“I’m not a Victim, She’s an Abuser”:Masculinity, Victimization and Protection Orders

Durfee, Alesha. 2011. ” “I’m not a Victim, She’s an Abuser”:Masculinity, Victimization and Protection Orders.” Gender and Society 25(3):316-334

In this article, the author analyzes narratives of heterosexual men who claim victimization while filing petitions for domestic violence civil protection orders. In these narratives, the author examines how “men negotiate competing  discourses of victimization, hegemonic masculinity, and common understandings of domestic violence. ” (p.17) She frames her research question as such:

” How do men navigate gendered constructions of victimization and identity in the narratives of abuse they file to obtain a protection order against a woman partner?”

Data and Methods

The author analyzed 48 petitions for protection orders filed by men for protection from their female partners.27 were White and 10 were Black and race was not recorded for 11. 42 reported verbal abuse and 39 reported physical abuse.  27 reported both. Only 21 men received protection orders.

The author employes narrative analysis to arrive at themes and sub-themes.

Results

Reading through these petitions, the author arrived at three main themes:

• Power and control in the relationship

In their narrations, men emphasized how they were still in control of their relationships, even when they reported being assaulted.

• Claims about identity (both victim and abuser)

Men claimed that they had resisted but made it clear that they were not abusers.

• Fear of the respondent

Most men did not express any fear of the respondent even when they were filing for protection.

These three themes demonstrate that even narration of domestic violence victimization is gendered. Men applying for protection orders are under a gender paradox. Neither did they want to take on the role of a victim which could undermine their manliness, nor did they want to be seen as the abuser. They sought protection and would have been better off, if they claimed a vulnerable position. Yet, they maintained hegemonic masculinity in their narratives. The author terms this as “victimized masculinity”.

Although, men request for protection orders, the author notes that this request could be to enhance their control over the women as a protection order against women would enable restricting their access to shared household, shared property and even child custody.  Thus, men are reconstructing victimization through their narratives.

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Recognizing and Remedying the Harm of Battering: A Call to Criminalize Domestic Violence

Tuerkheimer, Deborah. 2004.” Recognizing and Remedying the Harm of Battering: A Call to Criminalize Domestic Violence.” The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 94(4):959-1032

In this article the author seeks to examine the discrepancy between the experience of domestic violence among women and the articulated remediation offered by law. By following the criminal proceedings associated with a domestic violence case, the author seeks to demonstrate this gap. She says, ” Criminal  law’s myopic  focus  on  transaction based physical violence critically  impacts the ability of jurors to  function effectively.”

Dynamics of Domestic Violence

Although domestic violence has been considered to be a show of power and control, criminal law seldom recognizes it as one. The author quotes a psychologist,

“To  negate  the  impact  of  the  time  period  between  discrete  episodes  of  serious  violence-a  time  period  during  which  the  woman  may  never  know when  the  next  incident  will occur,  and  may continue  to live  with  on-going  psychological  abuse-is  to fail  to  recognize  what  some  battered  woman  experience  as a  continuing  ‘state  of  siege.”   Thus, the author suggests that in practice domestic violence needs to be seen as a continuous process including threats, isolation, economic abuse and so on, rather than discrete incidences of violence.

Criminalization in Historical Context

It was in 1920 that wife beating was considered illegal in most states. However, it was only recently that interference in domestic sphere was considered to be part of the criminal response. Now, mandatory arrests and no drop policies has forced criminal justice systems to respond.

Criminal Law Paradigms

According to criminal law, crimes are “transaction-bound” and are subjected to evidence and criminal procedure. The author says that the law does not recognize the pattern of crime and that violence is exerted over a period of time. Thus , law is blind to the context in which domestic violence occurs.

Litigating Domestic Violence History

In the case of domestic violence, context is critical. Evidence often does not take into account the continuous mode of power and control exerted over the victim. And the stories of this continuous abuse lies outside the purview of criminal justice. Only incidents are punished. Since the law will accept only certain forms and transactions of violence, the victim is expected to change the narrative of her experience to get judicial remedy.

The author also suggests a different framework to identity domestic violence. She says,

A  person  is  guilty  of  battering  when:

He  or  she  intentionally  engages  in  a  course  of  conduct directed at  a  family  or  household  member;  and

He  or  she  knows  or  reasonably  should  know  that  such  conduct  is likely  to  result  in  substantial  power  or  control  over  the family  or  household  member;  and  At  least  two  acts  comprising  the  course  of  conduct  constitute  a  crime  in  this  jurisdiction

Through this definition the author seeks to bring the recognition that domestic violence is a continuous form of abuse and often seeks to exert power and control.

The author also recognizes a possible critique for this definition. She says, critics might state that this definition blurs the boundaries between the criminals who actually physically abuse and those who are merely dominating. The author says, this critique only seeks to uphold the status quo of a family where control and domination means stability.

