The gender is a key variable in international relations - Essay Example

The gender is a key variable in international relations Introduction: The effect of gender on global and international relations has its roots in feminist theories with associated issues of international security having been primary in the policy agenda of states (Adam 2002, Freidman 2001). Large defence budgets, foreign invasions and curtailment of civilian liberties are some of the policies that define state security and national security takes precedence over social security of individuals. National and international security involves advancing security interests that seems to be purely controlled and maintained by men rather than women as it is the men who have defended the state and women have maintained only comforting or passive roles in the domestic sphere. May be this is this starting point of difference between men and women where gender issues become prominent as it relates to international security, war, trans-national trade and territorial boundaries. Simone de Beauvoir (The Second Sex, 1949) has suggested that the role of women in terms of national security has been ambiguous defined as those whom the state and its men are protecting, women have had little control over the conditions of their protection. In this analysis I will critically comment on the proposition that gender is a key factor in international relations and crucial to its understanding. Can international relations be studied irrespective of gender or in a gender-neutral manner? Have feminist and women’s movements changed the directions or approaches of international relations to a significant extent? Does the concept of gender have a significant impact on international relations? Considering these questions, I will discuss the dynamics of gender and international relations in the context of the statement whether gender is a key variable in understanding international relations and whether the feminist theory has major consequences in shaping issues of security, sovereignty, militarism and globalisation. The other contention as to whether gender or feminist perspectives are in any way dependent on international relations may also have to be analysed. Gender and International Relations Gender Mainstreaming The relationship between gender and international relations could be studied from various perspectives including national security, women’s feminist movements, gender mainstreaming, and global governance. True (2003, p.30-37) suggests that efforts to mainstream gender perspectives in global pubic policy have been prompted by proliferation of trans-national networking of women’s movements. Advocates, policymakers and feminist researchers have made gender analysis a part of global governance. Mainstreaming gender plays an important part of the global public policy and it is important to analyse how feminist ideas on gender get translated into global policy. Feminist movements begin as theories or social perceptions but it is only when these theories are put into practice that global governance and international relations are transformed into patterns of rules or defined policies. The changes in gender mainstreaming are important in transforming policy outcomes and the process of policy making. The application of gender analysis in policy making seems to have political effects that have its implications beyond academic and feminist communities. According to True (2003, p.40-47) gender mainstreaming is an open ended and potentially transformative project and depends largely on the interpretations of feminist scholars and policy makers. Savery (2005, pp.90-102) has examined the relationship between gender stereotypes, feminist movements and international relations. He writes, “international pressure emanates from international bodies either initiating infringement proceedings, or criticising states through international reporting systems, domestic pressure emanates from feminist political activism and private individual or group litigation” (Savery 2005, p.90). In a relevant study, Youngs (2004, pp.77-85) has also examined the argument that women and gender are essential to the study of international relations and the key areas where feminist international relations have explored this possibility include war, militarism, and sovereignty of state, security and globalization. Considering capitalist perspectives, Oldenziel (2000) studies gender relations and scientific management suggesting that women’s reform movement and scientific management has been neglected because there has been very few focused studies on gender. Studies on scientific management have focused on class relations and women’s activism have diversified rather than remaining focused on a specific area yet, Oldenziel (2000, p.324-327) shows that gender and scientific management could be more closely related within international relations studies. Gender and Health – Implications for IR Desai (2004, p.37-40) looks at gender affecting international relations considering the International Women’s Health Movement (IWHM). Desai has argued that changing gender relations has changed the discourse on global health and has also raised concerns on women’s health bringing them to the forefront on discussions about health (2004, p.38-40). According to Desai, the IWHM has aided in the globalisation of health and disease that have become pathways to changed gender relations that have led to community level changes in norms and practices that reproduce gender inequalities (2004, p.39-41). Health issues highlight gender issues and global health being an important defining factor of international relations and world health movements, thus seem to have as its underlying