In what ways might the state be considered to be 'gendered' - Essay Example

?In what ways might the be considered to be 'gendered'? Introduction A can be considered, primarily ‘gendered’, if it has ensured proper representation as well as powers for women, in all legislative as well as executive establishments. But the process of gendering a state rather begins than ends there. Apart from the formal forms of politics, there are informal avenues of politics as well, like pressure groups, social movements, policies and public discourses where women’s involvement is usually minimal or not up to the level of equality. And last but not least, the inclusion of sexual politics into mainstream politics only will complete this process of gendering the state. In general, any discussion on gendering the state will have to deal with matters of inclusion as well as exclusion of women in and from politics. Like any other social establishment, state is also connected to other social establishments by way of hundreds and thousands of channels of communication idea exchange. Hence, to complete the gendering of the state, gendering of the society as a whole becomes necessary. Why, gender the state The status of women in this generally patriarchal world is a discussion that has passed, at least two centuries. It has been a sociologically proven fact that “historical construction of the state […] represents a gendered masculine model” (Tickner, 2001: 54). Women who “constitute half the world’s population, perform nearly two-thirds of its work hours, receive one-tenth of the world’s income, and own less than one-hundredth of the world’s property” (cited in Bubeck, 1995: 2). It is this injustice and inequality that prompts discussion on the possibility of gendering the state. In different countries, women as individuals and as groups have been engaged in attempts to gender the state that govern them. Men who have internalized gender politics have also been partners in such attempts. To assess whether and to what extent a state is gendered, is to be able to scrutinize the actions, attitudes and policies of the state. And this assessment has to be based on the notion that “any meaningful conception of equality must provide all women with political, social and economic rights” (Cornell, 1993: 162). From this reasoning and the discussion made above, it can be seen that just like there is no gendering of the state possible without the gendering of the society, no political change is possible without corresponding social and economic changes. But still, for the sake of convenience while making a gendering intervention, the state can be compartmentalized into different segments like executive, legislature, media, informal political sphere, public space, etc. Gendering the processes of state The communist, capitalist and democratic forms of state, have been criticized by feminist scholars, for being hierarchical when it comes to gender relations (Abu-Laban, 2009: 7). The gender power relations within each of this system of rule were found to be typically an extension of family and its gender relations (Abu-Laban, 2009: 8). Some feminist scholars (cited in Abu-Laban, 2009) have debated whether nationalism is “progressive or reactionary” in terms of a gender perspective (12). The duality and contradiction involved with the role of women as citizens and as inferior members in a family has to be addressed if the gendering process of the state is to gain stability by finding roots in the society (Abu-Laban, 2009: 13). True (2003) has drawn attention to the need of “gendering socialist state” by which it becomes clear that even a state establishment that addresses certain inequalities like class and race cannot be considered as gender-sensitive (28). In such a scenario, the gendering of state is viewed as to include: Election [of women] to legislatures, the appointment of women to public office as ministers and bureaucrats, the presence of women’s policy agencies, and the potential for these women and agencies to promote women-friendly policy outcomes (McBride and Mazur, 2010: 25). Women as policy makers The example of Australia shows that it is possible to extensively study the “gender-based impact of policies” and based on that, bring gender into mainstream, “into all significant government departments, agencies or ministries” (Haussman and Sauer, 2007: 3). In such a scenario, even the concept of citizenship might be in need of reformatting as is suggested by Bubeck (1995: 461). As a result of care theories having an influence on political realm as well, the reformatting of citizenship is suggested on the lines of “maternal thinking” (Bubeck, 1995: 461). This feminist concept of citizenship is capable of altering the whole structure of politics in a society. In any attempt to gender the state, this kind of gender-based alternative concepts and value systems need to be incorporated. The “process of integrating women and women’s issues into policy making” is considered as the major achievement of women’s movements all over the world (Haussman and Sauer, 2007: 1). As of now, issues like sex equality are only partially assimilated into state policies. For example, women do unpaid work at home and also they are paid less than men in many professions. And to add insult to injury, women’s work whether paid or unpaid is “understood not as production […] but as care” (Bubeck, 1995: 9). This again is a policy issue in which the state has to make the necessary changes. Hence, in gendering the policy aspect of the state, women need to get representation as policy makers and women’s issues also need to get deserving consideration as policy matters. Women as politicians Scholars like Derrida (cited in Cornell, 1993) have made a feminine reading of democracy as friendship and picked up ‘’feminine’ virtues of “care, gentleness (and) an appreciation for heterogeneity” as its foundations (166). It will be a new politics that will be unfolding in such a democracy. Though such a transformation is a far away dream of feminists, giving due representation and power to women in political parties and trade unions has to become an important facet of gendering the political space. It has been pointed out that women politicians always face a very limited choice between devil and the sea - they “are expected to conform to the rules of the (conventional male politics) game” or they are trapped in the “difference justification of women’s representation and the maternalist thrust of expectations of policy impacts” with the danger of “locking political women into traditional family roles” (Lovenduski, 2005: 3). To get rid of both these stereotypes is the challenge before any gendering attempt in the sphere of political parties. Women as legislators To ensure the presence of women as legislators is an important element of the gendering of the state. A state can be called gendered in the law-making aspect when, “electoral laws [are] changed, gender quotas introduced-to ensure that women are represented in politics in numbers more proportionately similar to their presence in the population” (Paxton and