Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T04:48:33.080Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aborting Global Women's Rights: The Boundaries of Women's Representation in American Foreign Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2020

Sara Angevine
Sara Angevine*
Affiliation:
Whittier College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

American foreign policy has expanded in recent years to address issues that affect women and girls worldwide, global women's rights, yet there has been minimal investigation into how these representative claims for women worldwide are formed and the substantive U.S. commitment. Is this a reflection of a growing American feminist foreign policy or symbolic rhetoric for domestic audiences? To better understand the representation of global women's rights in American foreign policy, I analyze the political context behind three widely supported American foreign policy bills focusing on women that were introduced during the 111th Congress (2009–10). Each of these bills failed to become statute. Drawing from qualitative comparative case study analysis, I show how antiabortion politics constrain the legislative success of any American foreign policy legislation that focuses on women, regardless of relevance. This suggests that foreign women's bodies are a terrain for U.S. legislators to advance abortion policy objectives with minimal electoral constraint. Although advancing women's rights furthers broader U.S. foreign policy objectives, such as preventing terrorism and growing market economies, domestic abortion politics shape the boundaries of how global women's rights are represented in American foreign policy.

Keywords

Womenforeign policyglobal women's rightsCongressrepresentationfeminist foreign policygenderabortionforeign policy analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 799 - 826
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aggestam, Karin, and Bergman-Rosamond, Annika. 2016. “Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy in the Making: Ethics, Politics, and Gender.” Ethics & International Affairs 30 (3): 323–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ainsworth, Scott, and Hall, Thad E.. 2011. Abortion Politics in Congress: Strategic Incrementalism and Policy Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Angevine, Sara. 2017. “Representing All Women: An Analysis of Congress, Foreign Policy, and the Boundaries of Women's Surrogate Representation.” Political Research Quarterly 70 (1): 98–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Ross. 2000. House and Senate. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Baldez, Lisa. 2014. Defying Convention: US Resistance to the UN Treaty on Women's Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, Tiffany D., and O'Brien, Diana Z.. 2018. “Defending the Realm: The Appointment of Female Defense Ministers Worldwide.” American Journal of Political Science 62 (2): 355–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bashevkin, Sylvia. 2014. “Numerical and Policy Representation on the International Stage: Women Foreign Policy Leaders in Western Industrialised Systems.” International Political Science Review 35 (4): 409–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, Frank R., Berry, Jeffrey M., Hojnacki, Marie, Leech, Beth L., and Kimball, David C.. 2009. Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berg, Bruce. 2009. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson.Google Scholar
Carroll, Susan J. 2002. “Representing Women: Congresswoman's Perceptions of Their Representative Roles” In Women Transforming Congress, ed. Rosenthal, Cindy Simon. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 50–68.Google Scholar
Carter, Ralph, and Scott, James M.. 2009. Choosing to Lead: Understanding Congressional Foreign Policy Entrepreneurs. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Celis, Karen, Childs, Sarah, Kantola, Johanna, and Krook, Mona Lena. 2008. “Rethinking Women's Substantive Representation.” Representation 44 (2): 99–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). 2019. “History of Women in the U.S. Congress.” https://cawp.rutgers.edu/history-women-us-congress (accessed March 25, 2020).Google Scholar
Childs, Sarah, and Krook, Mona Lena. 2009. “Analyzing Women's Substantive Representation: From Critical Mass to Critical Actors.” Government and Opposition 44 (2): 125–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, Isabel. 2004. “The Payoff from Women's Rights.” Foreign Affairs 83 (3): 80–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costain, Anne N., and Majstorovic, Steven. 1994. “Congress, Social Movements and Public Opinion: Multiple Origins of Women's Rights Legislation.” Political Research Quarterly 47 (1): 111–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crapol, Edward P. 1992. Women and American Foreign Policy: Lobbyists, Critics, and Insiders. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Dodson, Debra L. 2006. The Impact of Women in Congress. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durbin, Richard. 2010. “Durbin Statement Regarding House Blocking Passage of a Bill to Protect Women and Girls from Child Marriage.” News release, December 16.Google Scholar
Eichenberg, Richard C. 2003. “Gender Differences in Public Attitudes toward the Use of Force by the United States, 1990–2003.” International Security 28 (1): 110–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farris, Sara R. 2017. In the Name of Women's Rights: The Rise of Femonationalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. Jr. 1973. Congressmen in Committees. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Fish, M. Steven. 2002. “Islam and Authoritarianism.” World Politics 55 (1): 4–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fite, David, Genest, Marc, and Wilcox, Clyde. 1990. “Gender Differences in Foreign Policy Attitudes: A Longitudinal Analysis.” American Politics Quarterly 18 (4): 492–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goss, Kristin A. 2009. “Never Surrender? How Women's Groups Abandoned Their Policy Niche in US Foreign Policy Debates, 1916–2000.” Politics & Gender 5 (4): 453–89.Google Scholar
