Theories of Power: Feminisms in Action

Abstract

The premise on which this book is based is that power can be seen both as a driving force for the pandemics, especially in relation to the unequal position of women and the impact that has on vulnerability, and as a potential solution to address and mitigate the impacts of the pandemics on women and girls. There are two approaches to analyzing and understanding power and gender (Davis, 2002). Firstly, one can address the issue by taking gender inequality as the central concept, and develop a specific feminist theory on power, inequality and the impact on women, men, girls and boys. Alternatively, one can take power as a central concept and integrate a feminist or gendered understanding to explain the realities of the lives of women and men. In reality, the two concepts are indivisible and therefore need to be addressed together. For the purposes of this book I have chosen the first option: to see gender and gender relations as the starting point, given that feminist theories of gender inequality are also about power, whilst very few theorists on power take into account issues of gender in any meaningful way.