Chapter 7: Feminist Thought and International Relations

Introduction

Feminism came to the fore as a reaction to the “male” dominant structure of international relations and to the negligence of topics such as “gender”; thus influencing the studies on international politics to a great extent in terms of its efforts in making the role of women more “visible” in international politics. Feminist approach, by introducing the concept of “gender” in international political studies, aimed to reassess the traditional concepts of international politics; particularly the notions of high politics such as “power”, “security”, “war”, “armament”, “national interest” which give little or no room for gender issues.

Feminist Thought in International Relations

Feminism is the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of men and women. Feminist IR represents not only how international politics influences men and women but also how it is influenced by them. Despite the dissensus among different feminist approaches in IR, all of them accommodate certain central components that can be regarded as common feminist traits.

These involve: i) the centrality of the concept of “gender” in debates and discussions on feminism; ii) the problematization of gender relations within research framework; iii) the formulation of hypothesis that gender relations are not intangible; and iv) the belief that feminism is a form of commitment to change and/or transition.

Historical Background of the Feminist Thought

The roots of feminism was first identified as a part of the European enlightenment process. Over time, this movement has widened in scope and turned into a proposition of a new political, social and economic order highlighting the role of women in this transformation process. Even so, the main argument of feminism remained stationary: women suffer and are overwhelmed by the control and power of men; they are always disadvantaged compared to men; and they remain unequal and subordinate to men; which altogether form a gender hierarchy in societies.

It is acknowledged that the roots of modern feminism go back to Mary Wollstonecraft’s work titled A Vindication of the Rights of Women published in 1792.

Waves of Feminism

The first “wave” of the feminist movement was observed in the 19th century (1800s and early 1900s); and it was concentrated on the fight for the same legal and political rights as men. the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK) had become crucial geographical points for women to fight for equal rights with men. One of the greatest achievements of the first wave of feminism is known as the signing of the Electoral Act 1893 into law in New Zealand. As a matter of fact, with this Act, New Zealand became the “first self-governing country” in the world in which all women had gained the right to vote in the parliamentary elections.

The “second wave” of feminism started in the latter part of the 20th century. The second wave primarily focused on issues such as the legal equality between men and women, women’s liberation movements with the theme of women liberation, inequalities in the work place, as well as family and reproductive rights. One of the most prominent works known is “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan published in 1963 during the second wave of feminism.

The “third wave” of feminism on the other hand, covered the period of 1990s and early 2000s and criticized the fact that the first two waves of feminism were dominated by white women from advanced capitalist societies. Similar to the previous waves, the third wave of feminism also aimed to raise issues subjugating the disparities and inequalities between men and women such as work pay and reproductive rights. However, the third wave of feminism also aimed to work for correcting the mistakes made or failures faced during the previous phases; and it focused on concepts such as globalization, postcolonialism, post-structuralism and post-modernism.

Main Concepts of Feminist Thought

Feminist discussions are centered upon particular terms and concepts which are considered helpful to show that international system is constituted by socially constructed gender hierarchies triggering gender subordination to the detriment of women.

Perceptively, the first and foremost concepts used by feminists are “sex” and “gender”. Although these terms are used interchangeably by feminists, the term “sex” refers to the two main biological categories – male and female – into which most living things including humans are divided based on their reproductive functions; the term “gender”, on the other hand, refers to the categorization of sexes – male and female – on the basis of social and cultural differences as well as their position in a society.

The other terms broadly used by feminists include “patriarchy”, “hegemonic masculinity”, “masculinity” and “femininity”. “Patriarchy” symbolizes a system in which men essentially hold power whilst women are largely excluded from it; hence this system points at the dependence of women on men in terms of power and status.

“Hegemonic masculinity” connotes a set of values constituting a society formed by the men bearing power which is based on social gender inequality and primarily used to criticize this type of masculinity by indicating that the relationship of men to women is habitually oppressive. In that respect, whilst “masculinity” signifies the qualities or attributes regarded as typical characteristics of men and menly behaviours, “femininity” involves distinctive characteristics or behaviours associated with women.

Typologies of Feminism

The world of feminist thinking compromises liberal, socialist and Marxist, radical, postmodern, constructivist, postcolonial, and cultural feminism.

Liberal Feminism

Liberal feminism advocates for equality between the sexes through social and political reforms, and legal means; they argue that only with the attainment of equal rights between men and women, feminism can reach its objective. They lay stress on the importance of an individual; and believe that every woman can assert her place in society and gain the rights she deserves, such as abortion rights, equal pay for male and female employees, educational rights, voting rights, childcare, health care, etc. Liberal feminism explores the personal interactions of men and women in order to find ways in which societies are transformed into a more “gender-equitable” places. Liberal feminists, in that respect, support the idea of integrating women into the male dominant fields such as foreign policymaking and the military.

