Seeing Gender in International Security

Gender in International Security

Introduction

• Gender analysis is transformative in Security Studies.
• Feminist approaches view gender as a power relation affecting individuals and states.
• Feminist perspectives on security include realist, liberal, constructivist, critical, post-structural, and post-colonial approaches.

Understanding Gender

• Gender is a socially constructed expectation, not merely biological sex.
• Characteristics are mapped onto masculinities for men and femininities for women.
• States, militaries, and organizations can be assigned gendered characteristics.

Gender Subordination

• Examples of gender subordination:
  • Military training using 'girls' as a derogatory term.
  • States challenging each other's masculinity.
  • Rape and forced impregnation as weapons of war.
  • Targeting women civilians.
  • Believing gender ambiguous people are dangerous.

Feminist Work in Security

• Reformulates mainstream approaches to traditional security issues.
• Foregrounds women and gender in conflict and resolution.
• Reveals the blindness of security studies regarding gender.
• Gender analysis is necessary for understanding international security.

Conclusion

• Gender is constitutive of security.
• Security cannot be fully defined, understood, or obtained without feminist theorizing.