basis on women’s health needs. The IWHM has focused on the need for greater importance to women’s health issues. The World Health Organisation (WHO) established the Global Commission on Women’s Health in 1993. The purpose of the organisation is to promote adoption and implementation of effective measures at all levels of women’s health. The Global Commission supports the World Health Organisation and other agencies of the United Nations and sets the rules for promoting women’s health issues on national and international agendas (from Office on Women’s Health, accessed, 2006). The United Nations and the World Health Organisation are in the forefront for bringing women’s health issues at a global agenda because participation of women in international policy making and administration necessarily involves recognition of their status and needs. Meeting health needs of women with adequate health policies is one of the important features of international relations. This is how gender becomes a crucial factor in determining international relations within the context of global health. Women’s Rights and IR Apart from health, women’s rights and gender equality patterns have also affected international relations. Savery (2005) has given a critical realist approach on the importance of women’s human rights and its impact on changing state practices. Savery examines why international diffusion of women’s human rights have varied greatly between states and suggests that gender-biased corporate identity of many states represents the most significant barrier to diffusion of women’s rights. Savery highlights factors that facilitate diffusion of women’s rights and factors that hinder or form barriers to diffusion (2005, p.90-95). The paper illustrates that the diffusion of international norms of sexual non-discrimination is impeded by the dynamic interaction between various structures and agents, discourse, and power and intricacies of state laws and policy implementation. Administrative procedures that seem to be largely controlled by discriminatory policies and prejudiced mindsets limit the diffusion of women’s basic rights and awareness or application of these rights highlighting issues of gender discrimination in the international scenario. Changing state practices which in turn change international laws and standards are largely affected by gender variables and discriminatory practices with an increased awareness for gender equality patterns. Gender Discrimination at the Workplace One of the areas of greatest gender discrimination seems to be the workplace and issues of equal salary and equal opportunities at the workplace have been the central debate in social studies. Metcalfe et al (2005) has examined gender, work and equal opportunities in central and Eastern European countries. Here the emphasis is on work opportunities and gender discrimination as related to the political climate and changing social structure. The paper suggests that the transition from a communist economic system in eastern European nations to a market based economy has eroded women’s equality in the workplace (2005, p. 400-405). The constraints in women’s career development and professional roles could be examined in post-socialist societies. The Gender Development Index and the Gender Empowerment Index were measuring scales used in Metcalfe’s analysis as datasets to show that high representation of women in management and professional occupations as found in socialist employment structures are now threatened by erosion of childcare services with increasing level of discriminatory practices in recruitment, selection and development (in Metcalfe et al, 2005). Formal state structures have fostered traditional gender identity and economic and political transition as seen in post-socialist societies is seen as a process of re-masculinisation which shows gendered hierarchies and gendered power relations within public and private realms. The subject of equal opportunities and gender issues relate to the organisational context and gender mainstreaming methodologies emphasise on equal opportunity and diversity management policies at state and organisational levels. Within the UK and worldwide, the legislative framework has emphasised on equal opportunities irrespective of gender and some of the legal provisions for women’s equal inclusion at workplaces include the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Equal Pay Act 1970. The Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005 have brought significant policy changes to promote gender equality. According to the Women and Equality Unit, the government directives on gender equality help to implement gender equality goals; develop an equal pay policy; assess the impact of new policies and changes (from Women and Equality Unit, accessed 2005). Considering the legislative policies in place women’s equality issues at the workplace have necessitated several changes on a global scale and women’s equality and issue of discrimination and harassment remain central to a global discussion on international policies and international relations. Feminist and Traditional Theories Caprioli (2004) has attempted to bridge feminist and traditional worldviews in international relations by suggesting an active dialogue between conventional and feminist perspectives on international relations. The divisions between traditional and feminist perspectives of international relations are addressed with a need to close the gap between the two, emphasising on various methodologies including quantitative approaches to incorporate elements of gender and social justice in conventional international relations theory. Taking a completely different perspective on gender to show