Abstract
Taken from the terminology of grammar, gender has become an indispensable category of transdisciplinary analysis and has emerged as a high-impact factor in the ongoing struggle for equality and justice. The following essay traces the career and the changing implications of the term from its early usage in the US American women’s movement and in women’s studies of the 1960s and 1970s via its complex redefinitions through gender theory in the 1980s and 1990s to the current recognition of gender as an agent as well as an effect of globalization. Yet, the argument does not claim a general narrative of progress. Instead, it stresses the critical interventions by women of color who insisted on the weight of “race” and class and inserted a postcolonial perspective. Critically discussing the constraining effects of including gender into the agendas of global institutions and NGOs, the essay concludes that while globalization has enabled emancipatory local gender policies, it has, at the same time, tended to counteract their sustainable success.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
“gender, n.” Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford University Press, 2016, online at: www.howlandbolton.com/images/OEDGenderSex/gender.html (last accessed 28.11.2017).
- 2.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing Historiography.” In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics. By Spivak. New York: Routledge, 1988, pp. 197–220. p. 205.
- 3.
Teresa de Lauretis, Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987, p. 18.
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1999.
- 6.
Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. 2nd edition. Eds. Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa. New York: Women of Color Press, 1983, pp. 98–101.
- 7.
See Carla Freeman, “Is Local: Global as Feminine: Masculine? Rethinking the Gender of Globalization.” Globalization and Gender. Eds. Amrita Basu et al. Spec. issue of Signs 26.4, 2001, pp. 1007–37.
- 8.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co, 1898.
- 9.
Debra Satz, Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale: The Moral Limits of Markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
- 10.
See John Marx, “The Feminization of Globalization.” Cultural Critique 63.1, 2006, p. 1–32.
- 11.
Brigitte Young, “The ‘Mistress’ and the ‘Maid’ in the Globalized Economy.” Socialist Register 37, 2009, pp. 315–27.
- 12.
Ernst Bloch, Erbschaft dieser Zeit. Zürich: Oprecht & Helbling, 1935, p. 35ff.
Literature
Bloch, Ernst. Erbschaft dieser Zeit. Zürich: Oprecht & Helbling, 1935.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990.
de Lauretis, Teresa. Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
Freeman, Carla. “Is Local: Global as Feminine: Masculine? Rethinking the Gender of Globalization.” Globalization and Gender. Eds. Amrita Basu et al. Spec. issue of Signs 26.4 (2001): 1007-37.
“gender, n”. Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford University Press, 2016, online at: www.howlandbolton.com/images/OEDGenderSex/gender.html (last accessed 28.11.2017).
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1898.
Lorde, Audre. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. 2nd ed. Eds. Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa. New York: Women of Color Press, 1983: 98-101.
Marx, John. “The Feminization of Globalization.” Cultural Critique 63.1 (2003): 1-32.
Satz, Debra. Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale: The Moral Limits of Markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing Historiography.” In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics. By Spivak. New York: Routledge, 1988: 197-220.
Young, Brigitte. “The ‘Mistress’ and the ‘Maid’ in the Globalized Economy.” Socialist Register 37 (2009): 315-27.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sielke, S., Schäfer-Wünsche, E. (2019). Gender. In: Kühnhardt, L., Mayer, T. (eds) The Bonn Handbook of Globality. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90377-4_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90377-4_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90376-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90377-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)