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Gender in International Relations
Gender in International Relations extends and applies a variety of contemporary feminist perspectives to the phenomenon of international relations.
Demonstrating how a feminist perspective changes and expands our view of the global system, Tickner explores the ways in which the world economy has differentially rewarded men and women and reexamines the gender implications of modern mankind's domination over nature.
Tickner's review of gender differences in political, military, economic, and ecological relations offers a new view of the insecurities faced by women and men in world politics. Her feminist reconceptualization of security recasts recent theoretical efforts in international relations to construct more adequate security arrangements, both comprehensive and common.
Demonstrating how a feminist perspective changes and expands our view of the global system, Tickner explores the ways in which the world economy has differentially rewarded men and women and reexamines the gender implications of modern mankind's domination over nature.
Tickner's review of gender differences in political, military, economic, and ecological relations offers a new view of the insecurities faced by women and men in world politics. Her feminist reconceptualization of security recasts recent theoretical efforts in international relations to construct more adequate security arrangements, both comprehensive and common.
180 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 3, 2018
This highly readable classic of IR scholarship still rings true 25 years after its first publication but from today's standpoint often does not go far enough and is a bit fluffy.
Tickner does a good job at uncovering the male biases in conventional IR approaches but is less convincing when she tries to show alternative ways of doing IR:
So women can add a new experience because their life experience is often one of dependency and marginalization? Does that then mean that women have nothing to add once they are no longer second class citizens? Do we need to get rid of the concept of femininity altogether?
What about men? Are all of them rational, for power competing beings? And if so, is that the result of nature or nurture? How can we reconceptualize masculinity? Is the experience of all men and all women, respectively, really the same? What about ethnic hierarchies in combination with gendered ones?
What about women who are "rational", materialistic and exploitative? Is it right to deny women the agency to be bad?
The book has little to nothing to say about all of these questions (except for a few lines in passing in the concluding chapter), but maybe that would be expecting too much from an early work (the first?) of feminist IR scholarship. Given its influence on the discipline, and especially on critical IR studies, I'd still highly recommend it.
Tickner does a good job at uncovering the male biases in conventional IR approaches but is less convincing when she tries to show alternative ways of doing IR:
So women can add a new experience because their life experience is often one of dependency and marginalization? Does that then mean that women have nothing to add once they are no longer second class citizens? Do we need to get rid of the concept of femininity altogether?
What about men? Are all of them rational, for power competing beings? And if so, is that the result of nature or nurture? How can we reconceptualize masculinity? Is the experience of all men and all women, respectively, really the same? What about ethnic hierarchies in combination with gendered ones?
What about women who are "rational", materialistic and exploitative? Is it right to deny women the agency to be bad?
The book has little to nothing to say about all of these questions (except for a few lines in passing in the concluding chapter), but maybe that would be expecting too much from an early work (the first?) of feminist IR scholarship. Given its influence on the discipline, and especially on critical IR studies, I'd still highly recommend it.
June 14, 2020
A classic!
July 29, 2007
my first introduction to feminism/feminist when i was writing my research paper for my bachelor degree. Yes, our educational system requires all university students to write a research paper as the final requirement for you to graduate.
April 15, 2012
I had to read this for my theory of international relations class and it was not bad. The writing style was simple to follow and the ideas were not too crazy.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews