Chapter 5: Gender
Is gender a variable?
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Learning aims:
Understand the
myth that
“gender is a
variable”
Be able to
distinguish
between
different types of
feminisms and
what these imply
Critically engage
with the way that
feminism has
been “placed” in
IR
Question the
neutrality of the
classical tradition
of IR
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Last week: Constructivism
Myth: “anarchy is what states make of it”
Key concepts: Social construction, identities,
practices
By reifying the state, Wendtian constructivism
misses an opportunity to analyze practices outside
of the state
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Gender Flashcard
Key thinkers:
Key concepts:
V. Spike
Peterson
Gender
Adam Jones
Placing
feminism in IR
Myth: Gender is a
variable
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Gender as a variable
What would it mean for gender to be a variable?
(box 5.1)
1. Gender could be placed and contained in some
distinct thing called a variable
2. This “gender variable” would itself be outside of
gender. It would be free of gender
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
How have feminists made use of the gender variable? (table 5.2)
Topic/theme
Feminist argument
Contribution to IR?
Opposed
dualisms
Male and masculine structures
privilege men and exclude women.
These structures must be
supplemented by “incorporating the
gender variable”, thereby creating
more opportunities for women
No, because it blames men and masculinities for
how the world is
Realist state
1. The state as either masculinist or
male (radical feminist argument)
2. “The personal is political” (liberal
feminist argument)
No, because it is an extreme and essentialist view
of the state
Yes, and it should be added to the three other
levels of analysis: individual, state and international
Rationalactor model
Labels of Western-style rationality as a
peculiarly male/masculine
phenomenon reflecting and
perpetuating patriarchal power. Can
be corrected with stereotypical
“Mother Earth” essentialist ways of
thinking about actors
No, because the argument boils down to men and
masculinity are essentially bad, and women and
femininity are essentially good
Realist
1. Expand the range of power
conceptions
relationships that realism
of power and
considers
security
2. Redefine power
Yes, because gendered power relationships should
be included in realism
No, because it sneaks in a feminist normative
agenda by adding in prescriptions about what
power should be rather than a description of what
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
power is
Jones’s vs. Peterson’s definitions of feminism
(table 5.4)
JONES:
Feminism = normative program
PETERSON:
Characteristics of feminism:
Feminism = worldview
1. Feminist subjects are women and the
feminine
Characteristics of feminism:
2. Feminist epistemology is grounded in
women’s experiences
3. Feminist normative agenda is to
promote women’s equality and to
blame men and masculinities for global
injustices
1. Gender is socially constructed,
producing subjective identities through
which we see and know the world
2. The world is pervasively shaped by
gendered meanings; therefore, we
“know” the world as gendered beings
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
The “wrong” questions feminism asks
of traditional IR theory (box 5.3)
1. What makes traditional IR questions and
approaches meaningful?
2. How are these meanings related to one
another hierarchically?
5. Should normatively masculine
understandings of the world be
the only legitimate ways of
seeing the world?
4. What is traditional IR theory’s normative
3. How do these meanings enable us to make
agenda, and how does it use gender to secure
value judgments that help us to place people
this agenda while appearing to be gender
and things as legitimate or illegitimate?
neutral and gender free?
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Theory activity: Feminism and the
implications for IR
Aim: To understand different kinds of feminisms, questions they ask
and the implications this has on IR
• What did you think about feminism BEFORE and AFTER reading
this chapter and listening to the lectures. Note responses
together and group under before and after (5 min.)
• In smaller groups discuss the following questions (10 min.):
– What are the difference between Jones’ and Peterson’s
feminisms?
– What are the implications of these two understandings of
feminism:
• For IR
• For women and men
– What are the implications for IR when feminists raise
epistemological, ontological and methodological critiques and
ask difficult questions?© 2014 Cynthia Weber
The place of women in Fatal Attraction
The place of women in Fatal Attraction (table 5.5)
Legitimate women
(Beth Gallager)
Illegitimate women
(Alex Forest)
Place
Within the heterosexual
nuclear family
Outside the heterosexual
nuclear family
Characteristics
Good wife
Good mother
Independent personally
and professionally. This
independence is coded in
the film as barrenness
and failure
Behavior
Rational
Irrational
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
What is typical and what is deviant in
the world of Fatal Attraction? (table
5.6)
Typical
Deviant
To respect the
heterosexual nuclear
family as the only
legitimate and
reasonable source of
meaning
To disturb the
heterosexual nuclear
family through
outside, irrational,
and illegitimate
influences
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Fatal Attraction and IR
Gendered perspectives in Fatal Attraction and traditional IR theory (table 5.7)
Fatal Attraction
Traditional IR theory
Point of
view
Dan Gallager’s
Adam Jones’s
Perspective
Traditional – legitimate
meaning is based on
the legitimacy of the
heterosexual nuclear
family
Traditional – legitimate meaning is based
on the legitimacy of the classic IR
tradition’s treatment of questions of war
and peace
How
feminine/
feminist
“excesses”
are
managed
• Added through an
illegitimate affair
• Ignored
• Killed
• Added through the “gender variable”
• Feminist work inconsistent with Jones’s
characterization of the “gender variable”
is ignored
• Feminine/feminist “gender variable”
replaced by (killed off with) a more
“balanced” gender variable that
reemphasizes men and masculinities
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Film activity: Fatal Attraction and feminism
in IR
• Aim: To read “gender as variable” myth through Fatal Attraction
• In groups, using lecture notes, slides and the book, discuss the following
questions (7 min.):
– What is the relationship between the Fatal Attraction and the role of
feminism in IR?
– How similar is Dan’s world to the world of traditional IR?
– Can we see similarities between Beth (reasonable) and Alex
(unreasonable) and particular types of feminism in IR (Jones vs.
Peterson)?
• Present your findings to the other groups
• Continue the discussion by considering the following questions (7 min.):
– What is the politics of Fatal Attraction?
– Could the film be made today?
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
– What would need to change/what
could remain the same?
Next week: Globalization
Liberalism
History
Film: The
Truman
Show
Internal
Contradictions
Are we at the end
of history?
© 2014 Cynthia Weber