Research findings part 1: The structural nature of gendered oppression
Annihilation, erasure and the state
Heteropatriarchy is the engine of VAWG, but the form it takes changes depending on historical and socio-political factors. Heteropatriarchy does not work in isolation, rather it is embedded within the intersections of capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy. Gendered violence is
produced at the intersections of these structural systems of oppression.
Historically, feminists have identified these multiple systems of oppression as the ‘triple burden’ of oppression, signifying the multilayered dimensions of gender, race, and class. More recently, intersectionality as a concept has been used to demonstrate the layered connections and interlinkages of oppression and privilege for women and people with gender-diverse identities. Intersectionality, while often applied at the level of the individual and/or interpersonal, is also useful to examine at the state level.
The state has a duty to protect citizens, yet global statistics suggest that women are still exposed to danger and harm at alarming rates.
What does this tell us
about the nature of oppression?
In many countries, states subvert, rather than promote, justice on VAWG because women are not fully and intentionally regarded as equal citizens. Many states are ambiguous and ambivalent on the position of women as equal citizens — even self-purported Democratic states maintain regulations that restrict women’s freedom and autonomy.
Globally, feminist social movements have identified and problematized the complex relationship between women and the state. The disciplinary nature of the state often regards women as infantile and inferior, which results in a lack of political will to address, respond to, and prevent gendered violence.
This section examines the role of the state in perpetuating structural systems of oppression as well as state resistance to feminist social movements.