ecological destruction.
Expanding the focus beyond traditional notions of state security, IR feminists redirect attention to the individual and community levels. They reveal the intricate connections between individual security, national and international politics, showcasing how state security policies can potentially render marginalized groups even more insecure. This shift in perspective challenges conventional notions of security and highlights the complex interplay between global politics and individual well-being.
The cultural construction of war often presents it as a means for men to protect vulnerable populations, predominantly defined as women and children. Paradoxically, recent wars have shown that women and children constitute a majority of casualties. This dissonance between cultural narratives and actual consequences underscores the need for a feminist lens in reevaluating the legitimacy and impact of war on different demographics.
Contrary to viewing military power solely as a defense against external threats, feminists argue that militaries can pose threats to individuals’ security, particularly for women. Moreover, these military forces often compete for scarce resources, disproportionately affecting women who may rely more on these resources than men. This perspective challenges the traditional understanding of militaries as protectors and highlights their potential role as sources of insecurity.
Feminists draw attention to wartime rape as a deliberate military strategy, exemplified by incidents during the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. This grim reality underscores the need to analyze conflicts through a gendered lens, revealing the strategic use of violence against women as a tool of war. Such insights reshape our understanding of conflict dynamics and emphasize the urgency of addressing gender-specific security concerns.
Economic Security
Gendered economic inequalities and expectation lead to heightened economic insecurity for women globally. Women consistently rank below men in income, employment opportunities, and access to resources across all societies. This economic deprivation cannot be explained by market forces alone - cultural values and gendered social structures play a significant role.
Women are frequently relegated and confined to low-paying jobs centered around domestic work, childcare, cooking, and cleaning. The expectation that women perform unpaid reproductive labor in the home limits their ability to pursue more lucrative careers. Even in professional fields, women are passed over for promotions and leadership roles. As a result, women disproportionately make up the ranks of the poor worldwide.
Lack of economic security creates a precarious situation for women. Without financial independence, they become vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Poverty restricts their access to education, healthcare, and political influence. During times of conflict and crisis, women suffer more intensely from shortages of food, medicine, and shelter.
Achieving gender equality requires dismantling the social and cultural norms that confine women. Legal reforms granting equal rights provide a foundation, but do not address the underlying gender roles. Society must move beyond the mindset that women’s work holds less merit and value. When the unpaid labor women perform in the household is recognized as vital economic production, perceptions may shift. Ultimately, women’s economic security strengthens families, communities, and nations.
Case Study: Iraq Sanctions
The feminist notion of security provides insight into understanding the impact of economic sanctions on Iraq.
Exclusion of Women’s Voices
Feminists critique the sanctions regime on Iraq for systematically excluding women’s input into policies that disproportionately affected their lives. State and global security decisions often undermine women’s personal security without considering their perspectives or needs.
Gendered Logic of Sanctions
Feminists see economic sanctions as an expression of masculine confrontation - a competition of power where strong states coerce weaker ones into submission. Such coercive policies frequently impact marginalized groups, like women, the most harshly. From a postcolonial feminist view, the sanctions also assumed Western states inherently understood what was best for Iraqis.
State Responsibility
Feminists question norms of state responsibility and borders that distance nations from the human impact of their policies. Borders construct artificial separations between “self” and “other,” enabling countries to separate themselves from accountability. Feminists encourage reflecting on global hierarchies and recalibrating responsibility for international policies that cause real individual suffering.