As this article is being finalized, US President Donald J. Trump has taken numerous executive actions to challenge gender identity; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs; and the rights of marginalized populations broadly. These xenophobic, anti-gender political agendas are gaining momentum worldwide (Ayoub and Stoeckle Reference Ayoub and Stoeckl2024). My hope is that these brief words inspire future politics and gender scholars to apply their research skills to challenge these heteropatriarchal policies that so often reinforce sexism, racism, and homophobia in the name of nationalism. When the Politics & Gender journal began in 2005, the justification question underlying much of its existence was “Does gender matter?” In 2025, if one is to measure the importance of gender by the amount of resistance to gender inclusive policies and feminist advances, one could easily argue that not only does gender matter-but it matters even more.
The history of the discipline of political science illustrates a social world where the value of paying attention to gender as a category of analysis has long been seen as irrelevant. Like other forms of structural privilege, such as whiteness, Western values, language, or class, gendered harms can be rendered nonexistent by those shielded from its divergent impact. For those who experience or empathize with these injuries, the academic burden has been to justify changing the status quo by showing precisely how gender matters (and perhaps even its statistical significance in relation to certain phenomena). As a result, we now know that gender shapes the answers to vital political science questions regarding political representation, power, decision-making, and diplomacy, among many other topics (Han and Heldman Reference Han and Heldman2023). One could argue that this higher bar for demonstrating the importance of gender as a category of analysis has led to an even higher quality of politics and gender scholarship, paralleling findings on the effectiveness of women in elected office (Volden, Wiseman, and Wittmer Reference Volden, Wiseman and Wittmer2013). Yet the lack of scholarly attention can also result in a messier terrain for evaluating quality research, an unclear canon on politics and gender contributions, and divisions on methodological approaches.
The value and importance of Politics & Gender is that it creates the necessary space for rigorous conversations on the impact and import of gender as a category of political analysis. On the pages of this journal, our academic dialogues help us reach a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of how and why gender matters (see also Baldez and Beckwith Reference Baldez and Beckwith2025). I argue that over the past twenty years academic conversations applying gender as a category of analysis have deepened in a number of areas, including public opinion, political participation (Cassese and Friesen Reference Cassese and Friesen2025), and political representation (Jalalzai Reference Jalalzai2024; Krook 2025). Applying gender as a category of analysis has expanded and improved our ability to answer the critical questions of our field. Hegemonic heteropatriarchyFootnote 1 can no longer devalue the experiences of women as citizens, as political candidates, and as elected officials – nor shield the gendered nature of political institutions, organizations, and general power dynamics.
While we can see much success, particularly in the fields of American Politics and Comparative Politics, I suggest that the gender knowledge revolution is incomplete. Much gender and politics scholarship has been focused on the gender dynamics in advanced industrialized countries (Tripp Reference Tripp2024), has been based on a gender-binary system (Zein Reference Murib2024), and has focused on gender as an attribute rather than gender as a process (Baldez and Beckwith Reference Baldez and Beckwith2025). While we celebrate the impressive growth of gender and politics scholarship, therefore, there are still important gaps in our disciplinary knowledge. I suggest that the areas of feminist political theory, sexuality and politics, and gender and international relations are the next spaces for future critical investigation, research, and growth in Politics & Gender.
Feminist Political Theory
First, the journal could take a more proactive approach towards fostering the growth of feminist political theory. Though the discipline more broadly is struggling to justify the value of political theory after the behavioralist turn, Politics & Gender could be a leader in this critical conversation. Having feminist political theorist Mary Caputi as lead editor was one tactic to encourage more participation from theorists (see also Caputi Reference Caputi2025). Another idea, similar to the Notes from the Field section, could be to reserve a space in the publication for theoretical conversations. We need to protect and promote theoretical development to address the big questions of our time that have much to do with gender, sex, and sexuality. Ideas are as, if not more, valuable than execution.
We need to reclaim and restore feminist political theory as foundational to Politics & Gender. One could argue that the discipline of political science was the original home for feminist political theory and queer theory. Yet today feminist political theory seems to find its home in Departments of Women and Gender Studies rather than in Political Science. One potential model is the annual Feminist Political Theory Workshop preconference at the Western Political Science Association’s (WPSA) annual meetings.
