Symbolic Power and (In)Security: The Marginalization of Women's Security in Northwest Russia

• Published in: International Political Sociology
• Main Author: Stuvøy, Kirsti
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2010
• Subjects: Original Articles; Northwest Russia
• Online Access: http://ips.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/4/4/401; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-5687.2010.00113.x

The general role of symbolic power in contributing to the legitimacy of security has been acknowledged, and this article seeks, more specifically, to advance the understanding of gendered power dynamics and (in)security. It demonstrates how, through their first decade of existence, nonstate crisis centers in Northwest Russia contributed to security but also to the (unintentional) marginalization of women's security. Their emphasis on victims acting on their own behalf, inducing them to becoming acting subjects, is a misrecognition of the effect of symbolic power in this field. The refusal by the Russian (patriarchal) legislature of anti-domestic violence law, combined with the hesitancy of public institutions’ personnel (doctors, police, judges) to provide support for women, gives the local crisis centers, which lacked financial resources, little choice about which intervention strategies to prioritize while emphasizing women's personal responsibility.