how gender relations could be studied in the context of disasters, Enarson and Meyreles (2004) analyse regional patterns of differences and similarities in women’s disaster experiences in English and Spanish literatures. The differing research questions in the practice of gender relations within disaster are analysed supporting the claim that how gender is theorised does make a difference in public policy and practical approaches to disaster risk management (extensive discussion in Enarson and Meyreles, 2004, p.50-52). Ainsworth and Hardy (2004) use critical discourse analysis (CDA) to study questions on identity and argue that there is a lack of comparison or contrast of discourse analysis with other theories and thus there is no clear method to identify the contributions of a discursive approach. Ainsworth and Hardy use the example of the older worker to compare the contribution of critical discourse analysis with other approaches and examine the relevant issues of economics, labour market research, gerontology and cultural studies (2004, p.227-232). The issues that are pertinent to critical discourse analysis show that CDA can contribute to the study of identity providing a comparative analysis with other theories. Sudbury emphasises on the necessity of feminist movements that can help to bring global movements within the arena of international relations (2005, p. 71). She states that “While women of the global south and disenfranchised communities of the north have been active in vibrant anti-globalization protests, feminist scholars have been slower to identify corporate globalization as central to their concerns. Gradually, a body of knowledge is being developed that can serve as a valuable resource for feminist and anti-racist organizers as well as anti-globalization activists. Research into sex tourism, the trafficking of women, women as workers in the Free Trade Zones and homeworkers in the garment industry and women in the global food chain have all demonstrated the centrality of black women and women of colour to the new global regimes of accumulation” (Kempadoo, 1999; Phizacklea, 1990; Shiva, 2001; Ching Yoon Louie, 2001 cited in Sudbury, 2005, p.71). Women in Prison – Implications for IR An influential analysis on the role of the state policies in prison construction show new patterns of women’s incarceration. Sudbury (2005, p.165-169) argues that the past two decades have seen a rise in the population of women prisoners along with an increase in the construction of prisons. The fact that more and more women have been taken to prisons show that there is fundamental shift in the role of state that has occurred due to neo liberal globalization. The emergence and expansion of prison industrial complex suggest the active association between state penal institutions, politicians and profit driven prison corporations. The trans-national trade in criminalized drugs has constituted to the United States led global war on drugs. Sudbury argues that the new regimes of accumulation and discipline have been built on older systems of racist and patriarchal exploitation and this has somehow exaggerated the exploitation of Black women within the global prison industrial complex. An anti-racist feminist analysis explores issues of race, class, gender, nationality and uses these variables to understand contemporary globalized geo-political and economic realities. Black women are according to Sudbury the prime device for expansion and profitability of the prison industrial complex suggesting issues of gender role in industrial changes, sustaining a new global economy (2005, p.165-173). Here issues of race and gender merge showing the combined issues of discrimination that affect policies on international relations. Crime, criminals and crime statistics have major implications in changing international relations and the inclusion of women in crime scenarios and crime related political judgements show that women are directly or indirectly being responsible for changes in criminal policy and subsequently in international relations. The dynamics between drug enforcement, prison industry, international financial institutions, media and politicians have been highlighted in the study to show that an increasing number of women are being sent to prisons. The increasing presence of women in the prisons and the impact of this on the social and political situation show that gender issues are directly associated with state laws, social structures and play a major role in shaping international relations. Gender and Learning In a rather innovative method of showing gender relations in the learning environment, Brown et al (2003) discusses the relevance of the GlobalEd project that simulates a technology rich environment for high school students who participate to learn on international relations and negotiations. The project involved a simulation of international relations and negotiations on a variety of policy issues conducted from 10-15 schools through an internet based interface. 