Masculinity/ies

Citation:

Safitri, Myrna Asnawati. 2020. “Manifesting Ecofeminism in Peatland Restoration: Policies, Actions, and Challenges.” Indonesian Feminist Journal 25 (1). doi:10.34309/jp.v25i1.406.

Author: Myrna Asnawati Safitri

Abstract:

Degradation of peatland ecosystems occurs as a result of excessive exploitation leading to peat drainage and fires. This was influenced by a masculinity perspective in resource tenure and utilization. Ecofeminism presents a different perspective on narratives and inter-relationships of human with nature, including the place of women in them. Injustice that befalls women occur due to unequal power relations in the control and utilization of resources in the peatland ecosystem. This paper discusses the Government of Indonesia’s efforts to reduce gender injustice through Peatland Restoration’s policy. Two policies are discussed here, namely the Social Safety Safeguard and Peat Cares Village Program. It is concluded that women's participation must be able to resolve the imbalance of power relations among women as well as between gender. This requires sufficient time and everlasting education.

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Justice Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Indonesia

Year: 2020

Citation:

Seager, Joni. 1993, reissued 2019. Earth Follies: Feminism, Politics and the Environment. New York: Routledge.

Author: Joni Seager

Annotation:

Summary:
First published in 1993. The question of ‘agency’ is essential to our understanding of environmental problems - who is responsible, and why? Threats such as ozone depletion, global warming and overconsumption are all precipitated by the powerful institutions which shape modern life – institutions which are overwhelmingly controlled by men and dominated by masculine presumptions.

Joni Seager argues that the gender bias inherent in western culture is inextricably linked to our environmental crisis. She analyses the traditional institutes of power – governments, the military and transnational corporations - and also takes a critical look at the equally patriarchal environmental establishment, comparing the work of the official environmental movement, grounded in masculine thought, with the smaller-scale, direct actions taken by women driven to protect their homes and communities.

Earth Follies represents an incisive and utterly convincing feminist critique of our environmental crises, and offers radical and productive priorities for the environmental agenda. (Summary from Routledge)

Table of Contents

Introduction: What’s the Problem Here?

1. Up in Arms Against the Environment: The Military

2. Business as Usual

3. On the Coattails of Men in Government 

4. The Ecology Establishment

5. The Eco-Fringe: Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism

6. Hysterical Housewives, Treehuggers, and Other Mad Women

Conclusion

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy

Year: 2019

Citation:

Thomas, Lahoma, and Rebecca Tiessen. 2010. "Human Security, Gender-Based Violence and the Spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Feminist Analysis." Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines 44 (3): 479-502.

Authors: Lahoma Thomas , Rebecca Tiessen

Abstract:

Topics: Domestic Violence, Gender, Women, Girls, Masculinity/ies, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Health, HIV/AIDS, Post-Conflict, Security, Human Security, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2010

Citation:

Uehling, Greta Lynn. 2020. “Working through Warfare in Ukraine: Rethinking Militarization in a Ukrainian Theme Café.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 22 (3): 335–58.

Author: Greta Lynn Uehling

Abstract:

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia in the Donbas region has led both countries to strengthen their respective militaries. The literature on militarization emphasizes the subtle and largely unconscious ways in which militarization spreads through society. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2015 and 2017, I argue that attention to the intersubjective aspects of the process exposes the self-conscious working through of military realities. I make this argument using the case study of a restaurant run by demobilized fighters, Café Patriot. Specifically, I show how the café’s proprietors aimed to provide an anti-depressive atmosphere for fighters, and to provoke critical thinking among non-combatant patrons. The café challenged theorizing on militarization by effacing the separation between military and civilian as predicted, but doing so in the interest of reminding people of militarization rather than blinding them to it. These findings highlight veterans’ constructive efforts to re-inhabit a fractured world, and contrast with portrayals in critical studies of militarized masculinity. In sum, the café represented an effort to intervene in the process of militarization using, strangely enough, the trappings of militarization. At stake is the definition of militarization as an insidious process.

Keywords: militarization, masculinity, gender, emotions, veterans, feminism

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization Regions: Europe, Eastern Europe Countries: Ukraine

Year: 2020

Citation:

Nagel, Robert Ulrich. 2020. “Gendered Preferences: How Women’s Inclusion in Society Shapes Negotiation Occurrence in Intrastate Conflicts.” Journal of Peace Research (April): 1-16.

Author: Robert Ulrich Nagel

Abstract:

To what extent do gender relations in society influence the likelihood of negotiations during intrastate disputes? A substantial body of literature recognizes gendered inequalities as integral to understanding conflict, yet they have received little attention in systematic studies of conflict management. I argue that patriarchal gender relations that reflect a preference for masculinity over femininity influence states’ propensity to negotiate with rebels. I draw on the concept of practices to explain how gender relations shape government preferences for negotiations. Specifically, I contend that practices of excluding women from fully participating in public life institutionalize violence as the preferred way of managing conflict. The implication is that countries with more patriarchal gender relations are less likely to engage in negotiations during intrastate conflicts. I test this argument on all civil conflict dyads between 1975 and 2014. The analyses show that countries that marginalize women’s participation in public life are significantly less likely to engage in negotiations. The results provide strong support for my theoretical argument and offer systematic evidence in support of core claims of the feminist peace theory.

