Feminism and international relations: Gender in the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the International Labour Organization

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop an International Relations theory which is sensitive to gender. It is argued that, of all the social science disciplines, International Relations has been one of the most resistant to incorporating feminist analyses of women or gender. This is attributed to the very different concerns of both mainstream International Relations theory and feminist theory: mainstream IR has had little interest in overturning the (international) status quo while feminism aims at precisely the opposite.;This is so, however, only if the analysis focusses on 'gender'. An analysis which examines gender relations entails exploring the ways in which knowledge about sexual difference is sustained, reproduced, and manipulated by international institutions. It means uncovering the ideas about sexual difference which inform different international activities during different periods of time, and the prevailing material conditions which either facilitate or prohibit the adoption of some understandings of gender over others. As such, it also means assessing the extent to which international practices themselves contribute to the particular understandings which we hold of gender in any given time or place.;Finally this analysis is applied to an illustrative study of both the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the International Labour Organization. It is argued that each has operated at least in part around assumptions of gender, and that these assumptions are reflected in the changing policy and programme practices of the organizations throughout their histories. In this way, we see not only that international relations have always operated on assumptions of gender, but more importantly, that these relations are subject to change.;Nevertheless, because both feminist theory and International Relations theory are in a state of flux, new opportunities for developing a feminist International Relations theory have presented themselves. In order to develop such a theory, the dissertation explores the possibilities within both feminist theory and International Relations theory to begin an account of international relations which is sensitive to gender. It is argued that while often limited, there are spaces within each which would permit such an analysis.