Feminization of International Relations and Internationalization of Feminism : Deconstructing Mainstream International Relations

Feminist international relations emerge late in the 1980s, challenging the discipline and reformulating the theories and improving the knowledge of global politics through the inclusion of gender and women's experiences. Prior to this, the study of international relations has been silent on gender issues. But overtime, feminism has emerged as a key critical perspective within the study of international relations. The initial impetus of this critique was to challenge the fundamental biases of the discipline and to highlight the ways in which women were excluded from analyses of the state, international political economy, and international security. It maintains that the mainstream international relations has remained a masculine discipline, despite theorists claiming that the sphere of international relations is gender neutral, women and gender have been marginalized in the study of traditional international relations. Thus, underscoring the need for feminization of international relations and internationalization of feminism