Gender, the State and the Nation

The state, the nation and the international system The nation – refers to a sense of national identity. Nations and states do not necessarily have the same boundary. A nation is not the same as an ethnic group. The State here is the legislative state – the government, parliament, civil service and armed forces. States are key actors in a complex international system, influenced by international law and international agreements

How can a state be gendered? States have a gendered character This is the ‘gender regime’ of the State The ‘gender regime’ is linked to the gender values that inform wider society The state is therefore structured by social ideas of gender The state regulates gender relations in society as a whole Citizenship is not the same for men and women

Gender and Nationalism Nationalism is linked to the foundation of States Nationalisms also have gendered characters The importance of women in national movements has tended to be based on reproductive role – including cultural reproduction, and are their symbolic importance Men have been incorporated into nationalism as soldier/citizens

Ireland as a gendered state Looking at the changes that have taken place in the gender regime of the Irish state from its foundation to the present. Has to be placed in an international context as changes in the international ‘gender regime’ impacts on individual states.

The gender regime of the Irish State How was it linked to the gender regime of the national movement? How was it linked to international conditions? State was conservative  Enshrined catholic moral values into law  Women given the right to vote and state for elections – this had been the major campaign of first wave Irish Feminism  Reasserted women's place was in the home

1918?

1920s - Flappers

Post war new look

The Gender Regime, Gender discourses muted post 1920 – many states had granted franchise for women but growing international conservatism from the late 1920s and the great depression of the 1930s In Ireland women’s organisations still campaigned on  Sexual violence – rape and abuse  Women’s welfare – including domestic violence  equ al citizenship – legal equality, equal pay Impact of second world war less in Ireland – stopped migration Post 1945 in USA and Europe- impact of war and post war reconstruction – women back to the home reassertion of gender difference. Post war social contract in USA and Europe had a gender dimension.

Gender contract Ireland 1950s Hierarchical family based on authority of husband providing financially for wife and children. Wife no right to share in husbands property – right to maintenance at a level he decided. Married women no automatic right to the custody of children No independent legal identity Contract upheld by law and policy. Married women resigned from work. Civil service act 1956 Other forms of employment limited by ministerial order – barred from night work and shift work. No apprentice training for women, no agricultural training (except rural colleges of domestic science) Women farmers could not get dole. No rates relief for daughter working on land. All state benefits paid to husband including maternity

Gender contract Ireland 1950s (cont.) Family believed natural, god ordained existing prior to and apart from control of the state. Strong right to privacy of family was democratic right that gave personal freedom But this was implicitly freedom for men At end of 1950s the state had no conception that it should encourage gender equality Granting of citizenship to women in the Irish constitution limited to humanity and political equality defined as right to vote and stand in elections

What happened in the 1960s? The 1960s were a period of major social change and political upheaval.

Gender and International Change : new ideas emerge in civil rights, anti- colonial, and new left movements.  anti-authoritarianism,  individual rights,  equal citizenship,  sexual liberalism – This altered views on gender relations and family. Perspective on gender relations were contested in political institutions and economic interests groups.

Reform in Ireland In Ireland improving the legal position of women began in 1958 with the Married women’s status Act. In introduction of police women and the ending of the marriage bar for primary school teachers – Guardianship of infants act – Succession Act 1969 – Commission on the Status of Women

The 1970s onwards - Second wave feminism – intense social movement in early 1970s demanded radical change, pushes the policy change that had begun in the 1960s forward. Resulting in policy reform in  Employment equality  Social Welfare  Family Law  Contraception  Political representation At the end of the 1970s a new form of social contract is in place with a different gender regime.

The key points of the new gender regime A higher degree of person sexual freedom for both men and women Marriage no longer a formal hierarchy – partnership based on difference Formal legal equality between men and women (to complete this was a process of reform that continued into the 1980s>

Married women’s primary role was still as caregivers and mothers – but now had an acknowledged secondary employment role. Single women had greater employment equality and opportunity than previously but some areas still closed to women Absence of mechanisms to address historic inequalities  In the economic sphere and property ownership  In political representation and other forms of decision making

What about now? How does the current gender regime differ from the one that was created in the 1970s? Have the changes in the past 20 years been as significant as the changes that occurred in Ireland between 1958 and 1978? What has been the role of the state in the changes in the gender regime that have taken place since the 1980s?