ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between gender and the nation. Nationalism and Feminism are important terms both in everyday life and in the discipline of International Relations (IR).
IR’s theorizing on nationhood, nationalism and the state is Eurocentric, i.e. IR accords the Western experience of statehood and nationhood primacy, often neglecting their diverse manifestations in other parts of the world. Both ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ are social constructs. ‘Men’ and the characteristics associated with ‘masculinity’ have more economic, social, cultural and political power than ‘women’ and ‘femininity’. The nation is frequently constructed as feminine, whereas the state is considered masculine; the nation is thus seen in need of protection, whereas the state is accorded the role of the protector. The best way to understand the relationship between gender and nationalism is through an ‘intersectional’ lens – this is a perspective that stresses the need to look at the ways in which systems of oppression interact on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, age, disability, etc.