234 high school students were studied to monitor changes in self-efficacy skills, as well as knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to performance, use of educational technology and the direct outcomes of participating in simulation of international relations. The study was effective in highlighting self-efficacy and gender differences in cognitive process. The fact that gender differences are an important part of the cognitive process and is largely associated with international relations and negotiations show that gender issues and international relations are completely interdependent. Gender and Globalization Globalization and international relations are mainly issues of social discourse. Adam (2002, p.5-8 ) gives a gendered perspective to this and suggests that globalisation is primarily a ‘male discourse’. Globalisation and international relations may be dependent on economic and political processes, social relations, role of technology, environmental relations although gender is rarely the focus of attention. Yet Adam contends that globalisation and international relations have different impact on women and men as workers, consumers and service providers (2002, p.7-11). Adam argues that development studies are important from a gendered perspective on globalisation and states that, “Development is the field of expertise that primarily documents the impact of contemporary globalization on the daily lives and experiences of Third World communities in general and women in particular” (Adam, 2002, p.4). Considering this perspective, globalisation affects world communities, international relations and gender perceptions changing the role of women and their position in society. Development studies and international relations, unlike globalisation are not based solely on the consequences of a global economy and depend on several factors. The study of international relations has a strong feminist tradition that takes account of both the gendered nature of Western capitalism and its imperialist entry into the Third World (Adam, 2002, p.15-22). Adam differentiates between globalisation and development and contends that while the concept of globalisation is non-gendered, development studies are not only tuned to gender but has actually evolved in parallel with the history of western feminist movement. International relations being an important aspect of global development studies are thus associated with gender through feminism that has influenced and has been itself influenced by development perspectives and changes in social relations and political processes. Sylvester (2004) has argued that there is a general neglect in focusing on the activities of women in terms of international relations (also in Piper 2004, Rodgers, 2001). She has maintained that women are generally seen with categories of socially constituted subjects such as earthquake victims, prisoners of war or refugees etc (Sylvester, 2004, p.3-4). The common social assumption is that women should be placed only within the sphere of domestic life and may have little or no role in regime formation, decision making, trade and war. Women’s activities in these areas if any go unacknowledged and within the realm of international relations, masculine activities seem to underlie the officially gender neutral approaches to IR. Feminist postmodernists have claimed that men and women remain categorised to maintain specific relations of inequality and gendered labelling has shown how rules work. Sylvester insists that development studies have shown many instances of inhibition of women’s power through marginalization (2004, p.5-7). Spivak has implied that the western subject is herself or himself a simultaneous invention of the modern West and an agent of Western subjectivity through whom, by implication, the world-system expands, lives on, and resists the resistances of "subalterns" of world capitalism by "interpreting" them (Spivak, G. – Can the subaltern speak? 1988). Therefore, the relations between international relations and feminist or gender studies show that feminist interpretations of human rights (Peterson, 1990), and feminist understandings of international political economy (Tickner, 1991) are important aspects for IR. Gender and Politics in IR Some of the examples of gender relations affecting international politics, globalisation, trade, war and security may be given with studies from inter-cultural perspectives. Secor (2001) used Islamist political perspectives of Istanbul to show the interrelations between space and gender. Secor writes that “Geopolitical reasoning privileges the global scale as the locus of spatialised power relations” (2001, p.191-192). Islam and Islamist politics have figured prominently in geopolitical discourses of international conflict in the last 20 years but there have been very few discourses on feminist perspectives within the Islamic context. This paper shows how Islamist political practices and discourses shape daily life and urban spaces within the Turkish setting. The study uses focus group behaviour and survey to explore gender and Islamist politics and general trends in political behaviour at national and local scales. The study also focuses on exploring women’s activities within both formal and informal urban political spaces and show the extent and nature of female participation in the Islamist politics in Istanbul. The role of women thus seems to be changing even within Islamist societies with more active political participation and changes within state policies are being driven by greater awareness on gender issues. Thus within the Turkish Islamist context gender does seem to be a key variable driving social change and political transformations having definite long term effects on international relations. In another example of gendered perspectives, Silvey (2003) examines the gender geography of labour activism through an investigation of two comunties in Java, Indonesia. A survey of workers and interviews were carried out in 1995, 1998, and 2000 and explored the place specific meanings attached to migrants’ social networks and gender relations and their roles in mediating gendered patterns of labour protest in two villages (in Silvey 2003, pp.140-145). Gender dynamics are related to the geography of labour protest in Indonesia and the study highlights the gender- and place-based contexts of women’s activism. The complex interactions between