The Feminine Dilemma: Gendered Expectations and the Dispute Behavior of Female Leaders in Democratic States (1946-2014)
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2025-06-26
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en
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This thesis examines the effect of gendered expectations on state leaders’ conflict behavior. It explores whether female leaders conform to the societal stereotypes associating femininity with peace. Bridging traditional International Relations, Security Studies, and feminist theories, this research asks the question: to what extent does the gender of a state’s leader affect the level of hostility reached during militarized interstate disputes, and the likelihood of initiating such disputes? A quantitative analysis of democratic states from 1946 to 2014 investigates correlations between leader gender and dispute behavior. This is followed by a qualitative process tracing mechanism test of four female leaders – Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, and Park Geun-hye – to contextualize their behavior. While no correlation between gender and level of hostility was found, the results do reveal that female leaders are statistically more likely to initiate militarized disputes, contradicting the hypothesis. Qualitative contributions, however, emphasize the challenges inherent to studying gender as an analytical tool. The study contributes to both feminist IR and security scholarship by highlighting the importance of studying gender in conflict behavior, but also the methodological limitations that come with it.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen