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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The feminist challenge to militarism
Author:Cock, JacklynISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity
Issue:36
Pages:27-39
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:militarism
feminism
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.1997.9675663
Abstract:Contemporary feminism is not a major source of challenge to the global pattern of violence and armed conflict. On the contrary, in many different societies the icons of militarized masculinity - soldiers and guns - are being homogenized. This article points to two examples of this trend: firstly, the incorporation of women into military institutions and combat roles, into a State militarization; secondly, an increasing incorporation of women into a gun culture, into a privatized militarization. Women are increasingly incorporated into the new South African army. There is a commitment to eliminating any form of discrimination against women in the army. Furthermore, increasing numbers of women in South Africa are purchasing guns. These developments are often justified in the name of 'feminism'. The present author asserts that this is reactionary and that a different kind of transformative feminism needs to be reclaimed. Gaining equal access to the power and resources of institutions is an important starting point. But it is necessary to go further and extend debates about the position of women within institutions, such as the military, to debates about the position of the military within society. Feminism, in particular its transformative potential, needs to halt the process of incorporation of women into State and privatized militarism. The article is based on interviews conducted in South Africa and Mozambique between 1994 and 1997. Bibliogr.
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