Chapter 11 Self-test questions

. How might we understand the terms gender and gender security?

Gender security is essentially an extension of the way in which we conceptualize the international political system. The analysis of gender security relations has only been made possible by the expansion of the traditional military definition of security in which national security in anarchical international society was the exclusive province of the male.

To study gender security is to focus on the role of adult women in modern warfare, including industries related to warfare, and their inclusion or exclusion from combat roles.

The issue of gender and security is understood as the practical conceptualization of ways in which women have a role in security related issues, and their relative inclusion and exclusion in military conflict and militarization.

The study of gender and of gender security issues is a complex task, and both terms elude a uniform definition. The concept of gender security broadens terms of security beyond the military sector to also include 'human security'.

. Which characteristic is not usually attributed to men?

Masculinity

Vulnerability

Militarism

Violence

. Which of these best describes the concept of hegemonic masculinity?

The inherent promotion of feminine characteristics in society.

Social dominance of men over women that results from the designation of 'masculine' characteristics as more valued than 'feminine' characteristics.

All of the above.

The acknowledgement that gender identity exists in many forms and is not binary.

. Why do so many feminist scholars regard the exclusion of women from the military sphere or from armed combat as important?

Veterans of armed conflict may be rewarded by gaining powerful offices, often in political positions and in state institutions.

Participation in military activity is often regarded as a sign of strength, patriotism, and courage.

The foundations for decisions not to allow female participation are commonly based on arbitrary and discriminatory rationale that can limit women's participation in civil society in other ways.

All of the above.

. In what ways does gender shape the conceptualization of nationhood and conflict?

Although often missing from the traditional literature on war and security, women frequently serve the purposes of nationalist causes, with nationalism often presented in highly gendered and female terms, where women are symbols of statehood.

A sense of national identity can be developed through a variety of shared experiences, including war. The glorification of iconic national figures such as political leaders is not noticeably gendered and men and women generally perform the same types of roles within the public realm.

Measures of national pride and success are biased towards the glorification of female attributes such as the ability to bear children. The restriction of women to the domestic sphere creates a sense of national identity that is founded on a celebration of home life, feminine strength, and maternal characteristics.

When thinking about national identity, violence, physical strength, aggression, and the ability to use force are attributed as feminine characteristics. The male identity is imagined as being one of domesticity, nurturing, care, and child rearing.

. How do biological differences affect the roles that men and women must perform for the state?

Biology determines the female body as weak, ensuring that men continue to dominate state security apparatus in order to protect them. Women are aware of practical biological differences, and by accepting them they allow men to act as their protectors and care-givers. In return, women must act as protectors and care-givers to those less capable than themselves, their children, infants, the elderly, and the infirm.

The most intimate of human activities for women are more important than the demands of the political and religious male dominated elite. Biology determines, and woman's intimate choice exerts, that the considerable responsibility of reproducing a state's population becomes the duty of women alone.

Indiscriminate warfare is gender neutral and in contemporary conflicts there is no gender difference in levels of risk or duty. Men are just as likely to become victims of mass rape (as in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Balkans conflict) as women, and women are equally likely to be conscripted or coerced into military service.

Gender roles are a social construct; the values that we attribute to masculinity or femininity, such as strength or care-giving, are the product of shared social ideals rather than innate biological properties. Men and women are equally able to care effectively for children or to conduct violent and aggressive behaviour. However, social constructs of gender roles are pervasive, and women are likely to be victims of gender-based violence in conflict whilst men are more likely to be involved as perpetrators of violence.

. Which gendered narrative has been central to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

The idea that Western men were saving victimized Iraqi and Afghan women from patriarchy.

The idea that a highly patriarchal society creates terrorism.

The complete exclusion of female voices from the narrative.

All of the above.

. In what ways does the idea of 'victim' impact on the way in which gender security is regarded?

Woman as 'victim' is, and continues to be, an important narrative of war stories. In 1990 an estimated 90% of war casualties were civilian, the majority women and children. Reports that women are the primary casualties of war has contributed to the enduring perception that women are dependent on men for protection, and that men are responsible for sacrificing their own wellbeing for the protection of women and the state (often confused with one another through propaganda and imagery).

The role of men as intrinsically heroic has been marginalized as the traumas of war, desertion, and conscription become more apparent. When imagining victims, there is no longer a gender divide. Instead, there is a growing perception that those who fight are courageous and heroic, whilst those who do not take on female characteristics.

Increasing awareness regarding the barbaric nature of warfare and the problems of trauma in war has led to a reversal in the belief that the idea of war is a natural place for males. In contemporary societies across the globe, men are regarded as the victims of gender stereotypes that coerce them into violent behaviour as 'protectors' or aggressors on behalf of the state.

All of the above.

. What problems has the post-Cold War security literature revealed on women, war, development, and security?

Technological advancements have to some extent rendered the battlefield gender-neutral. 'Virtual' warfare has resolved the historical tension between the citizen and the state security apparatus; if actual combat could be avoided then male and female soldiers could wage war on equal terms. However, technological advancement remains unequal and so the gender situation is different in different contexts, depending on development and security issues.

The technological capacity to wage war with minimal civilian costs has abolished the threat of physical and biological gender victimization. The contemporary gender divide is structured on 'soft' issues associated with socio-economic hardship.

Conflict in warfare and the gender divide between men and women is centred on the historical contract between the individual and the state. The 'right to fight' debate has equal meaning and saliency across the globe, and is universally applicable in all situations.

Nuclear armaments and the threat of mass destruction have rendered the battlefield gender neutral in terms of its destructive capabilities. Whilst historically conventional warfare was conducted on the battlefield in which women were particularly vulnerable to violence, and post-conflict sexual violence, these threats no longer exist.

. In what ways have feminist and critical security investigations of the 1980s and 1990s expanded our understanding of gender security issues?

Investigations into the consequences of state security policies showed that women were subject to masculine dominated war policies as the likely victims as casualties of war or as post- conflict targets. Women are increasingly subject to violence as a product of social circumstance.

Gendered consequences of security issues have not challenged international relations theory. Constructivist theories of the state were mainstreamed without undermining the ideas of state as the centre of military power, or as the highest organization of human community.

Feminist and critical security theory shows us that war can have gendered consequences. Recognition of those consequences has allowed us to address the way in which we think about 'male' and 'female' expectations in warfare, and has shaped the way in which we theorize, participate, and protest against those roles.

The literature that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s was primarily concerned with the ways in which women had served the purposes of nationalist campaigns, focusing on the biological characteristics of women as sexually reproductive beings, and with little focus on critical analysis.

Chapter 11 Self-test questions

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