//

Women’s Movements and State Policy Reform Aimed at Domestic Violence Against Women: A Comparison of the U.S. and India

Bush, Diane Mitsch. 1992. “Women’s Movements and State Policy Reform Aimed at Domestic Violence against Women: A
Comparison of the Consequences of Movement Mobilization in the U.S. and India.” Gender and Society 6(4):587-608

In this article the author compares the Anti Dowry Movement Movement in India and the Battered Women’s Movement in the US to analyze how ideology and structure of  two sex- gender systems shaped social movement mobilization and state response to movements.

In this article, the author sees gender as a fundamental basis for social movement organization. If the success of women’s movement was only about accessing state mechanisms, it would not reorder the inherent gender inequality within these institutions. The author contends that policy implementation occurs within a state mechanism which is relatively autonomous from sex-gender systems. She argues that a state mechanism which is autonomous of sex-gender system will include women’s demands, without necessarily transforming social relations.

The data for this paper is drawn from interviews of two successive Shelter directors in the US and by observation of meetings in these Shelters. In India, the author conducted interview with five grassroots activists from two organizations.

Battered Women’s Movement defined battering as a result of gender power structure rather than as a private problem of deviant families. Even though the BVM framed the problem as one of gender inequality, the policy was framed as one of family violence, where there was NO mention of gender inequality within the family.

In India, the incidence of dowry deaths and their recognition in Mahila  Dakshata  Samiti’s  1977  report on dowry murders led to nation wide protests. Particularly Tarvindar Kaur’s murder, led to the enforcement of the Dowry Prohibition Act and the Section 304B on dowry deaths. Here too, the authorities refused to see the woman’s welfare different from family welfare.

Analysis

In both countries, the BWM and the ADVM challenged the notion that family was a private sphere which required no state intervention and criminalized domestic violence. In the US, battering was associated with alcoholism, drugs or stress. The gender power relations were underplayed. The rhetoric was more so about sex role socialization and deviant people.

The author suggests that the ADVM has been more successful in maintaining control over the construction of domestic violence. The press continued to focus on women’s subordination in the family. I am not sure if this assumption is right.

The author argues that most domestic violence laws implicate individual men for their problems and holds the family as an intact unit. In India, the author argues the absence of a uniform civil code demonstrates that the constitutional equality provided is a moot point. Love, not power determines how laws are enacted.

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Private Concerns in Public Discourse: Women-Initiated Community Responses to Domestic Violence

Bhatla, Nandita and Anuradha Rajan. 2003. “Private Concerns in Public Discourse: Women-Initiated Community Responses to Domestic
Violence.”  Economic and Political Weekly 38(17):1658-1664

In this paper, the authors explore women led community based responses to domestic violence across five sites in India. Three community based initiatives were studied for this study.

1. Shalishi – Traditional system of arbitration utilized by Shramaji Mahila Samiti in West Bengal

2. Nari Adalat/ Mahila Panch in Baroda and Rajkot in Gujarat organized by Mahila Samakhya program

3. Nari Adalat/Sahara Sangh in Saharanpur and Tehri Garhwal in Uttar Pradesh organized by Mahila Samakhya program

All three initiatives have evolved from village level processes of village women’s collectives. Village level sanghas(women’s collectives) are the foundation of the Mahila Samakhya program. One Sahayogini(is a village level organizer from the Mahila Samakhya program) is responsible for 10 villages. Here, she organizes sanghas and helps them work on issues that matter to them. As domestic violence became and important issue, the sanghas formed a new forum known as the Nari Adalat(Women’s Court) to deal with the issue. The Nari Adalat(NA) meets at a centralized place in the village. Women with complaints file an application with the NA and they summon the other side to a meeting. Issues of violence are discussed in public meetings and arbitration is initiated. The village sangha provides basic facts required for the arbitration. The Sahara Sangh acts like a centralized pressure group or think tank which discusses strategies to deal with these cases. The cases are handled by the sanghas themselves.The Shalishi on the other hand, does have centralized sittings, but both these groups include important leaders from the village. The Shalishidhars are women trained to take a woman centric approach in handling these cases.

These initiatives are based on the primary premise that decisions through these initiatives which are embedded in the community, are better enforced. Community sanctions seem to have more power than orders from a court far removed from their lives.Psychological pressure is exerted on the perpetrator.  Moreover, courts are much less accessible to poor women. Since these initiatives are embedded in public spaces, these initiatives have been able to convert individual issues into social problems. These initiatives also help in educating the public on this problem.

A democratic process of arbitration is followed since the process occurs in a neutral setting. Finally these initiatives, since they are women led, provide victims a safe space to share their problems. Poor women, seldom have such forums available.

During the arbitration process, when perpetrators provide reasons for the violence, the facilitators of the NA/MP educate the men that violence is not justified at any point. Thus they are able to question some gender stereotypes, thus changing social norms.