Socialist and Marxist Feminism

Marxist feminism asserts that the oppressed status of women can be attributed to the unequal treatment at both the workplace and in the house. Socialist feminism suggests that socialism handles the problem of the oppressed and exploited people; henceforth, it habitually takes the problems of women into consideration.

Financial and personal exploitation; the institution of marriage, childbirth and childcare, prostitution, and domestic work are tools for degrading women, and the work they do, in a male-dominated society according to socialist feminists. On the other hand, socialist and Marxist feminism’s underlying concept emerges as “gender” in preference to Marxism’s concept of “class”.

Radical Feminism

Radical feminism primarily aims to formulate new ways of understanding the relationship between men and women; and believes that it is the male-dominated hierarchy that is responsible for the oppressed status of women today. Therefore, it believes in “going to the root” or the source. If changes are not brought about in this hierarchy, there can be no equality between men and women, and that a total reconstruction of the society is necessary to bring about the desired reforms. In the same line of reasoning, radical feminism refers to the necessity of changing and strengthening the role of women in the production system of the society in the process of establishing a new societal order.

Postmodern Feminism

Postmodern feminists claim that gender roles are arbitrarily constructed; and therefore, the relationship between gender and power should be re-evaluated in an unrestricted way. In that respect, postmodern feminism suggests that the constructive function of legal discourse should be pursued in order to make feminists’ point of “political struggle” over gender differences more visible. Accepting notions of waging or concluding of wars as male-centric and women as more peaceful human beings than men, postmodern feminists point at the possibilities of changing the conflictual nature of international politics if a gynocentric framework can be obtained through the participation of more women with divergent experiences and realities. Postmodern feminists argue that women are not just passive bystanders or victims in war, but active participants in a system of warfare.

Constructivist Feminism

Constructivist feminism mainly criticizes the realist assertion that states are the unitary actors of international relations; and as an alternative explanation, they suggest that states come into being as a dynamic result of social projects compromising their own entities. Constructivist feminism accepts a direct correlation between international politics and gender perceptions .

Postcolonial Feminism

Postcolonial feminism has developed as a response to feminism focusing solely on the experiences of women in Western cultures. Therefore, postcolonial feminists are primarily preoccupied with the conditions of women in colonized locations; and they shed light on the notion of “double colonization” of women, indicating that they experience the oppression of not only colonialism but also of patriarchy. Postcolonial feminists also reasonably criticize western feminists for their specific focus largely on western women who have comparative advantages in social life such as access to education, wealth and their active position in the liberal order compared to the women from “marginalized or oppressed groups”.

Cultural Feminism

In contrast to the other feminist typologies, cultural feminism overlooks developments in political sphere and focuses on cultural sphere instead. Cultural feminism stresses that the “male supremacist culture” is the main problem of courses of actions defining women by men. cultural feminism believes that the qualities present in women are not only unique, but also superior to those present in men. These qualities are more of a psychological and cultural nature than biological. They believe that the female essence should be celebrated and infused with the male-dominated world to provide the right balance to the working of society.

Epistemological Categories of Feminism

It is argued that this type of categorization of feminism is beneficial not only for the development of international politics and international relations but also for the manifestation of the contributions that feminist thinking makes to the field of IR. These epistemological categories of feminism involve: (1) empirical feminism which examines the conditions and the role of women in societies and concentrates on “gender” issue as an “empirical component” of international relations; (2) analytical feminism which formulates “gender” as a “theoretical category” whilst exploring the hidden “gender bias” of main IR concepts and whilst discussing the structural aspects of relations; and (3) normative feminism which presents a “normative agenda” for the theorization process of social and political changes.

Feminist Contributions to International Relations

The first and foremost contribution of feminism to traditional IR has unquestionably granted access to the formation of critical and inquisitive assessments concerning the unique impact of feminist perspectives on international politics. the first international women’s conference on peace and freedom took place in 1915 where the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was established with the aim of bringing together women to oppose war, violence and global militarization.

The first generation of feminist IR that only emerged in the 1980s has paved the way for re-examination of the traditional IR theories during the 1990s. The feminist approach aspires to problematize the “politics of knowledge construction” with the help of deconstructivism as a methodological tool associated with postmodernism and post-structuralism.

It can be argued that the contributions of the first generation of feminist IR has been rather inadequate in view of its “normative claim” of presenting a profound alternative to mainstream IR theories such as realism. Nonetheless, the publication of Millennium as the first journal in the subfield of feminism in 1988 symbolizes the attempts of feminist IR scholars to change the genderblind tendency of IR studies in this period.

The post-Cold War period has opened up a suitable environment for the re-evaluation of traditional IR studies and also for gendering IR as a critical project in which the “interparadigm debates” that contested the “epistemological and theoretical certainties” of the discipline were discussed. The pioneering role of expanding the scope of feminist studies in this period was attributed to prominent scholars such as Cynthia Enloe, J. Ann Tickner, Christine Sylvester.

Cyntia Enloe is one of the most prominent feminist scholars, best known for her work on gender and the role of women. Her work Bananas, Beaches and Bases (1989) is considered as one of the upmost works on feminist international relations.

J. Ann Tickner is an Anglo-American feminist IR theorist and Tickner became famous for her attempts to challenge the mainstream IR theories and through her contributions to the sub-discipline of feminist IR.

Cynthia Sylvester, a renowned scholar of political science, focuses on the historical development of feminist efforts in integrating gender and gender relations into the study of international relations. Sylvester puts forward three kinds of epistemologies as: i) empiricism and liberalism; ii) standpoint and radical-cultural politics; and iii) social feminist practice and postmodern skepticism .

Feminist Critiques of Foundational Concepts and Assumptions of International Relations

The main contribution of feminists to the general critical discourse is their focus on the gender aspect of designated concepts and assumptions. Within this respect, some of the main concepts that the feminists try to re-formulate according to their own arguments are “power, security, state, war and peace”.

One of the most pronounced examples for the feminist critiques of classical concepts and assumptions brought to the fore by realist theory is J. Ann Tickner’s criticism of Hans J. Morgenthau’s “six principles of political realism” presented in his prominent work Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace first published in 1967. Tickner expressively revaluates Morgenthau’s principles through the feminist lenses and significantly contributes to the critical evaluation of the mainstream IR theories.

According to Hans J. Morgenthau, the six principles of political realism are: i) politics is governed by objective laws which have roots in human nature; ii) national interest defined in terms of national power; iii) interest is always dynamic; iv) abstract moral principles cannot be applied to politics; v) difference between moral aspirations of a nation and the universal moral principles; and vi) autonomy of international politics.

Tickner emphasized that Morgenthau’s concept of “objective laws” is defined on masculine basis. Tickner remarked that in today’s world, the concept of national interest cannot be equated with national power. Tickner suggests that national interests should be addressed based on cooperative relations on mutual interests that would be multidimensional in scope and that would involve all actors. Tickner indicates that moral principles cannot be separated from politics; public sphere cannot be autonomous, and above all, there arose a necessity for questioning the public sphere as it is a sphere that excludes women.

On the other hand criticising the concept of autonomy, Tickner insisted that this concept should be re-defined in such a way as to internalize the existence of women as well. According to Tickner, the values and assumptions ruling the international system are naturally dependent on the concept of masculinity, and prioritizing these values restrains the options of states and decision-makers.

Tickner treated the concept of “security” in a multidimensional way and redefined it as “reducing all the violence. Tickner also defended that the concept of “power” should be dealt with again and redefined within the framework of gender equality.

To feminists, the concept of “war” is a rather masculine one and should be criticised for this reason. And naturally for Tickner, “war” is a masculine concept and deems women as non-existent in that it is a business for men. To Tickner, as well, the level of destruction caused by war is more important that its causes.

Sylvester argues that the concept of selfhelp masks out institutional relations, diplomacy, and trade regimes taking place in the meantime.

Limitations of the Feminist Approaches to International Relations

Feminist approaches to IR have introduced the concept of “gender” as an indispensable means for analyzing the interactions between states in the international framework. However, in spite of these efforts to construct a better IR theory, feminist analysis has had little impact on international politics. As a matter of fact, policymakers and decision-makers are still inclined to dismiss the ideas of feminists to a great extent. Furthermore, it is observed that women’s roles in the creation and sustainability of international politics are still considered as insignificant issues not worthy of investigation. Nonetheless, feminist approaches to IR have been criticized due to its sole and exclusive focus on the role of women in world politics and disregard of the role of men in the same context. There is still a need for the expansion and re-formulation of the main arguments of gendering of international relations to be able to talk about a full-fledged theory of international relations .

Conclusion

The feminist approach contributed to the study of international relations by granting prominence to women as important actors impacting upon structures in international politics. Overall, feminist IR’s general contribution to mainstream IR studies involves the introduction of gender analysis as an alternative to the male-stream view of traditional high politics issues; the redefinition of key IR concepts that are traditionally defined with a masculine logic such as state, man, power, rationality and security; and the ethical commitment for inclusivity and self-reflectivity in power relationships involving men and women in the field of IR. The success of the feminist analysis of gender and gender relations in the field of IR is still debatable.