Gender Perspectives on National and Nation-State Animal Symbolism

The aim of this article is to revisit the significance of national and nation-state animal symbolism within the context of modern constitutionalism and its democratic emphasis on equal rights, regardless of gender. I discuss the problematic conveyance of gender inclusiveness through the animal sign, and how both at a linguistic and at a visual level (through sexual monomorphism and dimorphism), gender politics may become inscribed within the anthropomorphized animal and its body. I then turn to examine recent examples in which women's inclusion within the animal symbol has been debated or once again dismissed through a reinstatement of patriarchal expectations. I close the article with a few questions regarding how (and/or whether) the type of gender equality desired and proclaimed by modern nation-states could potentially become encrypted within the animal body.