Melanie, 2007: 10). Equal representation in legislature bodies is a distant dream for women, so far. Only in such an ideal situation can a woman legislator or a group of them can influence changes in the make up of the existing and newly enacted laws. Along with this, the “hidden gender of law” need to be exposed and rectified so that the state can have a gendered tool to address the rights of its citizens (Graycar and Morgan, 2002). Women and political opinion A society can be viewed as gender-literate only when there is enough space for voicing women’s political opinions. Creation of a climate conducive for the free airing of political views by women is an essential part of the gendering of the state and the society. It has to be a social atmosphere rather than a set of rules proclaimed and enforced by the state. Any attempt to create a free expression space for political opinions of women has to root its action in the following knowledge- “true equality for women requires some kind of socialist society based on co-operation and collectivism rather than competition and individualism” (Bryson, 2003: 3). This is an activity that has to be spearheaded by the state in the informal political sphere, namely, public political discourse. And this will have a contributory effect on the gendering of the state from a holistic perspective. Feminism and political action Women’s movement leaders and activists have now come to inhabit the mainstream by getting “integrated with formal institutions in parties and governments” (Haussman and Sauer, 2007: 1). Haussman and Sauer (2007) have even called this “state feminism” (p.1). State feminism again is a part of the gendering process of the state. Another important observation about the current state of affairs is that “women’s movement activism has […] become increasingly consolidated and institutionalised through political parties, formal interest groups, legislatures, media, academia and bureaucracies” (Haussman and Sauer, 2007: 3). Feminist critique of political ‘science’ While addressing the need for gendering the state, a demand will be felt to have a political theory, which refutes the conventional political theories (that reinforce the ideology of patriarchy). This is where a feminist critique of political science gains relevance. It is this gendered political theory of future that will ensure a solid foundation for a gendered state. This new political theory will have to be developed “to unsettle established conventions about the nature and boundaries of the political” (Squires, 2000: 1). This is a highly provoking process for the mainstream political systems because “politics has historically been the most explicitly masculine human activity of all” (Squires, 2000: 1). Women have been excluded from politics until recently and it was the woman suffrage movement that turned the wheel. Inclusion of women, proper representation, power to women, and inclusion in decision making roles are some features that need to be incorporated into the structure of political parties so that the gendering of state extends to its political arm, the political parties. Also the stereotyped image of the politician will be in need of redrawing once the gendering process sets off. It is also by exposing the gendered character of the conventional political theories as well as political parties that a gendered version can emerge. Postmodernism and the politics of difference Postmodernism has always been the ideology of ‘difference’ and this is why this theoretical premise provides support to gender discourses as well. Regarding the gendering of the political realm, Sandra Whitworth has observed that “liberal feminists seek to add women in, radical feminists assert a feminine perspective, and post modern feminists deconstruct the fiction of the category of ‘woman’” (Squires, 2000: 18). It is the “reconceptualisation” of what is feminine that makes post modernism a useful tool in gendering a society and the stat that rules and controls it (Squires, 2000: 19). Giving space to the politics of difference inside the realm of mainstream politics can thus be a major step towards gendering politics. Women for peace Gendering of the state invariably needs to keep its focus on world peace because the conventional politics has been the politics of military and war; women have been the eternal victims. They have been raped, deprived of their men, deprived of their economic security, lost children, and suffered from poverty and misplacement during wars. As Enloe (2008) has pointed out: Militaries have needed, and continue to need, some women to provide commercialized sexual services to male soldiers, other women to commit themselves to marital fidelity in military families; simultaneously they need still other women to find economic security and even pride in working for defense contractors. At times governments even need some civilian women to act as feminist lobbyists promoting women’s rights to serve in the state’s military (p.12 of preface). In this backdrop, peace has to become a key ideology behind the gendering of the state. The concept of a military totally based on masculine values has to be replaced with a feminine alternative. The prevailing concept that “state-led military violence” is the only solution acts of violence against a nation state needs to be revamped in a gendered society under a gendered state (Abu-Laban, 2009: 2). The gendering process in this sphere can be initiated as a social movement of women for peace, and a promise of commitment from the state apparatus that it would put peace before everything else. It is by considering and intervening in all these spheres that the state can be gendered in an all-encompassing way. And it has to be kept in mind that this process has to be a continuous activity of renewal and updating. The social changes that are happening in the area of gender relations and gender identity, demand a constant readjustment of the gendered state to correlate with that (Glasberg and Shannon, 2010: 194). A state can thus be considered gendered, when there is a constant vigil by all the players in the field of formal and informal politics. 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Haussman, M and Sauer, B (2007) Gendering the State in the Age of Globalization: Women's Movements and State Feminism in Postindustrial Democracies. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Lovenduski, Joni and Pippa Norris (eds.) (2005) Feminizing Politics. Cambridge: Polity. McBride, Dorothy.E. and Mazur,Amy.G (2010) The Politics of State Feminism: Innovation in Comparative Research. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Paxton, Pamela and Melanie Hughes (ed.) (2007) Women, Politics and Power: a global perspective. London: Pine Forge/Sage. Squires, Judith (2000) Gender in Political Theory. Cambridge: Polity. Tickner, J.Ann. (2001) Gendering World Politics: Issues and Approaches in the Post-Cold War Era. Columbia: Columbia University Press. True, Jacqui (2003) Gender, Globalization, and Postsocialism: the Czech Republic after Communism. Columbia: Columbia University Press. Read More