In 1996, Professor Shane Phelan decided to create a workshop before WPSA as a dedicated space for feminist theory conversations (Ferguson et al Reference Ferguson, Ferguson, Ferguson, Hawkesworth, Heberle, Locke, Marso, Naranch and Zivi2022). At the initial preconference workshop, Nancy Hartsock and Renée Heberle were the highly anticipated discussants for Wendy Brown’s States of Injury (1995). Brown is now considered one of the most importance political theorists of the 21st century (along with her partner Judith Butler). These engaging workshops continue to this day. Everyone who attends sits in a circle and two pieces, typically a recently published book connected to feminist theory and a work-in-progress or newly published article, are discussed by the workshop participants. I first attended the WPSA feminist theory pre-conference in graduate school in the late 2000s. I was so impressed and inspired that I have continued to participate each year (that I am able).
My hope would be to see a stronger connection between these WPSA Feminist Theory pre-conferences and the feminist theory conversations inside Politics & Gender. For me, this is not just about making sure we have an inclusive and diverse range of topics. We also need stronger theory to enrich how we think and improve how we politically engage in the world. Theory is vital for extending our creative imagination, developing cognitive relationships, and constructing new solutions for humanity. While empirical research is arguably an effective tactic to test and improve theories, as well as probing causal relationships, I believe that there also needs to be more protected space for innovation, vision, and deep thought. Gender, sex, and sexuality discrimination persists and is even expanding, at least in the United States.Footnote 2 We need feminist political theory to help us imagine new ways forward and beyond neoliberal empowerment (Prügl Reference Prügl2015).
Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
Second, the relationship between gender and sexuality research could be strengthened in this journal. While Politics & Gender has increased attention towards intersectionality (Christoffersen and Siow Reference Christoffersen and Siow2025), this often is collapsed to investigations that address race and gender. While this is critical for challenging white privilege, I would hope to see similarly rich and comprehensive attention to the relationship between sexuality and gender. For both concepts, we need to not only think of the gender/sexuality attribute (woman/man versus LGBTQ) but also the socializations and processes of heteropatriarchy. Although the journal has recently published a number of articles on sexual orientation and gender identity (Albaugh and Baisley Reference Albaugh and Baisley2023; Bell and Borelli Reference Bell and Borelli2024; Linders, Dudink, and Spierings Reference Linders, Dudink and Spierings2023; Murib Reference Murib2024; Schotel and Mügge Reference Schotel and Mügge2024), there is scope to see greater attention towards LGBTQ+ political issues on the pages of Politics & Gender and more attention to sexuality and gender as co-constitutive.
The social construction of gender and race hinge upon notions of sex and sexuality. Yet these ideas are all too often siloed as areas of study. As a cisgender lesbian, I personally see how gender, sex, and sexuality politics are co-constitutive. I expect that is the case regardless of one’s sexual orientation, but it rises in saliency when both are experienced as outside the hegemonic norm. In the discipline of political science, I find myself trapped much like the lesbian activists of the 1970s who felt outside of the feminist social movement (as homosexual) and outside of the gay social movement (as women). In political science, I have observed that the gender and politics community is mostly (white) heterosexual women, and the sexuality and politics community is mostly (white) homosexual men. Publications mirror these trends (Piscopo Reference Piscopo2025). Wider diversification is needed in both the lived bodies and the intentional focus of this scholarship.
I suggest that the Politics & Gender journal continue its work addressing intersectionality along the lines of gender and race while also fostering research on sexuality. Sex and sexuality matter for gender because sexuality, sexual practices, and the sexed body matter for our notions of gender as an attribute (or product) and as a process. Female sexual organs and feminine sexuality are the central foundations of their socially defined difference as a gendered/sexed body. Male sexual organs and masculine sexuality are the central foundations for the construction of male-only public institutions. Women were not permitted in schools, governments, or workplaces because they would sexually distract men. Compulsory heterosexuality (Rich Reference Rich1980) remains thick in the air we breathe. The anti-transgender movement has escalated exponentially worldwide, placing strong pressures on rigid gender roles and body essentialism.