Hall, Richard L. 1998. Participation in Congress. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hawkesworth, Mary. 2012. Political Worlds of Women. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Holsti, Ole R. 2004. Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Hook, Steven W. 2015. US Foreign Policy: The Paradox of World Power. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Htun, Mala, and Weldon, S. Laurel. 2018. The Logics of Gender Justice: State Action on Women's Rights around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, Valerie M., Caprioli, Mary, Ballif-Spanvill, Bonnie, McDermott, Rose, and Emmett, Chad F.. 2009. The Heart of the Matter: The Security of Women and the Security of States. International Security 33 (3): 7–45.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald, and Norris, Pippa. 2003. Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri. 1997. Changing Differences: Women and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy, 1917–1994. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Joachim, Jutta. 2007. Agenda Setting, the UN, and NGOs: Gender Violence and Reproductive Rights. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Koch, Michael T., and Fulton, Sarah A.. 2011. “In the Defense of Women: Gender, Office Holding, and National Security Policy in Established Democracies.” Journal of Politics 73 (1): 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koger, Gregory. 2003. “Position Taking and Cosponsorship in the US House.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 28 (2): 225–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer. 2004. “Women, War, and Winning Elections: Gender Stereotyping in the Post-September 11th Era.” Political Research Quarterly 57 (3): 479–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leatherman, Janie. 2005. “Gender and US Foreign Policy: Hegemonic Masculinity, the War in Iraq, and the UN-Doing of World Order.” In Gender and American Politics: Women, Men and the Political Process, 2nd ed., eds. Tolleson-Rinehart, Sue and Josephson, Jyl J.. Armonk, NY: M.E. SharpeGoogle Scholar
Lindsay, James. 1994. Congress and US Foreign Policy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
McGlen, Nancy E., and Sarkees, Meredith Reid. 1993. Women in Foreign Policy: The Insiders. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Melander, Erik. 2005. “Gender Equality and Intrastate Armed Conflict.” International Studies Quarterly 49 (4): 695–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohanty, Chandra. T. 2014. “‘Under Western Eyes’ Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist Struggles.” Signs 40 (1): 499–535.Google Scholar
Rogin, Josh. 2010. “How Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Killed the Bill to Prevent Forced Child Marriages.” Foreign Policy, December 17. https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/12/17/how-ileana-ros-lehtinen-killed-the-bill-to-prevent-forced-child-marriages/ (accessed March 25, 2020).Google Scholar
Saward, Michael. 2006. “The Representative Claim.” Contemporary Political Theory 5 (3): 297–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinclair, Barbara. 2016. Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the US Congress. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1988. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” In Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, eds. Nelson, Cary and Grossberg, Lawrence. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 271–313.Google Scholar
Summers, Larry. 1994. Investing in All the People: Educating Women in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swers, Michele. 2002. The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teele, Dawn Langan. 2018. Forging the Franchise: The Political Origins of the Women's Vote. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Terkel, Amanda. 2010. “House Republicans block Child Marriage Prevention Act.” Huffington Post, December 17. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-republicans-block-child-marriage-prevention-act_n_798382 (accessed March 25, 2020).Google Scholar
Tickner, J. Ann, and True, Jacqui. 2018. “A Century of International Relations Feminism: From World War I Women's Peace Pragmatism to the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.” International Studies Quarterly 62 (2): 221–33.Google Scholar
Towns, Ann, and Niklasson, Birgitta. 2016. “Gender, International Status, and Ambassador Appointments.” Foreign Policy Analysis 13 (3): 521–40.Google Scholar
Wagner, Regina Lea. 2018. “Patterns of Representation: Women's Political Representation in the US and the Conceptualization of Women's Interests.” PhD diss., University of Wisconsin–Madison.Google Scholar
Washington, Ebonya L. 2008. “Female Socialization: How Daughters Affect their Legislator Fathers.” American Economic Review 98 (1): 311–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, Rick K., and Young, Cheryl D.. 1997. “Cosponsorship in the US Congress.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 22 (1): 25–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolbrecht, Christina. 2002. “Female Legislators and the Women's Rights Agenda: From Feminine Mystique to Feminist Era.” In Women Transforming Congress, ed. Rosenthal, Cindy Simon. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 170–97.Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 2003. “The Logic of Masculinist Protection: Reflections on the Current Security State.” Signs 29 (1): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar