Posted on by ijeomaopara

Demystifying Gender Politics: A Lexicon for Empowerment

Bridging the gap between academia and the real world is so important. For starters, if our work is not impacting the communities we write about or the world we live in, then what is the point? In my discipline of political science (and especially in gender politics), there is a lot of confusion about the terms that are used. If political science is the study of the world we live in, and gender studies is the study of gendered dynamics in the world we live in, gender politics brings together the opportunity to study what happens in the world with a consideration of gendered power dynamics. There may be some terms that you recognise, as they have made their way into mainstream language. As a result, it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction when originally academic terms become part of the everyday lexicon. This blog will be decoding eight terms within gender politics (with some others sprinkled in between!). The hope is that this can help foster a deeper comprehension of critical issues at the heart of these areas.

1. Gender: Gender is the expression, behaviour and identity through which you experience the world. The genders that society is often familiar with are ‘man’ or ‘woman’, but there are a plethora of genders that people identify with (or don’t identify with e.g. non-binary people/gender non-conforming people). It is essential to know that people’s gender expression (through clothes, hair, behaviour, voice) is not the same as gender identity (which has to do with self-identification), or sexual orientation. Within feminist scholarship, there are also those that challenge the idea of gender being a separate categorisation, they state that a binary understanding of the body is a product of social-cultural realities.

2. Feminism (feminist theory): Depending on where you get your information from, the term feminism can be defined on a wide spectrum. But is there a ‘right’ definition of feminism, and what would an accurate example of feminism be? This is a difficult question to answer in a straightforward manner. According to UN Women, feminism is “a movement advocating for women’s social, political, legal and economic rights equal to those of men.” Feminist theory is different in that it is a way of thinking and understanding how gender affects people’s lives. Examples of prominent feminist theorists include Sara Ahmed, Judith Butler, bell hooks and Ama Ata Aidoo.

3. Neo/liberalism: Within the discipline of political science, liberalism refers to a specific school of thought. Liberalism refers to the ideology of individual autonomy against state intervention. Over time the term evolved to also include protection against private businesses. However, in mainstream media, liberalism often refers to being a ‘liberal’, which is different from leftist ideals. Neoliberalism refers to the economic policies that highlight the political ideology of liberalism i.e. minimal state intervention, a competitive trade market and the principle of self-efficacy.

4. Patriarchy/Toxic Masculinity: Patriarchy can be defined as a system or hierarchy in which gender inequality is perpetuated through the unequal distribution of power that favours men and oppresses women. Toxic masculinity is a result of patriarchy, whereby the attitudes and behaviours of men towards women create a sense of entitlement towards violence and dominance. A popular example of toxic masculinity is the TikTok famous social media personality Andrew Tate, whose views and beliefs on men’s and women’s places in society have had a massively negative impact on young men.

5. Intersectionality: The term ‘intersectionality’ was created by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the 1980s, which was meant to highlight the intersecting ways in which differences (race, class, gender) amongst groups of people showcase imbalances in the legal context of the USA. However, intersectionality went mainstream around the mid-2010s, and the conservative backlash to the term created a fear-based idea about who deserves to be a victim, and who does not. At its core, intersectionality functions as an observation of power imbalances in varying socio-political contexts and is a tool through which said contexts can be examined and dismantled.

6. Cis-hetero patriarchy: There are three different terms in this one word, namely; cis-gendered, heteronormative and patriarchy. We know that patriarchy is a system that prioritises men by valuing behaviours, attitudes and systems that oppress women. Heteronormativity is the assumption everyone is ‘naturally’ heterosexual (romantic/sexual attraction to people of the opposite sex i.e. heterosexual men are attracted to women, and vice versa). Cisgender is the gender identity of a person who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth. Therefore, when we put it all together, cis-hetero patriarchy is a “system of power based on the supremacy of cis-gendered heterosexual men through domination and exploitation of women and other marginalised genders/gender nonconforming identities.

