Fighting Gender-Based Violence in India: Analysing gender mainstreaming policies and arguing for Transformation

Bernatavicius, Katya Alyte

4. term

Development and International Relations, Master

2016

42

Dette speciale undersøger, hvor effektive de nuværende strategier mod kønsbaseret vold i Indien er, med særligt fokus på, hvordan kønsmainstreaming udformes og anvendes. Som analytisk ramme anvendes Carol Lee Bacchis WPR-tilgang (What’s the Problem Represented to be?) til at afdække, hvordan problemet repræsenteres i politikker, hvilke antagelser denne repræsentation bygger på, hvilke virkninger den skaber, hvilke tavsheder den efterlader, og hvordan dominerende forståelser produceres og kan udfordres. Med teoretiske greb fra Connells hegemoniske maskulinitet, Posner og Rasmusens teorier om normadoption og social håndhævelse samt West og Zimmermans “doing gender” argumenterer specialet for, at en essentialistisk, binær kønsforståelse – hvor kvinder fremstilles som ofre og mænd som gerningspersoner – præger mange kønsmainstreaming-tilgange. Denne ramme risikerer at forstærke kønshierarkier og stereotype kønsroller, komme i konflikt med målet om ligestilling og udelukke personer uden for kønsbinæret, herunder mange transkønnede og hijra-fællesskaber. Specialet konkluderer, at kønsmainstreaming vil virke mere målrettet og retfærdigt, hvis de binære antagelser nedbrydes, og målsætningerne udvides i en intersektionel og inkluderende retning, så politikker bedre afspejler mangfoldige erfaringer og mere effektivt kan forebygge kønsbaseret vold.

This thesis examines the effectiveness of current strategies to address gender-based violence in India, with a particular focus on how gender mainstreaming is designed and implemented. Using Carol Lee Bacchi’s WPR (What’s the Problem Represented to be?) approach as a guiding framework, it analyzes how the problem is represented in policies, the assumptions underpinning that representation, the effects it produces, the silences it leaves, and how dominant representations are produced and can be contested. Drawing on Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity, Posner and Rasmusen’s work on norm adoption and social enforcement, and West and Zimmerman’s concept of “doing gender,” the thesis argues that an essentialist, binary understanding of gender—casting women as victims and men as perpetrators—shapes many gender mainstreaming approaches. This framing risks reinforcing gender hierarchies and stereotypes, conflicts with goals of equality, and excludes those outside the gender binary, including many transgender and Hijra communities. It concludes that gender mainstreaming would be more effective and equitable if it dismantled binary assumptions and adopted a more intersectional and inclusive orientation, so policies better reflect diverse experiences and more effectively prevent gender-based violence.

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Bernatavicius, Katya Alyte:

• Fighting Gender-Based Violence in India: Analysing gender mainstreaming policies and arguing for Transformation (2016)