International Studies Compendium Project

Extract

Comment on this article   This essay's purpose is to provide a brief yet thorough review of gender issues within the field of ethnic, national, and migration studies (ENMS). It approaches gender issues emphasizing gender, women, and feminism issues. The essay also discusses masculinity and its role in international relations. Gender occupies a special place within ENMS. Until recently, gender roles have been overlooked in the discipline. The late focus is unfortunate because the roles that women and men play in nationalist movements have been differentiated, with women occupying the private realm and men, typically, occupying the public realm ( Mosse 1985 ). Because of this separation and the dominance of men in power structures – in governance and in academia – the importance of women has been downplayed and overlooked. Women have been suppressed, oppressed, and portrayed as inferior compared to their male counterparts. This is, of course, not the case. This essay first examines the relationship between gender and ethnicity and nationalism. Women have been essential in establishing nationalist causes and even self-determination. Whether women are portrayed as “symbols” of ethnicity, which provides an impetus for unification and differentiation from outside groups, as controlled “pawns” forced to act as “mothers” and “reproducers” of the nation, or as active participants in public ... log in or subscribe to read full text