ULUSLARARASI İLİŞKİLER TEORİLERİ II

Traditional IR has predominantly focused on notions of war, conflict, diplomacy, international law, international trade and finance and largely ignored individuals.

The early examples of feminism can be found in the Middle Ages, such as the first written literature on the “episodic history of women” and the rhetoric of feminism La Cité Des Dames (The City of Ladies) by Christine de Pizan in 1405, in which the author offers an apology for women’s education

After an uphill and longstanding struggle, women in the USA had gained their right to vote in 1920, and the women in the UK who satisfied the conditions for voting gained their right to vote in 1918.

“Hegemonic masculinity” connotes a set of values constituting a society formed by the men bearing power which is based on social gender inequality and primarily used to criticize this type of masculinity by indicating that the relationship of men to women is habitually oppressive

Radical feminism primarily aims to formulate new ways of understanding the relationship between men and women; and believes that it is the male-dominated hierarchy (or patriarchy) that is responsible for the oppressed status of women today. Therefore, it believes in “going to the root” or the source (of the problem).

The first international women’s conference on peace and freedom took place in 1915 where the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was established with the aim of bringing together women to oppose war, violence and global militarization

Cyntia Enloe is one of the most prominent feminist scholars, best known for her work on gender and the role of women. Her work Bananas, Beaches and Bases (1989) is considered as one of the upmost works on feminist international relations.

One of the most pronounced examples for the feminist critiques of classical concepts and assumptions brought to the fore by realist theory is J. Ann Tickner’s criticism of Hans J. Morgenthau’s “six principles of political realism” presented in his prominent work Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace first published in 1967.

Sylvester on the other hand, as one of the pioneering feminist scholars, criticizes one of the most important concepts of realism, entitled as “self-help” which assumes the individuality of each and every actor (which is the nation state according to realism) and rejects any type of cooperation in the international system, claiming that actors can rely on no one but themselves for security. In that respect, Sylvester argues that the concept of self-help masks out institutional relations, diplomacy, and trade regimes taking place in the meantime

“Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era” by Christine Sylvester, 1994.

It is acknowledged that the roots of modern feminism go back to Mary Wollstonecraft’s work titled A Vindication of the Rights of Women published in 1792, in which the author argued that women should leave the private sphere and take active part in the public sphere instead (Donovan, 2010: 33). Wollstonecraft’s work principally regarded as a reaction to Rousseau’s work Emile in which he legitimizes different sets of educational and behavioral standards for girls and boys.

The “third wave” of feminism on the other hand, covered the period of 1990s and early 2000s and criticized the fact that the first two waves of feminism were dominated by white women from advanced capitalist societies.

Although the words gender and sex are often used interchangeably, they have slightly different connotations; sex tends to refer to biological differences, while gender more often refers to cultural and social differences and sometimes encompasses a broader range of identities than the binary of male and female.

Masculinity signifies the qualities or attributes regarded as typical characteristics of men and menly behaviours, “femininity” involves distinctive characteristics or behaviours associated with women. It combines features of a hierarchy of masculinities, differential access among men to power (over women and other men), and the interplay between men’s identity, men’s ideals, interactions, power, and patriarchy

Postmodern feminism rejects the assertions of liberal feminist approach and attempts to deconstruct realist interpretations of IR in order to uncover the concealed yet existent influences of gender. Postmodern feminists claim that gender roles are arbitrarily constructed; and therefore, the relationship between gender and power should be re-evaluated in an unrestricted way.

Cyntia Enloe is one of the most prominent feminist scholars, best known for her work on gender and the role of women. Her work Bananas, Beaches and Bases (1989) is considered as one of the upmost works on feminist international relations. Enloe in her work, seeks to find a legitimate answer to the question “Where are the women?”; and casts unacknowledged different public roles to women who involve themselves as plantation sector workers, diplomatic wives etc.

Based on the general framework suggested by the authors, scholars and thinkers of feminist IR, this subfield’s general contribution to mainstream IR studies can be summarized as below:

• Gender analysis should be introduced in order to dismantle the traditional theoretical structure of IR;

• The “male-stream” view of traditional “high politics” issues such as national interest, power, security, security and war should be revealed;

• The identification of the key concepts of IR such as man, the state, power, rationality, and security, with a masculine logic of IR should be criticized;

• Feminist IR should be ethically committed to inclusivity and self-reflexivity, and attentiveness to relationships and power.

Radical feminism primarily aims to formulate new ways of understanding the relationship between men and women; and believes that it is the male-dominated hierarchy (or patriarchy) that is responsible for the oppressed status of women today (Maynard, 1995: 260; Walby, 1990: 3). Therefore, it believes in “going to the root” or the source (of the problem). According to this branch of feminism, if changes are not brought about in this hierarchy, there can be no equality between men and women, and that a total reconstruction of the society is necessary to bring about the desired reforms.

Mutual enablement

J. Ann Tickner