‘The admixture of feminine weakness and susceptibility’: Gendered Personifications of the State in International Law

O'Donoghue, Aoife

‘The admixture of feminine weakness and susceptibility’: Gendered Personifications of the State in International Law

O'Donoghue, Aoife

Authors

Aoife O'Donoghue

Abstract

19th century international law textbooks were infused with the gendered personification of states. Legal academics, such as Johann Casper Bluntschli, John Westlake, Robert Phillimore and James Lorimer, relied on gendered personification to ascribe attributes to states. Masculine states, reasonable, bounded and strong, were the backbone of Western civilisation, while feminine states were irrational, permeable and lacking in the reasonability necessary for full statehood. Britannia may have represented the British Empire at its zenith but the allegory was not intended as a rallying call for women’s political participation. John Bull represented the actuality of citizenship. Recent scholarship recognises the import of 19th century international legal academia to contemporary law. This article argues that the personifications, which suffused the writings of these authors, set the terms in which contemporary international law understands statehood. Explicitly gendered language may no longer be invoked but the terms of statehood remain sexed. When scholars return to the writings of 19th century international legal academia, attention to the negative gendered bequests of the era is required.

Citation

O'Donoghue, A. (2018). ‘The admixture of feminine weakness and susceptibility’: Gendered Personifications of the State in International Law. Melbourne journal of international law, 19(1), 227-258

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 8, 2018
Online Publication Date	Jul 31, 2018
Publication Date	May 1, 2018
Deposit Date	May 11, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Apr 26, 2019
Journal	Melbourne Journal of International Law.
Print ISSN	1444-8602
Publisher	Melbourne Law School
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	19
Issue	1
Pages	227-258
Publisher URL	https://law.unimelb.edu.au/mjil/issues/issue-archive/191