Do we need feminist theory in International Relations? If so why?

Résumé du document

Feminism is a critical social and political movement which emerged at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century with women's claims of equal rights in society and in the political sphere, with the assertion of the right to vote. However, now, since the end of the 1980's, feminist theories have begun to appear in the realm of international relations as well, underlying the fact that 'IR is one of the most masculine of disciplines with respect to its personnel and its understanding of states, wars and markets'. The movement thus focuses not only on the position of women but also on the notion of gender, arguing that today's perception of the worlds politic is distorted by a 'gender-lens', which perpetuates a system were men are advantaged. This paper will study if such feminist approaches can be relevant in the study of world politics, and if they provide effective explanations on current international relations, key issues, and notions of state, war or peace.

Extraits

[...] Then, they kind of withdraw from real emancipatory struggle or action, which, initially, lied at the heart of their claims and remain in an academic and theoretical field. Finally, it can be argue that this theory cannot be relevant in the field of IR since it only focuses on a specific group of the world society and can therefore be seen as valorising women oppressions over global oppressions. In other words, this theory can be seen as not considering general, global issues and only focusing on the women situation. [...]

[...] But can these feminist approaches be relevant in the study of world politics? Do they provide effective explanations on current international relation's key issues and notions such are state, war or peace? I will first focus on the main assumptions of feminist theories and the alternative way of looking at world politics they claim to provide, then I will consider the different feminist approaches of IR through existing theories such as liberalism, Marxism or post-modernism, and, finally, I will set out the main oversights and weaknesses of feminist theory applied to IR, today. [...]

[...] Finally, another approach of feminism is the theory of post-colonial feminism. 'Post-colonial feminists work at the intersection of class, race and gender on a global scale and especially analyse the gendered effects of transnational culture and the unequal division of labour in the global political economy' They also suggest that previous feminists, coming from the West, have tried to speak on the behalf of all women without really taking in account the opinion, interests and experiences, obviously different, of the women from the South. [...]

[...] A second approach of feminism in IR is the socialist/Marxist feminist theory. This theory focuses on the social-economic role of women and argues that the cause of women's unequal role is due to the 2 capitalist system. The solution it is asking for is, then, the complete change of the economic structure in order to emancipate women, and the giving up of the patriarchal system. This notion of patriarchy has to be understood as the expression of the existence of a male hegemony that creates a structure of domination where women are systematically subordinated. [...]

[...] The first wave of feminist theory in international politics, known as the liberal feminism, appeared in the late 1980's. This approach of feminism was built on many assumptions of existing liberalism, emphasizing the notions of individual, rationality and, most of all, equality. It supports the idea of all equality among men and women and looks more precisely at the place of women in world affairs, highlighting their absence. Liberal feminists examine ' how women have been restricted to roles critically important for the functioning of things but that are not usually deemed to be important for theories of world politics' Scholars such as C.Enloe argued that the simple fact to ask the question' where are the women?' would make them visible in the public space and underline their importance but, only through certain specific roles such as cheap factory labour, wives of diplomats or prostitutes around military bases, that is to say ignored roles or, at least contributions that are usually considered less important that those of men. [...]