Feminism

HINA ZAIDI
National Defense University,
Islamabad

An over view of
Feminism
It originates as a social movement.
It provides comparison between:
Implication for Political analysis.
Actual preoccupations and achievements.
We will discuss its evolution as a dialogue around a
common agenda.

Presentation is divided into three parts

An over view of Feminism

Feminist perspective for Political Science.
Feminism and IR

Quotation
The
true
meanings
of
feminism is that: to use your
strong womanly image to gain
strong results in the society.
Pamela Anderson

Definition
Feminism emerged as a movement and
body of ideas that aimed to enhance
womens status and power.
Simply put, feminism affirms womens
equality
with
men,
and
rejects
patriarchy.

Introduction
Introduced gender as a relevant
empirical category and analytical
tool for understanding global
power relations as well as a
normative position from which to
consider alternative world orders.

Strands of Feminism
Liberal feminism:
Liberal feminism movement focuses on eliminating female
subordination.

Marxist feminism:
Marxist feminism arises out of the doctrine of Karl Marx whose
theory is centered less on material aspects of life than on the more broadly
defines social ones.

Radical feminism:
Radical feminism takes the point of view that society under
patriarchal rules in necessarily oppressive to women.

Feminism and Political

Science
Potential implication of feminism strands for political analysis.
Traditionally political scientists were almost all men and numbers of women

still relatively low in 1970.

Different stages:

First stage; was mounting a critique of male political science for its
virtual exclusion of women as political actor.
Second stage; sometimes dismissively referred to as adding women in ,
and entailed a much more systematic investigation into the extent of
womens underrepresentation and its institutional and non-institutional
causes.
In third stage more fundamental questions were raised about their
discipline, about limitations of the characteristic methodologies employed in
political science, about the way that politics is conceptualized; and about the
gendered character of political institutions and processes. Linking these to
broader developments in feminist thinking.

The development of Feminism in IR Theory

First wave of feminism: Feminist movement finds

its roots in the abolitionist movement in 1830s.

Second wave of feminism: suffrage movement.

Late 19th to early 20th c.

Third wave of feminism: equal legal rights &

political participation. Mid to late 20 th century.

Important aspects of feminist research

First generation of Feminism in IR late 1980s:

For instance, in the enthusiastic rush to analyze the

widespread process of democratic transition, especially evident in
Latin America, through the 1980s political scientists largely ignored
questions about womens participation or the implications of
associated institutional and policy changes for women.
Second generation:

A second generation of feminist researchers has had to take

up these basic questions and developed feminist IR by making
gender a central analytic category in studies of foreign policy,
security and global political economy.

Typology
Christine

Sylvester has applied an interesting

typology of feminist theory to international relations.

Feminist Empiricism:

Feminist empiricism combine both the

objectives and observations of feminism, it relies
mainly on mainstream which is part of the positivism
but feminist empiricism and the positivism are two
different approaches. This approach evaluates
whether the states or worldwide capitalist process
should be focused on, and the examination of social

Cont.
Feminist Standpoint Theories:
Feminist standpoint this approach argues that a women's
point of view should be taken to account not a man's point of view, a
woman's everyday lifestyle and how they construct their worlds socially.
This theory states that because women are portrayed differently to men in
most societies they lead them to hold different types of knowledge
compared to men. This theory does not deny any traditional views rather
states valid insights of the world of politics.

Feminist postmodernism:
This covers more than one likelihood towards the ' falsely
universalizing prospective' that tends to create an internal tension, and
states that the 'one true story' by the standpoint feminist as a very
dangerous fiction.

The Feminist Standpoint on Power, Sovereignty,

Reciprocity:
The Feminist standpoint on power, sovereignty and reciprocity, these need to

re-analyzed for the feminist as they are the key concepts as it will ask if male
constructions have influenced the mind in the way they think about
international relations.
Power - An actor that influences another person to act in respectful outcomes,

which affects ones environment.

Sovereignty - Defined as 'power as control' as it means supremacy over all

authorities, final and political authority which casts back the long-established
thinking of males.
Reciprocity - Is similar to sovereignty as it the possibility to have a sovereign

society, it should be taken into account that other states had the right to claim
what they wish and enjoy it.

Feminist Empiricism and Postmodernism

Feminist empiricism and postmodernism - Is a

sociological approach the studies on why the

difference between genders affects the modern
interstate system, and how women are victims
of the modern international relations as the
enforcements
were
very
harmful
and
dangerous the females and their lives.

Goals of Feminism
The goals of feminism are:
To demonstrate the importance of women
To reveal that historically women have been

subordinate to men
To bring about gender equity.

Conclusion
We can summarize the feminist impulse as a political position aiming to alter the

power balance between men and women.

Despite its internal diversity and debates, the feminist perspective is badly

needed in political science.

In the future, feminist political science will need to engage more fully with

questions surrounding the formation of masculinities, reflected in a growing body

of literature and research , without losing hold of its original political commitment
to women.
The feminist perspective, for its part, should be able to give theories of complex

interdependence and institutional change, more gender conscious formulation and

also to criticize the gender bias to be found in conceptions of interdependence
and institutionalization created by men.

Thanks for Precious

Time