By placing the women’s interest as the starting point for negotiations, the facilitators were pushing the limits of the cultural and normative boundaries of the community. Primarily, they were questioning the notion that violence was a private matter.The feminist agenda of the arbitration process was evident in terms of the kind of voice, issues and concerns that were highlighted.

The authors find that women felt a sense of individual transformationin the case resolution process itself. In the Nari Adalat, the victims were finding a space to exercise their own agency and voice.

Gendering Violence: Masculinity and Power in Men’s Accounts of Domestic Violence

Anderson, Kristen.L and Debra Umberson. 2001. “G.endering Violence: Masculinity and Power in Men’s Accounts of Domestic Violence.” Gender and Society 15(3):358-380

In this article,the authors “examine the construction of gender within men’s account of domestic violence”(pp 359). Batterers construct masculine identities through violence and through their discourses.

Data and Method

Data was collected in 1995-96 through indepth interviews with 33 men recruited through the Family Violence Diversion Network, a non-profit agency. Men volunteered from among the participants of the FVDN program. The sample contained more European American in comparison to the population.

Findings

The respondents suggested that violence was a gendered practice, such that, they(men) caused more serious, frequent and injurious violence than their partners.

In their descriptions of violence, they maintained hegemonic notions of masculinity and femininity. They described female violence as trivial, ineffectual and hysterical while they described their own violence to be rational, effective and explosive. By doing this, they were reinforcing their own masculinity. They also ascribed to themselves the role of “protector” even at the point of violence.

They often held their partners responsible for their own violence. This was particularly true when they described their partners as dominating or controlling (a masculine trait). Therefore, when women did not conform to the norms of femininity, their masculine traits was blamed for the violence. Finally, they also blamed the criminal justice system for being biased against men.

Overall, positions of dominance was always constructed as masculine. Even through their discourses, the batterers were using violence to construct notions of masculinity and femininity.

Boundaries, Negotiation, Consciousness: Reconceptualizing Gender Relations

Gerson, Judith.M. and Kathy Peiss.1985. “Boundaries, Negotiation, Consciousness: Reconceptualizing Gender Relations.” Social Problems 32(4): 317-331

This paper seeks to examine “gender in terms of boundaries, processes of negotiation as well as domination, and gender consciousness as an interactive and multidimensional process” (Gerson and Peiss 1985: 318). These concepts are critical in the context of separation of public and private spheres where women are restricted to the domestic spheres, while higher value is attributed to the public spheres.

Theoretical concepts:

The authors refer to three main concepts in this paper: Boundaries, negotiation and consciousness. Boundaries refer to physical, social, ideological and psychological differences and similarities between men and women which influences their behavior. The public private boundaries have been addressed in social sciences. In this paper, the authors refer to boundaries as a broader, generic term that looks beyond the public-private divisions to include boundaries in leisure and work activities, divisions in labor and in personal interactions. Authors suggest that analyzing boundaries would help assess the “stability and change in the system of gender relations” (Gerson and Peiss 1985:320).  However, to analyze shifts in boundaries, one must be aware of social processes and consciousness by which people view their worlds.

Domination is a process by which women are oppressed. Negotiation, on the other hand, indicates human agency, where women demand resources and privileges. However, negotiation is not a one-way process. Men, invite women to participate in previously denied locations and women utilize those opportunities to negotiate for resources. Women also tend to develop power in relationships through kin work. As they engage in duties related to the family, women gain control over related resources. But structural inequality does not always make it easy. Moreover, even when men invite women to spaces where they had no access previously, the boundaries of gender division are not radically changed. The authors give the example of the office space, where women have been invited but are expected to behave as men in their jobs and maintain their femininity otherwise. The authors postulate that even minimal negotiations impact women’s lives and this can be best understood by exploring people’s consciousness.

Earlier literature proposed that feminist and female consciousness was a dichotomous discrete variable. Gerson and Peiss, in this article explore gender consciousness as the continuum of female and feminist consciousness. Gender consciousness is described as a continuum of gender awareness, female/male consciousness and feminist/anti feminist consciousness. According to Gerson and Peiss, gender awareness refers to how people understand gender as it plays out but do not critically analyze those differences. Female consciousness is based on gender awareness but is the position where people are also cognizant of their rights and obligations as men and women. Finally, feminist consciousness refers to an ideology shared by a group that challenges the structural gender based power relations and which may lead to a social movement. Similarly the authors explore male consciousness and describe it as such: “male consciousness is characterized by the value placed on individual autonomy, sense of entitlement and a relative superiority to women” (Gerson and Peiss 1985:326).

In conclusion the authors reinforce the need to explore the concepts of negotiation and consciousness to analyze shifting boundaries of gender divisions. They also emphasize the need to examine male behavior and consciousness as a result of complex interactions with women, which includes control, cooperation and resistance. The authors state that these dimensions allow for a comparison of gender relations in different contexts.

Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations

Acker, Joan. 1990. “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations.” Gender & Society 4(2):139-58

 Need for the study

 Many social scientists have made theoretical contributions regarding women and organizations, but their work has not been brought together as a “systematic feminist theory of organizations” (Acker 1990: 140).  In this article, Acker attempts to develop a theory of gender and organizations. Gender segregation of work, inequalities in status and income between men and women and individual gender identity are created and reinforced by organizational practices and therefore, the need for a systematic theory. Cultural images of gender are created and reproduced within organizations. Finally, it is an important feminist project to make large organizations democratic and humane.

 Main Questions

Acker addresses the following questions in the article. First, why have feminist scholars not debated organizational theory in their work? Secondly, she looks at how feminists who worked on organizations conceptualized them? Thirdly she examines organizations as gendered processes where gender, body and sexuality are used to exercise control in organizations even while engaging in gender neutral and asexual discourses.

             Feminists did not debate organizational theory because of the following reasons. One, not many feminist organizations could retain the radical-democratic form, that they had envisaged in contrast to the bureaucratic organizational form. However, they did not engage in a discussion on the feasibility of this vision, when faced with this challenge. Secondly, the available concepts and models in organizational theory were embedded in a masculine experience of a working, which did not interest feminist scholars. Even when scholars studied organizations as spaces of control, power and exploitation, women were largely ignored. Another reason was that most discourses conceptualized organizations as gender neutral and asexual spaces. When organizations are viewed such that, the ‘masculine’ represents the sole human nature, organizations are seen as gender neutral.

             While discussing feminists who worked on this issue, Acker points out some main contributions. Kanter (1977) discussed structural issues in organizations, and how authority is exercised in seemingly gender neutral structures. Ressner (1987) talked about how bureaucracy and patriarchy operate in organizations, leading to women’s “discrimination, exclusion, segregation, and low wages” (Acker 1990 144). Ferguson (1984) identified how rationality, rules and procedures constructed a structure of male power. However, Ferguson’s argument although radical, stereotyped femininity as passive, oppressed and weak. Acker suggests that existing feminist studies on organizations dealt only with the theoretical understanding that organizations as gender neutral and ignored sexuality as an important part of continuous gender structuring.

             According to Acker, gendering occurs in five ways. One, through gender based divisions in work, physical locations, power, labor market structures, family and state. Two, through symbols and images that reinforce gender divisions. Third, gendering occurs in interactions between men and women and among men and women, where patterns of submission and dominance, reinforce gender divisions. Fourth, these processes enhance individual gender identities in men and women. Finally, organizations, while seemingly gender neutral have a “gendered substructure” reproduced in organizational activities. Acker takes the example of job evaluation as a management tool, to understand how organizations are gendered.

             Job evaluations are relative ranking of jobs in terms of complexity, knowledge, skill, effort and working conditions. Job evaluations are meant to be independent of the person performing the job. Thus, the underlying assumption therefore, is that the person is a male, who does not have other responsibilities of procreation, caring and nurturing. The job, while appearing to be gender neutral, has an implicit assumption of gendered work, separating the public from the private. Since job evaluations are also about hierarchy, it assumes that a person, who needs to divide commitments, will be most suitable for lower level jobs. Job evaluations are based on the principle that two people will not be responsible for same outcomes. Therefore, a secretary who implements a task for which the manager is responsible is never given a higher position in the hierarchy. Job evaluations assume that the worker is created only for the job, thus excluding women who have other roles to perform.

 By assuming that the worker has no emotions, no sexuality and does not procreate, the effort is to create organizations which were seemingly asexual. This also meant that some spaces excluded women to maintain an asexual structure devoid of emotions and procreation.  Moreover, sexuality is often used to exercise control over women, through symbols and objectification of women’s bodies. In places where women were excluded, attempts were made to restrict homosexual relations in the work place. The larger goal was to create a work place divided from the personal space, and thus sexuality.

 Conclusion:

Acker concludes by saying that organizations are deeply embedded in gendered processes and only a radical transformation of organizations can create an equal space for women. Moreover, feminist research can contribute to the creation of a space where collective work would refrain from dominating, controlling or suppressing women in the name of gender.

References:

Ferguson, Kathy E. 1984. The feminist case against bureaucracy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. 1977. Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books

Ressner, Ulla. 1987. The Hidden Hierarchy. Aldershot: Gower.

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Acker, Joan. 1990. “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations.” Gender & Society 4(2):139-58

Need for the study

Many social scientists have made theoretical contributions regarding women and organizations, but their work has not been brought together as a “systematic feminist theory of organizations” (Acker 1990: 140).  In this article, Acker attempts to develop a theory of gender and organizations. Gender segregation of work, inequalities in status and income between men and women and individual gender identity are created and reinforced by organizational practices and therefore, the need for a systematic theory. Cultural images of gender are created and reproduced within organizations. Finally, it is an important feminist project to make large organizations democratic and humane.

Main Questions

Acker addresses the following questions in the article. First, why have feminist scholars not debated organizational theory in their work? Secondly, she looks at how feminists who worked on organizations conceptualized them? Thirdly she examines organizations as gendered processes where gender, body and sexuality are used to exercise control in organizations even while engaging in gender neutral and asexual discourses.