migrants’ local interpretations of gender norms, social network relations, household roles, state gender ideology, and global neo-liberal restructuring are also discussed showing the relations of gender norms and social restructuring processes. Silvey reiterates that through “examining these interactions, gender is conceptualized as ontologically inseparable from the production of specific activist spaces, rethinking the uni-directional spatial logic and deterministic views of gender and place put forth in theories of the New International Division of Labor” (Silvey, 2003, pp.129-130). The issues of labour, gender and political restructuring seem to be well situated within the space of cultural and social norms and define and structure the fabric of international relations. The issues of gender discrimination extend deeper than political situations and have been studied within the context of the classroom. Steinstra (2000, p.235-239) has claimed that female genital mutilation (cutting or surgery) (FGM) is an issue that epitomizes the changing nature of incorporating gender in teaching International Relations. When issues of women are taken into consideration the study of FGM seems to play an important role as well within the context of international relations. Steinstra writes that there is a possibility of either sensationalising or trivialising complicated issues like the FGM that limits the understanding of the interplay of gender, race, class, ability, and International Relations (2000, p.238-241). There have been several attempts to incorporate the issues of gender in international relations but Steinstra suggests an integrative and transformative approach to gender should be incorporated in gender relations studies to avoid marginalization of gender concerns which seems to be at the focus of international relations (Stienstra, 2000 - emphasises the pedagogical aspect of gender and international relations). There are however various challenges to incorporating gender within international relations studies and this is reflected even within classroom teaching as sensitive ethical issues may have to be highlighted and have immediate social implications on how we perceived gender studies. There have been several studies emphasising on the need to re-examine state, nationalism and trans-nationalism considering feminist approaches to geopolitics. Freidman (2001, p.115-120) argues that conventional notions of geopolitics focus on inter-state and international relations ignoring stratification and state violence that is imposed on women and the racial or religious minority groups. Feminist geopolitics seems to focus on a segregation of violence between nations rather than within the nations. Friedman argues that women tend to have ambivalent relationships with nationalism and show that nationalism seems to obscure the violence imposed on curtain set ions of society within a nation and highlights issues of gender suppression within the context of colonialism, post-colonialism and trans-nationalism (Friedman, 2005, pp.115-120). Freidman’s study highlights an important dimension of feminist geo-politics that seem to be related not to international relations but to political suppression of women and minority population within state structures. Conventional geopolitics’ seem to have been focused only on traditional aspects of international relations and inter-state laws and political agenda, yet with the parallel development of feminist perspectives, gender has been the focus of international relations studies with gender and the minority races and religions defining political histories and changes in international laws. Gender Equality and Bias The neo-liberal and constructivist perspectives in international relations have been based on the emerging global gender equality regime and according to Kardam (2004) a global gender equality regime that has emerged in international relations could be identified by its norms, principles, legal instruments and compliance mechanisms. Kardam suggests that neo-liberal theories of international regimes provide insights into the identification of this equality regime and the conditions for its emergence (2004, p.86-88). The changes in trans-national networks, international institutions and epistemic communities of experts not only shapes state choices but are also responsible for shaping equality patterns in terms of gender. Global women’s networks have worked with multilateral and bilateral development organisations in shaping global norms on gender equality and also in engaging in the learning processes of framing issues, influencing negotiations by providing information and monitoring progress. Kardam however suggests that neo liberal theories do not indicate any conclusive on the norms of gender equality but influence negotiations, international relations and global policies (2004, p.87-92). The contextual implications of these norms and the structures supporting them give meaning to the changes and applications of gender equality rules and patterns that have been emerging. Constructivism also opens way to the appreciation of gender as an analytical category and shows how gender norms and identities are constructed, contested and reconstructed in historical and socio-political contexts (also discussions on Constructivist approaches in Locher, 2001). Constructivism shows that the gender equality regime could be defined by its principles and norms and decision making mechanisms but the concept itself may have to be further deconstructed and analysed in depth to show how global norms and patterns in general could be re-constructed, reinterpreted or contested on a continuing basis within different and competing institutions (Kardam, 