'Session: 21 'Gendering World Politics'

In ‘Gendering World Politics’, J Ann Tickner provides a much needed and very refreshing break from the traditional International Relations theories steeped in the Realist school of thought.

It would be interesting to consider perhaps how the world would be structured if societies were led by women instead of men. Would concepts such as war and anarchy not exist if women led the world? Perhaps aggression as a trait and security as an ideal are homogenous to both men and women regardless of patriarchal norms and the perceived gender dichotomy. There is no denying of course that women have largely been marginalized in the political sphere due to the supposition that they lack the ‘masculine’ leadership traits such as strength and courageousness. The feminist view of women being suppressed and treated as inferior in a male dominated world throughout the course of history is also a truth that cannot be refuted.

Yet perhaps feminist influences in International Relations theory are also limited by the very fact that they are largely confined to critiques of the existing systems and theories in place instead of providing concrete viable alternatives. True, such theories may initially be insufficient and incomplete considering that the world remains a male dominated place though sufficiently lesser so than even a decade or two ago. A possible explanation for this is that the basic theories that form the crux of International Relations are not ideationally gender-dichotomized after all but are a product of the way history has unfolded. And its anyone’s guess as to who is responsible for that.