            Feminists did not debate organizational theory because of the following reasons. One, not many feminist organizations could retain the radical-democratic form, that they had envisaged in contrast to the bureaucratic organizational form. However, they did not engage in a discussion on the feasibility of this vision, when faced with this challenge. Secondly, the available concepts and models in organizational theory were embedded in a masculine experience of a working, which did not interest feminist scholars. Even when scholars studied organizations as spaces of control, power and exploitation, women were largely ignored. Another reason was that most discourses conceptualized organizations as gender neutral and asexual spaces. When organizations are viewed such that, the ‘masculine’ represents the sole human nature, organizations are seen as gender neutral.

            While discussing feminists who worked on this issue, Acker points out some main contributions. Kanter (1977) discussed structural issues in organizations, and how authority is exercised in seemingly gender neutral structures. Ressner (1987) talked about how bureaucracy and patriarchy operate in organizations, leading to women’s “discrimination, exclusion, segregation, and low wages” (Acker 1990 144). Ferguson (1984) identified how rationality, rules and procedures constructed a structure of male power. However, Ferguson’s argument although radical, stereotyped femininity as passive, oppressed and weak. Acker suggests that existing feminist studies on organizations dealt only with the theoretical understanding that organizations as gender neutral and ignored sexuality as an important part of continuous gender structuring.

            According to Acker, gendering occurs in five ways. One, through gender based divisions in work, physical locations, power, labor market structures, family and state. Two, through symbols and images that reinforce gender divisions. Third, gendering occurs in interactions between men and women and among men and women, where patterns of submission and dominance, reinforce gender divisions. Fourth, these processes enhance individual gender identities in men and women. Finally, organizations, while seemingly gender neutral have a “gendered substructure” reproduced in organizational activities. Acker takes the example of job evaluation as a management tool, to understand how organizations are gendered.

            Job evaluations are relative ranking of jobs in terms of complexity, knowledge, skill, effort and working conditions. Job evaluations are meant to be independent of the person performing the job. Thus, the underlying assumption therefore, is that the person is a male, who does not have other responsibilities of procreation, caring and nurturing. The job, while appearing to be gender neutral, has an implicit assumption of gendered work, separating the public from the private. Since job evaluations are also about hierarchy, it assumes that a person, who needs to divide commitments, will be most suitable for lower level jobs. Job evaluations are based on the principle that two people will not be responsible for same outcomes. Therefore, a secretary who implements a task for which the manager is responsible is never given a higher position in the hierarchy. Job evaluations assume that the worker is created only for the job, thus excluding women who have other roles to perform.

 By assuming that the worker has no emotions, no sexuality and does not procreate, the effort is to create organizations which were seemingly asexual. This also meant that some spaces excluded women to maintain an asexual structure devoid of emotions and procreation.  Moreover, sexuality is often used to exercise control over women, through symbols and objectification of women’s bodies. In places where women were excluded, attempts were made to restrict homosexual relations in the work place. The larger goal was to create a work place divided from the personal space, and thus sexuality.

Conclusion:

Acker concludes by saying that organizations are deeply embedded in gendered processes and only a radical transformation of organizations can create an equal space for women. Moreover, feminist research can contribute to the creation of a space where collective work would refrain from dominating, controlling or suppressing women in the name of gender.

Ferguson, Kathy E. 1984. The feminist case against bureaucracy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. 1977. Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books

Ressner, Ulla. 1987. The Hidden Hierarchy. Aldershot: Gower.

A Genealogy of Dependency: Tracing a keyword of the US Welfare State

Fraser, Nancy and Linda Gordon. 1994. “A Genealogy of Dependency: Tracing a keyword of the US Welfare State.” Signs 19(21):309-336

Fraser introduces the concept of dependency as it is being discussed in the US political scenario. She notes that welfare is now discussed in terms of dependency and is often seen in a negative connotation.

Research questions:

Why are debates about poverty and inequality in the United States now being framed in terms of welfare dependency?

How  did the receipt of public assistance become associated with  dependency,  and  why  are  the  connotations  of  that  word  in  this context  so negative?

What are the gender and racial subtexts of this discourse, and what tacit assumptions underlie it?

Analysis

In order to answer these questions, Fraser seeks to analyze the term “dependency” and its usages in US politics. The underlying assumption of this analysis is that those who define reality are in turn seeking to influence it. Bourdieu (1977) characterized keywords as those which carry “unspoken assumptions and connotations” (Fraser 1994: 310) and thus influence public discourse. Doxa or the taken for granted assumptions are never questioned either. The genealogy of the term “dependency” is explored in the article. Fraser builds on Foucault’s (1984) approach to examine broad shifts in linguistic usage. She places her analysis in the context of institutional and socio-structural shifts and engages in normative political reflection. She does a historical analysis of linguistic and socio structural changes, conducts conceptual analysis of discursive construction of social problems and brings in the feminist perspective into the discussion.