2004, p.97-101). Without a proper analysis of emerging gender equality regimes the gender norms may remain superficial and may not clarify patterns or changes in gender issues. Andrew (2004) has analysed issues of dominant masculinity to show gender difference in mainstream international relations analysis has been neglected within international political reality and international relations analysis is central to understand the consequences of women. Youngs (2004, p.76-77) has stated that both feminists and non feminists contribute to an explanation of international political structures and processes and a large scale empirical project is required. Youngs’ arguments are also based on the assumption that there are considerable differences in ethical traditions that tend to favour one conception of masculinity over another (2004, p. 82-85). Andrew (2004, p.91) asks how one version of masculinity could prevail over others in contemporary society. A study of competing masculinities would show how dominant masculine societies seem to have suppressed gender equality regime and international relations studies have been largely influenced by feminist perspective with very few studies on dominant masculine perspectives. The differences of feminist study and the masculine approaches show that whereas masculinity has never been an issue within international relations and all decision making processes, political and social issues are judged from masculine perspectives, feminism is strangely a largely ignored and yet a largely exaggerated issue of gender variations and differences within international relations and development studies. Denemark (2001) has discussed extensively on bias factors in international relations. He writes that policy makers should exercise their power in a neutral and unbiased manner which is usually not the case (2001, p.418). An open interaction on certain issues may help reduce bias and in the paper Denmark highlights on the issues, analytical tools, methods, sources of information, and the problem of bias itself (2001, p.417-420). According to him bias can only be critically judged and evaluated analytically with the necessary analytical tools and even gender bias within international relations and policy making could be dealt only with open interaction (2001, p.420-425). As in all subjects, biases could be detrimental. Within science methodological biases or prejudices can impede judgement as in social studies there may be favourable orientations towards study of certain races, cultures, religious or gender groups. Whereas bias may reflect underlying personal or political interests, it also suggests that knowledge can be misleading and may not be completely objective. It is difficult to contend the problem of bias and gender bias in social policies is thus no exception and forms the basis of workplace prejudice, or human rights differences and discrimination. Bias free society is difficult to attain and an open discussion on such issues is required for changes in wider sphere, especially within the wide arena of global transformations in social policy and political agendas. Gender forming the strongest basis of bias in shaping policies and international relations is thus a key variable in determining transformations within IR as necessitated by changing awareness and feminist perspectives. The study on international relations is conducted by men and the field is male dominated. Considering that IR itself is gender biased, in terms of opportunities and policies the role of women continues to remain at the centre of the gender controversy within IR. International relations have been largely influenced by traditional theories like realism and trdaitional theories have been shaped and framed from a male perspective. Feminist theories give the female perspective and use the issues of women and gender equality as crucial to international policy. Thus gender as a variable in international relations could be placed within the feminist perspective according to the development of feminist theories which have shifted the focus from male dominated contexts to the female oriented policies in the 20th century. Conclusion: In this essay, I have discussed gender relations from various perspectives to highlight its position within international relations. The answer to whether gender remains a key variable in international relations studies seem to be contentious. Various issues are discussed here including the interrelations between gender and politics, gender and social norms and gender and industrial changes. Trade, political agenda and social policies are shaped and controlled not just by a non-gendered approach to international relations but also by including factors of race and gender in developing these approaches. The analysis definitely points to a single all-important factor in the study of gender in international relations, namely the influence of feminism. Feminist and women’s movements have developed in parallel with changes in the study of international relations and have transformed the way social rules and political changes are defined or analysed. Several aspects of the feminist approach are discussed here including health, scientific management, political inclusion, incarceration, workplace equality, trade relations and women’s human rights. The studies suggest that gender issues have awareness against discriminatory practice at the workplace, in the classroom, in political scenarios, social meetings and in the wide international contexts. Gender issues have permeated all aspects of society and are subsequently the main variables that define wide social transformations along with race and class. 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