7. Gender Equity/Gender Equality:

8. LGBTQIAP++ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Pansexual, and more): This is an acronym that has changed over time to reflect other identities not included. Although it is shortened to LGBT, this can have different implications for those who do not identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Trans. The earliest use of the term LGB was in the 1990s when lesbian, gay and bisexual activists adopted the acronym for the community they were part of.

Maybe other terms came to mind when reading through this that you’d like to understand more about. Also being aware, there are different implications for these definitions when applying them to different contexts and examples. Let me know in the comments below!

Posted on by Odi · 2 Comments

A Social Scientist’s Lab

When I think of a laboratory, it conjures images of pipettes and burners with complex mathematical equations written on a board. My laboratory, however, as a political scientist, has little to do with Bunsen burners and more do with measuring political heat. Very few people, outside the social sciences, understand how social science research is conducted and often liken it to tea leaf reading.

Research in the social science, particularly in politics and international relations, is really dynamic. There is an adage that ‘a week is a long time in politics’. A political leader can move from a hero to a villain and back again within a few days. Because of this dynamism, the work of the social scientist is important because their job is not only to analyse current state of affairs but also pick up on issues that could be arising soon. The social scientist should be able to direct policymakers to areas that that need attention and draw in the expertise other disciplines to meet the societal need.

Conducting social sciences is further complicated by the plethora of techniques and approaches to draw from. A number of analysts prefer more traditional quantitative approaches that they ‘borrow’ from the natural sciences. Alternatively, they may decide to use more qualitative approaches. I fall in the school of thought that purely scientific approaches are not always appropriate to examine social issues. For instance, research into political psychology would require a more experimental approach to political science but examining government decision-making needs a more holistic view. If you think about it, statistics presents a state of affairs but can’t help you predict how a leader, or government would respond to that state of affairs. There are so many  structural and relational power dynamics that affect decision making that statistics can only be a part of the overall picture. The only way to fully understand, and to an extent predict, possible future scenarios, is to understand the internal and external environment that  guide governmental and political decision-making. This exploration has to make use of international legal instruments, historical decisions making and being able to read shifts in the social environment.

The political scientist also has to draw on important skills that can’t be taught in a lecture hall, such as relationship building and listening skills. Listening goes beyond hearing what is said but includes being able to pick up to what the speaker is truly trying to convey. Many times, as it is with politicians and bureaucrats. The words that they use often have dual meaning or are a signal of something larger. A gruesome example is from the 1994 Rwanda genocide, there was a lot of rhetoric in the media about cockroaches needing to be exterminated. Tapping into relationship networks and listening carefully helps social scientists do their jobs better which can help, in some instances, save lives.

So what does my dream political science and international relations ‘laboratory’ look like? Aesthetically, it would be a cross between Olivia Pope’s apartment and office on the hit TV Show Scandal; basically it would be the love-child of comfort and function. The bookshelves would contain archive material, policy documents, newspapers and transcripts of interviews with experts in my field as well as others related to my subject matter. The living room would have a smart TV that would allow me to access the Internet as well as be linked to news sites around the world. The beauty of a smart TV is that is also does away with the need for a phone because communication is possible via Internet call applications such as Skype. There would also be a blue-tooth enabled keyboard so that I can type from the comfort of my couch when I need to. The only non-negotiable item that I would like is a feature wall with a magnetic glass white board. I prefer glass to regular white boards because they are easier to keep clean and, importantly, they are difficult to photograph. I often use paper or a white board to sketch my ideas or plot out concept relationships so having a stylish whiteboard would be great. Though, I must mention that I recently discovered new mind-mapping software that actually helps with mapping out key ideas (I plan on writing a review once I have fully mastered the program).

Ultimately, I don’t believe that your best social, or political, analysis comes from solely from facts and figures but also requires a good amount of intuition … and a comfy chair to sit on whilst you write.