This paper argues for the refocusing of a world feminist lens, looking specifically at the issue of gender and International Political Economy (IPE) in the face of globalizing neoliberal restructuring. Many feminists do not simply want to bring attention to the plight of those seen through a ‘gendered’ feminist lens, but want to change the trajectory of the lives of gendered individuals. Because feminist analyses are most often theoretical in scope, and by advancing a constructivist orientation of theory, it becomes analytically advantageous to examine gender as a social construction; but while the notion that analytical gender has epistemological and systemic repercussions, it is much more difficult to elucidate and enforce such consequences, particularly in the policy arena. To ‘bridge the gap’ between theory, praxis, and policy, Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs) are examined, as they facilitate the dissemination of feminist theory, acting as ‘conduits of knowledge’ for activists and eventually policy makers working towards the betterment of women lived realities in different areas throughout the globalized world. This paper examines TANs, as well as the dynamic properties TANSs utilize when bringing together functions of international and domestic agency and structure. TANs representing feminist norms and values, can make use of many resources including frames, community accountability, social networking analysis, communication technology, civil society and social movement theory on both a macro and micro level to make issues meaningful, attract attention, stimulate collective action on a lesser level of analysis, and eventually impact public policy relating to gender.

Methodologically, Constructivism lends itself to the use of a gendered analytic By giving more salience to agents which are the socially constructed meanings of a collective, IR constructivism allows for explanation in the realm of identity building and power relations. Popular discourse contends implicit social construction of realities in society are objective constructs in the conception of actors living in said reality and will inevitably develop through mutual interaction and by the perception of a collective. Constructivists will attempt to account for the institutional practices and institutional change. Constructivist gender issues are shaped by feminist issues in IPE. Critical IPE and Gendered Political Economy (GPE) share similar dispositions, as critical IPE and GPE value the development of relations between genders and typically favor post-positivist epistemologies. While this may seem to be problematic for policy, it merely emphasizes that gendered relationships are created by society and can change depending on one’s orientation.

TANs use and become ‘embedded’ in networks to keep order, influence discussion, and weigh in on procedural policy. There is also a seemingly ‘moral’ sense of community standards brought by TANs, creating incentives for institutions to abide by their commitments. TANs can move around and beyond policy to advocate and create changes at the most basic level of world relations. When successful, TANs can have, by focusing on the multidimensional character of the actors, a significant hand in creating changes in international politics.