The protest factor in gender activism and gender scholarship: a behavioural explanation of the state of things

Abstract

The emergence of gender activism and gender scholarship has, in the past decades, provoked series of responses from groups and institutions around the world; including the United Nations Organization; but gender issues are getting increasingly controversial while women still largely remain unequal to men in most societies. The increasing attention that scholars and nongovernmental organizations continue to accord gender remains one evidence non- statistical- for if much had changed in gender, lesser efforts would have necessarily been expended. We inquired into the history of gender activism and scholarship; how the two have evolved over the years and the series of structural, group and institutional responses that have greeted them. We subject the inquiry to a deep qualitative analysis and find that both gender equality and gender activism have been more of protest than systematic evolution. We then conclude that efforts of gender activists and gender scholars need to be less of protest and more of process if the expected gender revolution will ever be set in motion.