Decolonising "Gender Mainstreaming"

The researcher and well-known professor Lila Abu-Lughod, in her book“Do Muslim Women really need saving?” reflects on the idea of “cultural framing” when analysing historical explanations, especially regarding Muslim women in Western public opinion. For instance, during US invasion of Afghanistan, arguments such as “women’s rights and dignity” were in public debate, as well as the veil or the burqa that the Taliban oppressed women with. However, what US public opinion did not know was that burqas are considered “mobile homes” for Afghan women and its use is a form of liberation to move in public spaces and, at the same time, be able to meet moral and social requirements (Abu-Lughod, 2002). As the author exposes: “Why would they suddenly throw off the markers of their respectability, markers, whether burqas or any forms of cover, which were supposed to assure their protection in the public sphere from harassment of strange men by symbolically signalling to all that they were still in the inviolable space of their homes, even though moving in the public space?” (Abu-Lughod, 2002: 785).

"Burqas are considered “mobile homes” for Afghan women and its use is a form of liberation to move in public spaces and, at the same time, be able to meet moral and social requirements"

Cultural relativism exposes these “salvationist” dynamics. Yet, this does not mean that for cultural relativism’s sake, injustices around the world shouldn’t be criticised or unjustified, but it implies respecting and understanding different realities. Challenging these structures is, therefore, a form of deconstructing Western sense of supremacy.

The importance of “decolonising gender” as a praxical task (Lugonés, 2010) is an issue to consider, since the concept of “gender” already establishes a certain hierarchy when approaching a sociocultural reality. Heterosexual and binary bias, set of roles, values and behaviours attached to the category "gender" are extensively used in institutional perspectives. Therefore, using these same categories in different realities – where “gender roles” are different as well – can cause a reproduction of specific social, cultural, political and economic domination logics - taking into account that sexual division of labour is, in fact, what constructs social and economic organisation of contemporary societies (Fries, 2012). Hence, gender patterns work as a justification for women's exclusion from institutional areas that are articulated around these heteropatriarchal patterns. Following this logic, feminist gender law and policies have a high influence, since they are agents of “gender” roles reproduction and creators of differentiation. In this sense, liberal and classic ideological traditions of the “universal” subject in international law has been highly criticized for its decontextualized biases.

"Feminist gender law and policies have a high influence, since they are agents of “gender” roles reproduction"

It is not until 2005, that Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted a new perspective about the concept of “equality” that referred not only to equality of the results but of opportunities, considering women’s discrimination not only related to privileged men’s position in society but also to intrinsic ethnic, social class, nationality and sexual conditions (Fries, 2012).

Some even argue that “gender mainstreaming” is ambivalent, with a lack of clarity and accountability (Shepherd, 2016). Furthermore, these guidelines, however, aren’t binding and States should adopt them through their own jurisdiction, despite CEDAW’s efforts to develop sanctions, legislation and investigation tools for States to apply in these cases. Yet, an important disadvantage is that even if these conventions and conferences – that develop and consolidate international jurisdiction – recognise that women’s discrimination come from structural, intersectional and systemic factors, the judicial focus adapted by these organisations have huge difficulties in order to affect, guarantee or even protect women’s rights – and human rights in general, in any State.

Human rights are highly related to the previous condition of a certain level of "democracy" where HR can be fully applied with general and consensual legitimacy in society. However, in societies where States are not democratic – because of a set of structural or circumstantial factors – human rights and women’s rights initiatives cannot be fulfilled and judicial guidelines remain superficial. Therefore, in these circumstances, it is through independent feminist networks that exist – usually, in autonomous ways – that these guidelines can be, at least, expressed or put in practice.

UNSCR 1325 and mainstream international women’s agendas ignored important feminist proposals such as its critiques towards militarism and masculinity, as well as representing women as a “utopian bridge-builders and peace-makers” omitting the extensive advancements by critical feminist scholars regarding gender and war-dynamics (Pratt & Richter-Devroe, 2011). In addition, biased discursive representations of women can be observed in gender mainstreaming, from being “victims” and vulnerable to other extremes such as “superheroines”. The construction of gender roles in policy papers reproduce the image of women as fragile or in need of protection and, therefore, limits their possibility as agents of change in peacebuilding processes (Gibbings, 2011; Shepherd, 2011). In addition, these utopian representations of women, ignore completely the intersection between nationality, class, religion, sexuality, age and other important dimensions falling into colonialist feminism and hegemonic perspectives. For this reason, women’s – NGO-ized – organisations that try to incorporate and adopt 1325 usually fail to count on grassroots collaboration (Pratt & Richter-Devroe, 2011). Human rights law and women’s rights legislation has been essential to feminism progress globally, but it is in constant tension with critical feminisms that argue about the importance of taking into account those feminist initiatives that already exist – and usually, marginalized - in territories where the State is not efficient or cannot be efficient (Fries, 2012).

"The construction of gender roles in policy papers reproduce the image of women as fragile or in need of protection and, therefore, limits their possibility as agents of change in peacebuilding processes"

In this sense, the relationship between International Relations theories and International Policy formulations is complex, mainly because of the space between “scholars” and “practitioners” (Shepherd, 2011), even if civil resistance and peacebuilding processes usually share the same aims of peaceful change (Dudouet, 2017). However, the idea of maintaining these two areas separated, only helps the reproduction of hegemonic patterns of power domination, since it is through the dialogue between both that peripheral proposals can be heard, without jeopardizing scientific and objective methods in policy formulations. As Véronique Dudouet states: “Only through the combined strengths of civil resistance and peacebuilding strategies can protracted conflicts rooted in structural asymmetry between state elites and their challengers (e.g., oppressed minorities or disempowered majorities) be effectively transformed” (Dudouet, 2017: 32).

Without underestimating 1325 importance and other UN resolutions regarding its progress in women inclusion, the need for inclusive language, higher representation, spread of subaltern feminist ideas through UN institutions and international organisations, etc, is essential in order to aknowledge these resolutions usefulness for “gender justice” or if they are just another inconvenience for women’s emancipation strategies.

Finally, Lila Abu Lughod is probably one of the brightest researchers regarding these issues, highly useful to understand the topic here described, on how Muslim women, among many other communities, are subject of all kinds of theorizations, usually instrumentalised by Western interests and ontological and epistemological sense of superiority. But, you can listen to her directly through her conference added below.