Gender: a useful category of historical analysis

Instead of referring to 'women', gender, similar to class or race, symbolized scientific neutrality and dissociation from politics of feminism.

“Instead of referring to ' women, ' gender, similar to class or race, symbolized scienti fi c neutrality and dissociation from politics of feminism (Scott, 1986).”

These readings produced ahistorical and universalizing accounts of gender, possible due to widespread acceptance of 'biological foundationalism'-an understanding according to which gender is a matter of cultural specificity while sex is treated as a cross-cultural and cross-historical commonality.

“Secondly, it produced ahistorical and universalizing accounts of gender (Scott, 1986) that were possible due to the widespread acceptance of ' biological foundationalism ' -an understanding according to which gender is a matter of cultural speci fi city, while sex is treated as a cross-cultural and cross-historical commonality (Nicholson, 1994).”

The rejection of biological determinism and the accompanying constructionist perspective on gender have their origins in psychology and historically overlap with the broader epistemological shift to poststructuralism and criticisms of empiricism.

“The rejection of biological determinism and the accompanying constructionist perspective on gender have their origins in psychology and historically overlap with, and were partly empowered by, the broader epistemological shift to poststructuralism and criticisms of empiricism (Scott, 1986).”

Based on an exhaustive overview of available feminist scholarship, Scott argued that attempts to include gender while remaining within traditional scientific frameworks resulted in reductive or simplified generalizations that undermined the complexity of the analysis and stifled motivation for more substantive change.

“Based on an exhaustive overview of the available feminist scholarship, Scott argued that attempts to include gender, while remaining within traditional scienti fi c frameworks, resulted in reductive or simpli fi ed generalizations that undermined the complexity of the analysis and sti fl ed motivation for more substantive change.”

Scott objected to influential feminist studies of that time in the radical feminist, Marxist, and psychoanalytical traditions for the ahistoricity of gender, the reification of sexual antagonism between men and women, and the tendency to universalize the categories of male and female, which did not leave space for historical specificity and variability.

“Last, to the in fl uential feminist studies of that time in the (radical) feminist, Marxist, and psychoanalytical traditions, Scott (1986) objected to the aforementioned ahistoricity of gender, to the rei fi cation of the sexual antagonism between men and women, as well as to the tendency to universalize the categories of male and female, which did not leave the space for historical speci fi city”

Joan W. Scott's essay Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis (1986) inaugurated a path-breaking debate in mainstream historical research.

“One of the classic texts for understating the role of gender in history is the essay Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis by feminist historian Joan W. Scott (1986) in which she inaugurated a path-breaking debate in mainstream historical research (see Butler and Weed, 2011).”

Scott argued that because gender was often used as a synonym for 'women' to assure scientific and political acceptability of the study, its analysis was restricted to areas traditionally related to women, leaving uncovered topics such as war, diplomacy, and high politics.

“Furthermore, as gender was often used as a synonym for ' women ' to assure scienti fi c and political acceptability of the study, its analysis was restricted to areas traditionally related to women, leaving uncovered topics such as war, diplomacy, and high politics.”

In order to develop gender as an analytical category, Scott, influenced by Foucault's genealogy of power and psychoanalysis, endorsed the refusal of the fixed and permanent quality of binary opposition and demanded a genuine historization and deconstruction of the terms of sexual difference in line with the criticism of Riley (1988) and Nicholson (1994).

“In order to develop gender as an analytical category, Scott, in fl uenced by Foucault ' s genealogy of power and psychoanalysis, endorsed the refusal of the fi xed and permanent quality of binary opposition and demanded a genuine historization and deconstruction of the terms of sexual difference in line with the criticism of Riley (1988) and Nicholson (1994).”

Consequences of this include the often inconsistent and contradictory use of gender as a synonym for 'women' to ensure political acceptability of the study, and the fact that a great deal of gender studies no longer show explicit activist commitment to women's equality and social change, causing resentment by many feminist scholars.

“Some of the consequences, as Scott (1986) and Lovenduski (1998) notice, are the often inconsistent and contradictory use of gender as a synonym for ' women ' to ensure the political acceptability of the study and the fact that a great deal of gender studies no longer show explicit activist commitment to women ' s equality and social change, which causes predictable resentment by many feminist sch”