In the present social setting in the world, women play a very vital role in the field of politics. The roles that women play are diverse in the sense that women are both at the forefront in the political arena and they also constitute the most vulnerable and marginalised victims of political related adversities and atrocities. Many political decisions in the world today are influenced to some extent be feminist principles. In the same way, the dynamics of the world’s politics affect women in a great way. For instance, during wars, women are the majority of the victims. Currently there is a surge of many women participants in the world politics. However, the current study system for world’s politics is not sufficient for the learner to grasp the essential and vital role of women in the political arena. There is the need for a feminist approach to the study of world politics to fully comprehend the role of women in the world politics.
Feminism refers to a body of values aimed at promoting equality for women on grounds of social-political welfare and economic strength with men. Feminists fight for the rights of women by advocating against discrimination of women based on their gender. They endeavour to achieve economic independence and break the stereotypes that are branded onto them by the society based on their gender. There are myriads of feminist categories. The liberal feminists are concerned with the equal rights with men in different areas of the society. To them, there should be equal opportunities for the women and men without any form of discrimination.
Radical feminist, on the other hand, advocate against atrocities such as wars and gender based violence. They usually fight against patriarchy that characterises the society today. The Marxist feminist is concerned with the effect of capitalism on women. They advocate against poverty especially on women. Finally, the black feminists advocate against negative ethnicity and also the problem of racism. They are activists against discrimination and stereotyping based on their gender and skin colour.
A feminist approach to the study of world’s politics is a strategy that attempts to institute awareness on the topic of world politics by viewing the world’s political structure from a woman’s perspective. All elements of the world’s politics are evaluated and studied from a woman’s point of view. A feminist approach to the study of the world’s politics is necessitated by the present system of patriarchy. Patriarchy is a scheme of societal structures and customs that show an aggravated level of male dominance and taking advantage of the women. In this type of a system, the men dominate while the women are expected to submit to the dominance. This leads to many forms of disparity in the society between the males and the females. A feminist approach attempts to advocate for equality in political strength, legal rights and prospects for women.
A feminist approach to the study of world politics has the effect of conveying the gender concerns in the study of the world’s politics. It promotes the appreciation of gender issues in the world’s political scene. The world political system is built around a business or economic and administrative framework. These elements are marred by masculine oriented assumptions and policies that obscure the feminists’ role in the world’s politics. As a result, most study programs misrepresent the situation in the world’s political system. They mainly concentrate on the achievements and the power and influence possessed by men and leave out the tribulations faced by women in the world today. More attention is given to the study of who is more superior in the corridors of power rather than how the political machine in the world works, especially in light to feminist contributions. A feminist approach to the study of world’s politics brings into cognition the gender issues and ensures more visibility of women in the political scene by eliminating patriarchal bias.
The feminist approach to the study of the world politics involves elimination and generation strategies. The elimination strategies dissect the political framework and get rid of the biased masculine principles in the conventional study of the world’s politics. On the other hand, the generation strategies overcome the shortcomings of the current study system by highlighting the accomplishments of women in the world’s politics. They inform on the potential and ability of the women players in the political scene. They also describe the effect of women in the process of decision making. The overall effect is the delivery of the study methodology that is based on a woman’s point of view. The corrected study system of the world’s politics now uses the feminist approach and facilitates the comprehension of the place of a woman in the world politics. With the feminist approach, the influence of women on the global political landscape and the effect of the political policies to the women are examined.
The history of the world’s politics has men dominating in all realms of political significance. Military structures and security dynamics all look dominated by masculine principles and ideologies. This characterisation is what the world political scene looks like. When the feminist approach is used in the study of world’s politics, the learner is no longer blinded by the biased male dominance assumptions. It brings the learner into terms with the underlying mechanisms that characterize the dynamics of the global politics. The approach helps to reveal the hand of a woman in many of the political events that initially appeared masculine.
Earlier scholars of the world’s politics in light of the feminist approach dissected the global political issues such as wars and security. These issues were mostly masculine at initial examination. The feminist approach debate among scholars emerged mostly in the period following the culmination of the cold war, it was noted that in negotiations for a cessation of hostilities, the peace treaty documents and novel constitutions always contained the name combatant. The word was used in the context of describing armed men involved in the wars. The women and girls were left out. The wives of these soldiers, their daughters and the females who might have been raped in the war were never mentioned in the documents. Regardless of the vital role played by the women in the war, they are not mentioned.
However, the feminist approach is significant in the study of such issues because it subjects them to exhaustive gender exploration. Surprisingly, all the dominions of world politics that were initially deemed overly masculine are revealed to be reliant on the same gender structures that were perceived to be obscure. In the case of the cold war, for instance, the vital role played by the women becomes apparent after using the feminist approach to study the topic.
In the present global political landscape today, the world politics are shaped in a great way by women behind the scenes. These include the first ladies, the wives of great policy makers and the benefactors of the policies made. Presently, women enjoy more rights and recognition. However, there are very few women in the forefront in the world politics. This means, though women play a major role in the political scene, most of them are not visible. Therefore, conventional study of the world politics may not reveal the actual role of these women in world politics using the feminist approach in the study of the world’s politics demystifies the issue of gender contribution and helps the learner to view the subject from a different perspective.
The feminist approach can shed more light to the study of world politics in the sense that it helps the students to understand the magnitude to which the women are protected from men. By looking at the political system conventionally, it seems like men dominate the circles of influence. The women are seen as victims of gender based abuse, robbery, rape and homicide. This has necessitated the enactment of laws that protect the women from such violence or any form of discrimination. Any sexual crime to a woman has become extremely punishable and it carries a very heavy sentence. When studying this scenario using a feminist approach, it emerges that the women are provided with protection from the law.
The law also endorses them by requiring that the population of a workplace should be constituted by women above a given threshold. The protection and endorsement by the law provides self-awareness to the women. Feminism can also be used as a playing card in political contests where the women use feminism to their advantage to coax other women to vote for them into political positions. As a result, their involvement and activity in the world’s politics can be easily evaluated.
In the society today, women are considered as important people unlike in the past. The shift of attitude in the society has seen the change of perception of women. They are no longer seen as property to be owned or people to serve. Their issues are now treated with importance. With this attention from the society coupled by the recognition, women are more confident and active in contributing to the humanity. The women can now voice their opinions and be heard unlike in the past where the opinion of the women was not treated with any seriousness. This means that the women now have a say to what happens in their society thanks to feminism. The study of the world’s politics using the feminist approach helps to comprehend the level of attention received by women in the society. Consequently, this will enable the student to deduce the relevance of the woman’s opinion in the present political system in the world.
In conclusion, using the feminist approach in the study of world politics helps to shed new light in the subject. The analysis of the world’s politics from a feminist point of view facilitates greater comprehension of the global political dynamics by the student. It also provides a broader coverage of the issue by the student. The general outlook of the issue becomes more broadened and the patriarchal bias is eliminated. All these help to shed a new light to the study of the world’s politics.
Reference List
Bryson, V. (2003). Feminist Political Theory. New York: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN.
Hentschel, G. (2008). Feminist Approaches and Perspectives in the 21. Century. Gender Justice in Peace and Security Politics.
Samuel, W. (1990). Theorizing Patriachy. oxford.
Young, G. (2004). Feminist International Relations. 75-88.
