Session 21: I just 'embraced' Feminism!

Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression. -Eleanor Roosevelt

J. Ann Tickner in her book “Gendering World Politics” has presented such an accurate picture of the male dominated world. She starts her book with a spot-on quote by Eleanor Roosevelt and provides a prologue that is exceptionally relatable.  

While studying this course on IR theory I have always felt that politics is ‘not my subject’. It is like I understand but at the very same time I do not. This apparent paradox became clearer as I continued to read. Is it the consistent reiteration of words such as force, power and violence which are often associated with men the reason I have been unable to associate myself with the field of International Relations?

Our ideas have been developed in such a manner that even constructing a mental image would be sufficient to demonstrate the level of male dominance in the field of IR. Think about ‘defense’- a MALE soldier? How about ‘authority’, wait was that male too? Ouch!

Gender too, like various other phenomena is socially constructed. It is no longer about the biological difference but about culturally defined characteristics that is dominating popular discourse. As, are ideas are affected by what we are taught, this notion also plays a role in structuring our understanding of identities and social status directly leading to unjustified inequality in the system.

So far, I had not associated myself with any single form of feminism because of the variation in viewpoints that subcategories within the feminist thought. However, after reading this incredible piece by Tickner I can proudly say that I am not just a feminist but, I have always been one.