Theoretical Concepts

Dependency is argued as an ideological term. Fraser argues that welfare dependency evokes the picture of an individual, usually a black woman or teenager, who is in poverty with child care responsibilities. With this image, she argues, dependency is seen as an individual problem rather than a social issue. Fraser distinguishes four different registers to analyze dependency – economic dependency referring to dependence on person on institution for subsistence, socio-legal status dependency where one is dependent on another for a legal status, political dependency on external ruling power and finally, moral/psychological dependency denoting emotional need. Further Fraser does a historical analysis of dependency across pre-industrial, industrial and post industrial time periods.

Pre-industrial dependency: In this period, independence referred mostly to ownership of property while dependency referred to income from labor. Thus, dependency was considered a normal trait rather than a deviant individual behavior. However, the independent enjoyed higher status in society. Women, who were themselves laborers were as dependent as their male counterparts and dependency was much less gender specific.

Industrial dependency: In this period, gendered and racist dependencies began to emerge. In the light of the Radical Protestantism, political subjection and oppression came to be considered as unjust. Labor movements became strong and the white male worker started demanding civil and electoral rights. This movement drew its strength from the Protestant work ethic, of discipline and labor. Thus, along with property ownership and self employment, wage labor came to be considered as economic independence. However, this shift in meaning gave rise to some new kind of dependencies. First the pauper, whose poverty was considered to be enhanced due to his character defect. The pauper remained outside the economic system. Second the native and the slave, who was important to the economy but was considered dependent because of an inherent trait. The popular belief was that they were conquered because they were dependent individuals. By calling the natives and the slaves as the other, their oppression was not scrutinized within the rhetoric of universal human rights. The housewife represented the third kind of dependency. The labor movement fought for higher wages stating that a man can be independent only when his wages covered his family needs. Thus, the man’s wages came to be seen as increasingly important. Although, women still continued to work, they were increasingly losing control over their wages.

American welfare dependency (1890-1945): In the United States, dependency came to be increasingly seen as an individual trait. The American virtue of independence was a double edged sword which on the one hand, helped labor movements and women’s movements to emerge and on the other, considered women’s social and legal dependency as an inferior state. Dependency began to have a ‘good’ and a ‘bad’ connotation. Wives and children were part of the good dependency while charity and relief came to be seen as bad. The New Deal built a two track system. The First-track programs were about pensions and retirement benefits which were not seen as welfare. These programs excluded people based on race and gender. The second-track programs were the highly stigmatized set of welfare programs, such as Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) and Aid to Families with Dependent Children.  However, the intention was not to lead the white woman to employment and would rather have the male wages as the defining parameter of independence. Therefore, the poor single mother who depended on ADC came to be considered as the stigmatized welfare dependent, in the American vocabulary.

Post industrial society: In this period, all overt forms of discrimination reduced and were made illegal. It became accepted that a single male wage earner was not enough and that women had to work. Thus, everyone was expected to work and support themselves. This led to increasing stigmatization of dependency. Moreover, with the belief that equal opportunity was now available, it was considered that all forms of structural dependency was extinct and that dependency was a case of individual trait.

Another feature of this period was the pathological connotations given to dependency. One, welfare dependency came to be linked with drug addiction. Second, psychological meanings of dependency came to be given feminine connotations. Dependency was seen to be some sort of immaturity among women. However, even here, they had to be just independent enough. The white woman was considered to be too dependent while the black woman was considered to be too independent. Dependency came to be labeled as psychological disorders and was severely feminized and racialized. Instead of the independent black woman who represented the powerful matriarch, the teenage, unwed mother became the icon of the welfare mother. This also implied that her child care work was no longer considered as work.

Politics of dependency: Even when families struggled hard for their financial survival, many continued to look down upon those who don’t work. Such is the strength of the dominant discourse of dependency as an individual trait. This is most evident in the case of unwed teenage mothers, who are also expected to work and support themselves. The challenges to the dominant discourse come from the Left which speaks of enforced dependency who interpret the state as structures of domination. Other radical theorists saw dependency as part of the neocolonial economic order among nations. The attempt was to redefine dependency as a structural issue rather than an individual concern.

In conclusion, Fraser emphasizes how the discourse of dependency as an individual trait came to devalue women’s domestic and parenting labor. Thus a sexual division of labor came to be organized in the society. “In this way, the opposition between the independent personality and the dependent personality maps onto a whole series of hierarchical positions and dichotomies that are central in modern culture: masculine/feminine, public/private, work/care, success/love, individual/community, economy/family, and competitive/self-sacrificing” (Fraser 1991: 332)

References:

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977.  Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Foucault, Michel.1984. “Nietzsche,   Genealogy, History.” In  The  Foucault Reader, ed. Paul Rabinow, 76-100. New York: Pantheon.

Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color

Crenshaw, Kimberle. 1991. “Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43(6):1241-1299

In this article Crenshaw explores “various ways in which gender and race intersect in shaping the structural, political and representational aspects of violence against women of color.” The article has three parts: structural intersectionality, political intersectionality and representational intersectionality.  She focuses on battering and rape to discuss how race and gender intersects in the lives of women of color.

Theoretical Concepts

 Structural intersectionality in battering: Crenshaw argues that interventions that seek to support and protect women from battering cannot restrict themselves to the aspect of violence alone since most of the battered women of color are unemployed and poor with child care responsibilities. She gives the example of the marriage fraud provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act which was amended to protect women from fraudulent and violent marriages. The amendment provided that the wife would be given permanent resident status only if she was “properly” married for two years, before applying for resident status. As a result of this amendment women stopped raising issues about violence in their marriage for fear of being deported. A waiver, in case of domestic violence was later added in the Act. However, this also required women to provide affidavits and reports from police, psychologists and other agencies. Immigrant women, who were sometimes not even aware of their legal status, and did not have much resources of their own, found it very difficult to provide such reports. Language was yet another barrier. Thus, a state mechanism, created specifically to protect immigrant women went on to increase their subordination.

Structural intersectionality and rape:  Rape crisis services centers are funded such that, legal services are given maximum priority. In the case of minority women, the requirement is more often about housing and other immediate survival needs of the women. Also, many women of color may choose not to resort to the formal justice system. Thus, funding allocations which focus on legal services alone are blind to the particular situations of women of color.

Political intersectionality demonstrates how women of color are located within two groups, which may sometimes even be in conflict with one another. Intersectional politics of gender and race results in feminist strategies which reinforces the subordination of people of color and anti-racism interventions reproduces the subordination of women. This happens because feminism fails to address racism and anti-racism fails to debate patriarchy.

Domestic violence and anti-racist politics: Crenshaw takes the example of how the Los Angeles Police Department would not release the crime statistics regarding domestic violence because they feared the racial segregation of arrests would be interpreted wrongly. Similarly, antiracism activists themselves were concerned that domestic violence would be considered as a minority issue, which would further reinforce the stereotype of the black community. Thus, voices of women of color have been silenced by both antiracism and feminist strategies. Male dominance over women of color is sometimes shown as a consequence of the discrimination against men of color in the wider society.

Race and domestic violence lobby: Feminist strategies sometimes undermine experiences of minority women. While discussing domestic violence as an issue, feminist strategies tend to begin by stating that domestic violence is “not just a minority issue”. While it is true, that domestic violence is an issue even in white households, such a universal appeal regarding domestic violence, underplays the need for understanding specific experiences of women of color. Crenshaw questions why domestic violence was considered as an insignificant issue when it was understood as a minority problem and whether such a notion, would ever mean adequate resource allocation for women of color. Crenshaw gives examples of a television program that discussed domestic violence, but showed obvious differences in how the story of the only black woman was depicted in comparison to that of the other white women in the program.

Race and domestic violence support systems: Crenshaw emphasizes through narrations, how some domestic violence support systems initiated by feminist groups are blind towards the particular needs of minority women, who may have issues of language and may have immediate need for survival. Even when services providers include minority women into committees, women of color did not feel that their needs were addressed and more often than not, chose to work in their own communities.

Racism and sexism in conceptualization of rape: Historically rape conviction has been closely aligned to the ‘moral character’ of the rape victim. Although, not as explicitly stated in law, Crenshaw points out that some female bodies are considered more important than others. She specifically points out to the attention given to the inter-racial rape of an upper class white woman at Central Park in New York in comparison to the rape of black woman during the same week.

Race and the anti-rape lobby: The reference to the rape victim’s moral character during an investigation has been widely used against the black woman. Sexualized images of black women tend to portray stereotypes about the sexual behavior of women of color that have the potential to show the stories of black women as less believable and credible.

Antiracism and rape: Antiracism activists criticize rape laws, that they focus mainly on rapes of white women by black men, only to reinforce the stereotype against black men. Therefore race-based accusations against black men are seen as racial injustice and discrimination against black men. Therefore, even when the victim is a black woman, her voice is seldom heard and she gets silenced even within the African American community.

Rape and intersectionality in Social Science: Crenshaw takes the example of Gary Lafree’s book Rape and Criminal Justice: The Social Construction of Sexual Assault where he shows that law “constructs rape in ways that continue to manifest both racial and gender domination” (Crenshaw 1991: 1294). Crenshaw argues that the study, with a dichotomized framework of race and gender fails to locate the issue as one of black women’s discrimination. Rather, the study identifies black women’s discrimination only in terms of conviction and jail time rendered to the rapist, whether black or white. Lafree concludes that rape laws are oppressive to women known to have led non-traditional lifestyles. Crenshaw argues that this generalized conclusion across races overlooks the possibility that some groups are stereotyped as those exhibiting non-traditional behavior. Therefore, black women are discriminated against not by what they do, but by who they are. Crenshaw critiques that these anti-rape and anti-racist frameworks have a single issue focus which does not represent the black woman’s experience.

