Role of Gender in Shaping Nationalistic Politics in South Asia

Abstract

It is evident that the role of women in South Asian politics, though gained importance over the years continues to remain minimal in comparison to its opposite gender. Nationalist politics used gendered identities to develop the socially constructed ideas of masculinity and femininity that describe the role of the gender in shaping a nation as well as the manner in which the nation embodied in the imagination of self-proclaimed nationalists. Such gendered historical and social factors have not only led to reconfiguration of nationalist politics but also the dominance of hegemonic masculinity, quiet clear from the Western domination impact on the South Asian Sub-continent.