ABSTRACT

This chapter presents an overview of the contemporary relationship between gender and world politics. It begins with a conceptual discussion of gender and why adopting a gender(ed) lens is important for understanding the changing nature of global governance, global security, and global political economy in which gender issues have become more salient in national and international policymaking. The chapter emphasizes the power of gender acts as a meta-lens that fosters dichotomization, stratification, and depoliticization in thought and action, thereby sustaining global power structures and crises that prevent or militate against meaningful advances in social equality and justice. It shows the power of gender at work in the lenses we use to analyze world politics in the contexts of global governance, global security, and global political economy. The chapter argues that inattention to the interlocking nature of the inequalities—an insight derived from intersectional analysis—has resulted in problematic gender equality policymaking.