Representational Intersectionality: In this section, Crenshaw elaborates how media and popular culture portrays women of color and how it creates further challenges in their struggle against violence. She takes the case of 2 Live Crew controversy where members of a band were arrested for using lyrics that the court considered as obscene. The lyrics had sexually explicit content about black women, depicting them as available for sexual violence. The arrest became controversial because among a wide variety of sexual obscene imagery, this particular band was singled out, only to reinstate the sexual image of the black man. However, that does not undermine the sexual oppression of black women that was obvious in the song, although in the name of humor.

In conclusion, Crenshaw reinforces her main message in the article, that “the narratives of gender are based on the experience of white, middle-class women, and the narratives of race are based on the experience of Black men” (Crenshaw 1991: 1298). She says, intersectionality provides the opportunity to reconceptualize race as a coalition of men and women of color. Intersectionality perspective would also help people raise their voices against internal exclusion and marginalization.

Gender Quotas, the Politics of Presence, and the Feminist Project

Kudva, Neema. Kajri Misra. 2008. “Gender Quotas, the Politics of Presence, and the Feminist Project: What Does the Indian Experience Tell Us?” Signs, 34(1): 49-73

In this paper, Kudva and Misra examine the gender quota experiment in India focusing on areas that they suggest have been under-theorized and overlooked by feminist theorists.  “First, the role of multiple institutional loci of change in transforming gender relations where state and civil society actors play mutually constitutive roles; second, the importance of applying the politics of scale to analyze the gender quota experiment and the possibilities it presents.”

Data:

This essay is based on field work conducted by both authors in India at different points of time and by examining literature on women’s experience in Panchayati Raj.

Theorizing the gender quota experiment in India:

Drawing from feminist theorists, the authors describe Fraser’s argument that obstacles to parity of participation in the context of globalization are three fold – recognition, redistribution and representation. Often, theorists arguing for gender equality in politics have looked at identity politics alone. In this paper, the authors seek to examine how gender quotas look beyond recognition-redistribution in a globalized world that affects the sub-national and local processes.

Secondly there are questions whether women represent women’s issues if they get elected. One position states that ethnic identities and community affiliations have greater potential for sustained action. Feminists suggest that more number of women in power, opens up space for gender consciousness. Scholars have documented gendered and casteist practices in political institutions in India. The language used in writing and speaking, segregated seating, meeting timings and locations unsuitable for women and people from lower castes,  excluding women from meetings and positions, are all ways in which discrimination is practiced. The authors state that current quota literature focuses on individuals who are able to navigate through the system. Most scholars expect positive change over time, while being cognizant of the barriers that women face. However, the authors find that literature has overlooked institution focused feminist political theorizing by focusing only on individuals. In most cases, their agency is heavily influenced by their class and caste positions. Even when NGOs seek to change institutional processes, they are often within the realms of the NGO rather than a large scale policy change.

The authors find that analysis of institutional design, often seen in decentralization literature is absent from gender quota literature.  The scarcity of resources, the state’s hesitation in sharing power and lack of authority are issues of redistribution which can affect women’s political participation. The current focus on capacities of elected women representatives without looking at issues of redistribution and recognition may be problematic. The authors call for a collective strategy for economic and gender justice by bringing in PR reforms.

Then the authors focus on two main issues – the institutional loci of change and the politics of scale. Often feminist theorizing has concentrated on social movements and civil society organizing. However gender quotas in India has been introduced by the state. Pressure from women’s movement was absent in this case. Gender quotas were mandated centrally by gender quotas. However, it was the state of Karnataka that first experimented gender quotas. Thus the loci of change oscillated between the central and the subnational state governments. NGOs, generally kept away from the PR, however later they were included in training representatives. The authors then provide the example of Mahila Samakhya as an organization which was an example of NGO- state collaboration. Being a state program, MS has to maintain a balance where it can engage in alliance building, protests, dialogue while not succumbing to state co-option.

The authors then theorize about the politics of scale. While gender quotas were first suggested by the central government, it was first implemented by Karnataka, a state government. The central government then mandated it across. However, quotas have not been implemented at the central level. Formulating collective strategies, while respecting similarities and differences at the local level, requires a scaled politics, which may be a difficult proposition.

Thus the essay highlights four main points:

1. The possibilities that local state functions of planning and service delivery present for a political agenda that seeks to correct both maldistribution and misrecognition;.
2. The importance of paying attention to organizational design and practices, which are both location specific and deeply gendered, in order to remove constraints on women’s participation;
3. The importance of understanding that the locus of change and innovation in policy experiments shifts and oscillates between the national, the subnational, and the local state, requiring feminist activists to respond equally nimbly;
4. The crucial role that scaled politics has played in the ways in which these opportunities are understood and seized by researchers, reformers, and activists