Global Gender Issues

When we look at world politics through a different set of lensesones that reveal how the power of gender blinds us to the presence of women in international affairswe begin to see what lies below the surface of the interstate power exchanges called international relations. Some women wield traditional international power as heads of state. There are also women in positions of less visible state and nonstate power, many of whom seek a more equal and just global order. And there are billions of women who bear, feed, clothe, and care for the worldwhether as mothers, farmers, textile workers, electronics assemblersyet have no formal political power. Global Gender Issues connects the inequalities between women and men with the world politics of power, security, economy, and ecology. Through history, visual imagery, theoretical analysis, and other narrative techniques, V. Spike Peterson and Anne Sisson Runyan alert us to gendered differences of power, violence, labor, and resources. In doing so, they suggest linkages between and among so-called womens issues and such world political matters as wars of secession, arms proliferation, global economic recession, and environmental degradation. At the same time, the authors hold out for us a clearly articulated, undogmatic hope for redefining and reorganizing gender relations and international relations as we begin to embrace difference, demand equality, and develop new standards of power and progress.

Table of Contents:
* List of Tables and Illustrations * Acknowledgments to the Second Edition * Acknowledgments to the First Edition * List of Acronyms * 1. Introduction: The Gender of World Politics * How Lenses Work * Why Global? * Why Gender? * Why Issues? * The Immediacy and Import of Global Gender Issues * Notes About This Text * Mapping the Book * 2. Gender as a Lens on World Politics * Denaturalizing Gender * The Social Construction of Gender and Gender Hierarchy * The Gendered Who, What, and How of World Politics * Gendered Divisions of World Politics * Conclusion * 3. Gendered Divisions of Power * Women as State Actors * How and Why Are These Women Rendered Invisible? * Why So Few? * How Do Women Get to the Top? * What Are the Gender Consequences of Women in Power? * What Makes Actors/Agents Powerful? Who Gets Attention? For What? * Locating Power: Nationally and Internationally * Conclusion * 4. Gendered Divisions of Violence, Labor, and Resources * Violence: War and Security Issues * Labor: Economic Issues * Resources: Equity and Ecology Issues * Conclusion * 5. The Politics of Resistance: Women as Nonstate, Antistate, and Transstate Actors * Women's Movements * Practical and Strategic Gender Interests * Antiwar and Peace Movements * Nationalist and Antinationalist Movements * Economic Movements * Ecology Movements * Conclusion * 6. Ungendering World Politics * Ungendering Power and Politics * Ungendering Violence * Ungendering Labor * Ungendering Resources * Conclusion * Discussion Questions * Notes * Suggested Readings * Websites * Glossary * Index

About the Author :
V. Spike Peterson is associate professor of political science, with courtesy affiliations in women's studies, comparative culture and literary studies, and international studies at the University of Arizona. Anne Sisson Runyan is director of women's studies and associate professor of political science at Wright State University. V. Spike Peterson is associate professor of political science, with courtesy affiliations in women's studies, comparative culture and literary studies, and international studies at the University of Arizona. Anne Sisson Runyan is director of women's studies and associate professor of political science at Wright State University. V. Spike Peterson is associate professor of political science, with courtesy affiliations in women's studies, comparative culture and literary studies, and international studies at the University of Arizona. Anne Sisson Runyan is director of women's studies and associate professor of political science at Wright State University.