CRITIQUES OF REALISM: FEMINISM
*Brainstorm: How does gender relate to study of IR? What wd.
feminists say about world politics?
I. Gender as a lens
A. Lenses & paradigms: maps that order our experience, framework
for interpreting reality & giving meaning to info.
1. Cannot view world without lens
2. Every lens has normative & political implications
>> so it's best to become conscious of our lenses
B. Until recently, the masculinity of IR was taken for granted
& assumed as natural
* Show cartoon (lens)
C. Gender = sex: culturally acquired, not biological
[Testosterone theory of IR]
Perhaps the most basic form of social & psych. identity.
No aspect of life is free from the dichotomous thinking that
cuts the world into male and female.
II. Explaining gender bias in IR
A. Politics as masculine
1. Radical individualism neglects social dimension of life.
Women invisible in Hobbes's SN; without women's caretaking,
species would not have survived.
2. Modern state modelled on Athenian state.
Until recently, women excluded from pols., even voting
3. Historical link between soldiering & citizenship
More recently, between mil. service & pol. leadership
Masculine Feminine
Objective/Rational Subjective/Emotional
Hard Soft
Mind Body
Culture Nature
Public/Politics Personal/Home
Powerful Weak
Authority Care
III. Feminist critique of realist assumptions
A. Pols. governed by objective laws rooted in human nature
**Objectivity is culturally defined & associated with masculinity.
Human nature is also culturally defined.
B. Politics shd. be governed by ntl. interest as power
**Ntl. interest is multidimensional. Contemporary issues
demand cooperative rather than zero-sum solutions.
C. State-centrism
**Privileging the state, which is a masculine inst., tends to
make women invisible. Focus instead on transnational
networks & issues that blur the public/private dichotomy
(human rights, hunger, children's welfare, environment).
D. IR separate from ethics
**All action has moral significance. "The personal is
political." Politics is not an autonomous realm, and in fact
autonomy is associated w/ masculinity. This realist move is a way
to exclude the concerns of women from IR.
Q: What happens when women are made visible in world politics?
*Show sky cartoon.
Global gender inequality is revealed. Reveal the hidden: wives of
leaders & diplomats, tourism & advertising as IR, prostitution and
foreign military bases, sexual metaphors in strategic discourse.
**TASK: Break into groups of 4, 2 realists & 2 feminists, all at a meeting
of the U.S. President's cabinet discussing the U.S. role in the
upcoming U.N. Social Summit in Beijing that will focus on women's
issues. How do your views & agendas differ? What would each of
you be hoping to accomplish at the conference? How might your
perspectives be affected by the fact that the conference is
happening in Beijing?
IV. No monolithic feminism
A. Essentialist: biology, not gender (minority view)
EX: Testosterone theory of war
Aggressive women like Thatcher, Golda Meir, cast doubt
B. Liberal: give women equal econ. & political opportunities.
C. Standpoint: women's different socialization & experience,
esp. childrearing and caretaking, >> ethic of care.
D. Ecofeminist: links oppressions of women with destruction
of nature historically; women & nature were identified with each
other.
E. Disagreement among feminists:
EX: Women in combat. Liberals says this is gender equality;
other feminists say this just supports a masculinist system.
V. Policy responses
A. Consider impact on women
B. Emphasize "low politics": reveal the hidden
EX: World Bank is funding large mining project in a poor African
country. How will it impact the family & property rights
structure in surrounding villages?
C. Peace & cooperation (not state-centric, like Grotians)
D. Bring "maternal thinking" into IR: focus on preservation of life &
growth of children (not state power)
1. Children are primary victims of existing practices & the least
powerful members of intl. society
--Most of world's poor & hungry are children
--Most refugees from intl. conflicts are children
(Rwanda, Bosnia, etc.)
2. Restoring the integrity of the biosphere shd. be a top priority.
-- Children are primary victims here too.