Gender Studies

This article summarizes key aspects in the field of gender studies while considering the contributions that gender analysis brings to inquiries into violence, peace, and conflict. Gender studies focuses on the implications of values, actions, and systems formed based on definitions of and beliefs about masculinity and femininity. Gender analysis also unveils the systems of power and construction of hierarchies. Suppositions in the theories of gender mesh well with the normative approach of peace and conflict studies. This essay considers the influence that gender studies has on thinking about violence, nonviolence, war and peace, and conflict transformation.