Gender Issues: Women and War - Research Paper Example

Immediately after our discussion of ‘women and war’, I contemplated about the accomplishments of feminist movements after many years of mobilizing around topics of economic and civil fairness for women. I learned that economic fairness is not synonymous to human rights or civil liberties. Even though topics like women’s poverty, violence, health, labor barriers, and reproductive rights have attained far-reaching global appreciation, women still comprise the largest part of poor populations across the globe.1 All of these ideas influenced my understanding of the militarization of women, or the participation of women in war efforts. Women and War The supposed structural adjustment policies (SAP) of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is still wreaking havoc on women living in less developed countries. Labor oppression of poor women, heterosexist bureaucracy, environmental ruin, and militarization all raise weighty issues for feminist movements today.2 Although feminist movements all over the world have been diversely triumphant, we become heir to several issues women of the earlier periods confronted. However, there are new issues as well as we try to understand a world permanently blemished by the unsuccessful attempt of communist and postcolonial capitalist societies to meet the economic, social, religious, and psychological demands of most of the world’s people. Globalization has increasingly become representative of the motives and goals of the free market and companies rather than autonomy and liberty from economic, cultural, and political subjugation for all the inhabitants of the world.3 There are several of the issues tackled in ‘women and war’. It adopts as its basic arguments the importance of the involvement of feminist movements in both local and global political, economic, and cultural mechanisms, and the importance of a global discourse in creating an ethical tradition able to endure and revolutionize the oppressive and commodified processes of the global economy and community.4 The discussion raises the value of feminist research and analysis and aims to build connections between mobilizing, deliberation, and analysis. The discussion of ‘women and war’ offer methodical and workable interventions into the Western-dominated discipline, while at the same time emphasizing the effort that can and has to be carried out to visualize and promote cross-cultural feminist unity. The topic ‘women and war’ is a key representation of the ties between mobilizing, deliberation, and analysis and the actualization of feminist unity promoted by such topic. Drawing on diverse readings and documents, the discussion has introduced a general, compelling, critical analysis of global gendered militarism, emphasizing women’s opposition to it. Furthermore, this discussion is a testimony to the flexibility, ingenuity, and profoundly critical resistance by women on the different ‘vanguards’ formed by wars across the globe. Drawing on a combination of published sources and histories, ‘women and war’ discusses the gendered intricacies underlying the public debates that came with, and still come with, the supposed global gendered militarization. Whether we are discussing the involvement of women in warfare as components of the military or as laborers on the territory, or whether we are discussing several of the emerging sexual liberties that appeared to come with the extensive marshalling of the population, this form of sweeping disruption of daily social life could always have an effect on customary concepts of gender. The dilemma, in many private and public domains, was to make sure, as much as possible, that the long-established gender structure must not be disrupted. In our interesting discussion of ‘women and war, several processes by which efforts were exerted to realize such objectives were included. The notion of nationalistic femininity aimed to unite with the different ways within which women were organized into warfare without destabilizing prevalent knowledge of the distinctions between men and women and the core essence of heterosexuality.5 The topic ‘women and war’ tried to introduce the premise that any loosening of current norms of gendered behavior was an outcome of quite extraordinary situations and could not be supposed to continue beyond the end of war efforts. A large number of issues, some highly prominent and some less known, are intertwined around such assumptions. There are the borders between the private and the public, borders which are not permanent but which become increasingly flexible and intricate in war periods. There is the concept of ‘gendered space’ and the manner where in this as well becomes defied and justified. There is the well-known ‘contrasting principles’ which becomes both more amplified in war periods when large numbers of men are not with their families and away from their native soil but also becomes threatened as women join such foreign spaces, like the military.6 The narrative of gender in wartimes is seldom a clear-cut one and the creator is always involved in the intricacies and inconsistencies in the experiences of women in contemporary warfare. In the discussions of war, depictions and ideas of femininity and masculinity were created, organized and expanded where needed to safeguard gender distinctions. An element of the intricacy, as our discussion tells us, emerges from the reality that women are not an identical group but have both gender and class distinctions. Conclusions Even though, from the perspective of the new millennium, a large number of the concerns related to World War II appear to be more and more distant from our contemporary issues, the objective of this discussion is not entirely historical. In the discourses about women and war, we are usually reminded of the powerful reverberations of the issues which kindled populations in strong Western countries during this time of war. Also, concerns about gendered space and the differentiation between the private and public spheres remain points of vigorous issue in discourses about, for instance, the creation of family-oriented labor traditions or efforts to change the practices or ideas of various institutions, like the church and the government. Maybe most significant, as the discussion on ‘women and war’ shows, it is crucial to keep on paying attention to the individuals most concerned in and influenced by the mechanisms of transformation, namely, the women themselves. References Attie, J. (1998) Patriotic Toil: Northern Women and the American Civil War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Clinton, C. & Silber, N. (2006) Battle Scars: Gender and Sexuality in the American Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press. Cook, B.A. (2006) Women and war: a historical encyclopedia from antiquity to the present. New York: ABC-CLIO. Cooper, H.M., Munich, A., & Squier, S.M. (1989) Arms and the Woman: War, Gender, and Literary Representation. