Feminism emerged as a reaction to a ‘ubiquitous androcentric’ international system. Evolving from fighting for universal adult suffrage, the second wave of feminism emerged during the 80s to criticize ‘malestream’ International Relations (IR). As a theoretical approach, feminism has blossomed and made its presence known. Feminists portray women as have been misrepresented throughout history and that their roles in the international system are in fact critical but often neglected based on the male dominated system. Therefore it can be surmised that feminism in IR is meant to reveal the existing masculine predispositions embedded in traditional IR theories and recreate an unbiased gender stance in IR. But have feminist made a breakthrough in the field of International Relations or is the field still dominated by ‘hegemonic masculinity’ ? The following paper will discuss the ontological and epistemological agendas of feminism as well as the methodology used to support their claims. It will also assess their major contributions to the field of International Relations, including some of its cognate disciplines; and conclude by critically assessing its impact and value in International Relations.
Feminism may be described as fissiparous in nature due to the varied strands in the discipline. Despite these diverse strands converge ontologically in two words: gender inequality. It focuses on the inequality between masculinity and femininity as a social construct in a patriarchal