Keywords: conflict, negotiation, gender inequality

Topics: Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Femininity/ies, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Peace Processes

Year: 2020

Citation:

Krause, Jana. 2020. “Restrained or Constrained? Elections, Communal Conflicts, and Variation in Sexual Violence.” Journal of Peace Research 57 (1): 185–98.

Author: Jana Krause

Abstract:

Anecdotal evidence suggests that sexual violence varies significantly across cases of election violence and communal conflicts but systematic research is scarce. Post-election violence is particularly likely if electoral mobilization further polarizes longstanding communal conflicts and political elites do not instruct security forces to intervene decisively. I comparatively analyse two prominent cases of post-election violence in Kenya (2007/8) and Nigeria (2008) that exhibit stark variation in sexual violence. Patrimonial networks and norms of violent masculinity that increase the probability of (gang) rape were present in both cases and do not explain variation. Civil war research has identified three explanations for the variation in sexual violence: situational constraints; ordered sexual violence or restraint; and bottom-up dynamics of sexual violence or restraint. I examine these for the context of post-election violence. I argue that the type of communal conflict triggered by electoral mobilization explains variation in sexual violence. In Kenya, pogroms of a majority group against a minority allowed for the time and space to perpetrate widespread sexual violence while in Nigeria, dyadic clashes between similarly strong groups offered less opportunity but produced a significantly higher death toll. These findings have important implications for preventing election violence. They demonstrate that civilian vulnerability is gendered and that high levels of sexual violence do not necessarily correspond to high levels of lethal violence. Ignoring sexual violence means underestimating the real intensity of conflict and its impact on the political process.

Keywords: communal conflict, election violence, Kenya, Nigeria, rape, sexual violence

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Conflict, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Governance, Elections, Sexual Violence, Rape, Violence Regions: Africa, East Africa, West Africa Countries: Kenya, Nigeria

Year: 2020

Citation:

Rougvie, Kate. 2018. "Exploring Gender Norms in the Lebanese Internal Security Forces." Al-Raida Journal 42 (1): 6-19.

Abstract:

Feminist scholarship focusing on security, gender, and conflict indicates gender norms that privilege the masculine and inferiorize the feminine are particularly pronounced within militarized security institutions (Whitworth, 2004). The male-dominated security sector promotes a particular type of masculinity (Connell, 2005), which reinforces gender-blind security institutions (Bastick, n.d.; Valasek, 2008; Enloe, 1983; Enloe, 2007). In this article, I will explore the ways in which this dynamic is produced in the context of Lebanon. I will investigate how social constructions of gender are reinforced by, and shape the nature of Lebanon’s highly militarized police force, and the potential impact of this on its capacity to respond to gendered needs. I will begin by demonstrating the importance of gender perspectives to security theory and discourse. I will then explore the ways in which gender norms manifest in the militarized Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the reasons for, and the impact of this manifestation on their capacity to be a gender-responsive institution. Such an analysis will touch on the role of the police in preventing and responding to gender-based violence (GBV), and women’s participation in the ISF.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Discourses, Gender-Based Violence, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Security Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 2018

Relevant Links: Open Access Policy for this article available here

Citation:

Holvikivi, Aiko. 2019. "Fixing Gender: The Paradoxical Politics of Peacekeeper Training." PhD diss., The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Author: Aiko Holvikivi

Abstract:

Over the past two decades, gender training for military and police peacekeepers has become institutionalised in the global governance of peace and security. Such training purports to respond to gendered harms previously ignored in, or actively caused by, peacekeeping operations. This evolving transnational practice involves the introduction of gender knowledge – indebted to feminist theorising and activism – into police and military organisations – commonly characterised as institutions of hegemonic masculinity. This thesis takes the tension between feminism and martial institutions as its point of departure to investigate what meaning the term gender acquires in training for uniformed peacekeepers, asking: What epistemic and political work does gender training do in martial institutions? Investigating the pedagogical practices of gender training through a multi-sited ethnography, I approach this question with the help of feminist, postcolonial, (and) queer epistemic perspectives. I conceptualise gender training as involving the production of knowledges around gender; knowledges which enable ways of being and acting in the world. I suggest that training practices often produce an understanding of gender that serves martial politics and reproduces colonial logics in the peacekeeping enterprise, thereby emptying the term of the transformative political hopes that feminist theorists typically invest in the concept. At the same time, I identify moments of tension, in which gender training appears to be destabilising hierarchical martial logics and engaging in subversive pedagogy. In sum, I argue that ambivalence is an integral feature of gender training, and locate political potential in the cultivation of resistant pedagogies, which exploit the margins of hegemonic discourses to engage in subversive strategies of destabilisation and delinking. This thesis provides an empirical contribution to an under-studied area of global governance, as well as forwarding feminist theorising on political strategies for engaging with and against institutions of state power.

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Discourses, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Peacekeeping

Year: 2019

Citation:

Nicholas, Lucy, and Christine Agius. 2017. The Persistence of Global Masculinism: Discourse, Gender, and Neo-Colonial Re-Articulations of Violence. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Authors: Lucy Nicholas, Christine Agius

Annotation:

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence

Year: 2018

Citation:

Meza, Laura Elena Ruiz. 2006. "Género, grupos domésticos y derechos de propiedad sobre la tierra." El Cotodiano 21 (139): 7-19.

Author: Laura Elena Ruiz Meza

Abstract:

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Households, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 2006