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Davis, K., Evans, M., & Lorber, J. (2006) Handbook of gender and women’s studies. London: SAGE. Goldstein, J. (2003) War and Gender: How gender shapes the war system and vice versa. London: Cambridge University Press. Goodman, P. (2002) Women, Sexuality and War. New York: Palgrave. Goossen, R.W. (1997) Women against the Good War: Conscientious Objection and Gender on the American Home Front, 1941-1947. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Grayzel, S. (1999) Women’s identities at war: gender, motherhood, and politics in Britain and France during the First World War. New York: UNC Press Books. Hagemann, K. & Schuler-Springorum, S. (2002) Home/Front: The Military, War, and Gender in Twentieth Century Germany. New York: Berg. Hinton, J. (2002) Women, Social Leadership, and the Second World War: Continuities of Class. New York: Oxford University Press. Ingersoll, J. (2003) Evangelical Christian women: war stories in the gender battles. New York: NYU Press. Kipnis, A. & Herron, E. (1994) Gender war, gender peace: the quest for love and justice between women and men. Michigan: Morrow. Kumar, K. (2001) Women and Civil War: Impact, Organizations, and Action. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. Leonard, E. (1995) Yankee Women: Gender Battles in Civil War. New York: W.W. Norton. Macdonald, S., Holden, P., & Ardener, S. (1988) Images of women in peace and war: cross-cultural and historical perspectives. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. Sjoberg, L., Via, S., & Enloe, C. (2010) Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives. New York: ABC-CLIO. Skaine, R. (1999) Women at war: gender issues of Americans in combat. New York: McFarland. Van Nieuwkerk, K. (2006) Women Embracing Islam: Gender and Conversion in the West. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Waller, M. & Rycenga, J. (2001) Frontline Feminisms: Women, War, and Resistance. New York: Routledge. Our discussions in Gender Theories greatly changed how I view gender. We live in a time which revolves around the knowledge that men and women have distinct bodies, distinct abilities, and distinct aspirations, and needs. Our discussions explore such ideas, using sociological and associated theories and models to make sense of the reason and the way the social world is structure around these gender differences. In this section, I will explain how the topics discussed in this course have influenced my thinking on the following topics. First, what is gender? Now I believe that gender establishes what is recognized, permitted, and expected in a man or woman in a particular setting. In numerous cultures there are gender distinction and inequality in roles given, tasks embarked on, access to and power over managerial or administrative activities, as well as resources. Second, is gender natural or is it a social construction? I think that femininity and masculinity, being a woman or a man, is a social creation. Feminists have even created gender categories just to show that ‘gender’ is indeed a social construction. As stated by philosopher Soimon de Beavoir, “One is not born a woman, one becomes one.” Third, how about gender in science? I learned that masculinity within science is shown through the dominance of males in top positions and their control over privileged apparatuses. Thus, science is sexist in its disregard for the experience of women and its use of frameworks developed on ideas of hierarchy and rivalry. Fourth, what is the contribution of science to peace and war? I strongly believe that science has provided a highly successful propaganda method. The mass media, such as the newspaper, television, and radio, are greatly potent propaganda devices. Through such media, people across the globe can directly be informed of the dreadful consequences of present-day hostilities. Thus, science does help in promoting peace and preventing war. Fifth, what is the connection between gender, war, and peace? I understood, based on our discussions, that women and men have distinct moral and emotional reactions to war and peace. Therefore, a social constructionist paradigm offers an especially valuable perspective about and analyzing both the connections of gender and war and workable remedies to the predicaments created by war. Sixth, how about women at war? I realized that war did not embody a favorable decisive moment for women at war. The overstated wartime discourse that guaranteed new prospects for women shrunk into a small number of fragmented choices: going back to their homes or resorting to marginal employment. Seventh, what is the economics of gender? I think that this issue relates to the substantial wage disparity between men and women. This economic trend can perhaps be explained by discriminatory practices, conflicting occupational ideals and opportunities, and employer prejudice. Eight, what is the impact of globalization on the roles of women and men? I learned that the substantial gender gaps in relation to control over decision-making activities and involvement that exist in various societies have to be considered when acting in response to the aspects of globalization. Due to gender disparities, biases, or inequalities in almost all countries across the globe, women can be influenced unfavorably by the forces of globalization far more than men. Lastly, of the numerous violence and injustices perpetrated against women of the world, sex trafficking, prostitution, and exploitation of minors are maybe the most unspeakable. Some people are exploiting poor women whose destitute conditions have made them doubly susceptible to sexual violence. Read More