Citizenship functioned historically as an instrument of male domination

Evidence

Until recently citizenship studies did not pay much attention to gender and even less to sexual orientation. Citizenship was a gendered notion that did not take into account the various forms of discrimination and inequalities faced by women. According to feminist thinking, citizenship was in a way a tool of male domination. After World War II, the position of women improved in terms of civil rights, economic autonomy, and political power. But historically the unequal social position of women has been a challenge to the universalistic ideal of citizenship and any discussion on the evolution of citizenship now tends to avoid gender-biased views. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 831

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ moral-panic theme — universalist frameworks often encode the dominant group’s particular interests, whether gendered dress codes or gendered citizenship. — connects to: Men invented the feminine-immanence division to preserve masculine privileges — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 157; In primitive hordes male superiority was lived but not institutionalized — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 160; Patriarchy triumphed through men’s biological privilege, not accident or revolution — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 166