Going forward, Politics & Gender is an excellent space for scholarship in the emerging field of sexuality and politics. As politicians in the US have begun to harden the lines around biological sex as a synonym for gender, the journal can instead take a more inclusive approach. Because we see gender as a language of power, we can readily show that forces deploy gender power to harm all gender identity minorities (transgender men, transgender women, and cisgender women) who fall outside of the expected cisgender man citizen archetype. We also need to strengthen our resolve to fight back. The term “gender” has become so potent that some political leaders request it be removed and stricken from policy. Standing on the sidelines is no longer an option. Instead, Politics & Gender could and should serve as a highly relevant source illustrating the connections and distinctions between gender, sex, and sexuality.
Gender and International Relations
Third, gender and international relations (IR) scholarship is a further area for future growth. Having participated at the International Studies Association (ISA) annual meeting in San Francisco, CA in April 2024, I ran into many interesting feminist scholars whose work I would love to see on the pages of Politics & Gender. One wonders where they perceive to find their best research audience. Politics & Gender coexists alongside the International Feminist Journal of Politics and the recently formed European Journal of Politics and Gender. While gender and politics scholarship is relevant worldwide, Politics & Gender may be seen as a journal primarily devoted to American politics and/or centered on US American scholars.
The steadily rising number of contributions to the journal in comparative politics show that the journal can attract work on international topics (Tripp Reference Tripp2024). Until recently, the field of IR has been highly resistant to gender analysis, in part due to the low share of women scholars in this field. However, feminist IR research has expanded tremendously over the last thirty years (Sjoberg and Thies Reference Sjoberg and Thies2023). Perhaps due to norms of hegemonic masculinity among IR scholars, this body of work has been more explicitly feminist than in other political science subfields and worked to redefine traditional IR concepts using post-positivist methodologies. Consequently, encouraging submissions from feminist IR scholars would not only diversify the content but also the methodological approaches seen in the journal.
It may be that, because the journal is not explicitly feminist (in title), the International Feminist Journal of Politics appears to be a more favorable outlet for these scholars. However, Politics & Gender could be an excellent site to develop and deepen conversations in feminist IR and gender and IR scholarship. I would hope that, moving forward, gender researchers addressing questions of globalization, international political economy, foreign policy, artificial intelligence, security, war, and other critical areas of IR could see this journal as a valuable place to submit scholarship. As the IR field pivots to methods and topics that tend to ignore gender, like big data and artificial intelligence, scholars who can demonstrate within those epistemologies how and why gender matters are particularly important. As our global polity grows increasingly interconnected, we need to have gender politics scholars investigating important IR questions. The journal could do this by publishing special issues focused on IR questions and appointing more editors from the IR subfield and/or from outside of the United States, which could together signal that Politics & Gender is an attractive, inclusive journal for their global/IR gender research.
Conclusion
One journal cannot be all things to all people. However, the last twenty years have proven that Politics & Gender has been a critical actor for those of us in the profession who want to understand the power of gender – and, for the feminists among us, how to best dismantle the pervasive power of hegemonic heteropatriarchy. Politics & Gender has arguably transformed the discipline of political science (Sawer Reference Sawer2025). But our critical work must continue. Going forward, the journal should take more explicit steps to support feminist political theory, teaching readers its history as well as nurturing its future. Gender, sex, and sexuality and politics scholarship is another important horizon for the journal to develop. The feminist movement and the LGBTQ rights movements stem from the same argument against heteropatriarchy, which persists as a site for moral panics (Rubin Reference Rubin and Vance1984) and intersectional oppression (Currah Reference Currah2022). Finally, Politics & Gender can open new directions for gender and feminist international relations scholarship. As graduate students perpetuate the paths already formed by those before them, academia ironically has a propensity for preserving the status quo in its quest for innovation. My hope is that the journal, through these future directions, will further expand the theoretical and practical impact and importance of gender as a category of analysis in political science.
