liberal feminism essay

• Table of Contents
• Random Entry
• Chronological
• Editorial Information
• About the SEP
• Editorial Board
• How to Cite the SEP
• Special Characters
• Advanced Tools
• Support the SEP
• PDFs for SEP Friends
• Make a Donation
• SEPIA for Libraries
• Entry Contents

Bibliography

Academic tools.

• Friends PDF Preview
• Author and Citation Info
• Back to Top

Liberal Feminism

Liberalism is a family of doctrines that emphasize the value of freedom and hold that the just state ensures freedom for individuals. Liberal feminists embrace this value and this role for the state and insist on freedom for women. A disagreement concerning how freedom should be understood divides liberalism into two different sorts; this disagreement also divides liberal feminism.

Some liberals understand freedom as freedom from coercive interference. The convention in the literature is to call such folks “classical liberals”. This is fitting since the view they embrace is historically prior. (Some call it “old liberalism” (Gaus, Courtland, & Schmidts 2018; Paul, Miller, & Paul 2007).) However, as readers will see, there are contemporary classical liberals, and among them contemporary classical liberal feminists.

Other liberals understand freedom as personal autonomy—living a life of one’s own choosing—and political autonomy—being co-author of the conditions under which one lives. While some historians call such folks “new liberals” (Rosenblatt 2018), the convention in the contemporary philosophical literature is to simply call them “liberals”. To avoid using the same term for both genus and species, this article calls the second sort of liberals “egalitarian liberals” and the second sort of liberal feminism “egalitarian-liberal feminism”.

Classical-liberal feminism and egalitarian-liberal feminism are, themselves, families of doctrines with significant internal differences, many of which this article seeks to describe. Nonetheless, the difference between classical and egalitarian-liberal feminist thinking about freedom has significant consequences for how each frames the problem feminism aims to address, how each specifies the content of a liberal feminist agenda, and what role is assigned to the state.

Egalitarian-liberal feminists hold that much can and should be done to support the personal and political autonomy of women and to achieve parity in the processes of democratic self-governance in liberal societies like the United States. They tend to see the state as a potential ally in the pursuit of these ends and endorse measures like anti-discrimination law, affirmative action, and welfare state programs, as well as measures to change the culture and secure parity in participation in democratic self-governance. These features put egalitarian-liberal feminism squarely on the left side of the political spectrum.

Classical-liberal feminists, by contrast, tend to hold that feminism’s political task is limited to opposing laws that treat women differently from men, a task which they hold has been largely accomplished in societies like the United States. They tend to endorse the outcomes of largely unfettered economic and associational arrangements and oppose, for example, anti-discrimination law, affirmative action, and welfare state programs. These features place classical-liberalism on the right side of the political spectrum. However, some classical-liberal feminists hold that the task of liberalizing the culture remains on the liberal feminist agenda, although they consider this a non-political task and reject uses of state power to this end. Such classical-liberal feminists are on the left culturally. Other classical-liberal feminists reject the project of liberalizing the culture and are on the right culturally.

This article presents an overview of work in both contemporary classical-liberal feminism and contemporary egalitarian-liberal feminism. The first section explores egalitarian-liberal feminist works by academic philosophers; it focuses on the value of personal and political autonomy, the role of the state in securing women’s autonomy, and how egalitarian-liberal feminist claims may be justified; and it concludes with discussion of criticisms of egalitarian-liberal feminism. The second section takes up classical-liberal feminist writing, much of which is oriented toward public policy and popular, rather than academic, audiences; it explores classical-liberal feminism’s core idea of women’s rights, the role this suggests for the state, and how classical-liberal feminist claims may be justified; and it concludes with discussion of criticisms of classical-liberal feminism.

1.1.1 Procedural Accounts of Personal Autonomy

1.1.2 fairness in personal relationships, 1.1.3 personal autonomy and human flourishing, 1.1.4 personal autonomy and the state, 1.2.1 distributive justice, 1.2.2 public deliberation and electoral politics, 1.3 justification, 1.4 criticism, 2.1 self-ownership and women’s rights, 2.2.1 equity feminism on the oppression of women, 2.2.2 feminism’s nonpolitical role, 2.2.3 socially conservative equity feminism, 2.3 cultural libertarian feminism, 2.4 anti-discrimination law and preferential treatment, 2.5 justification, 2.6 criticism, works cited, additional sources, other internet resources, related entries, 1. egalitarian-liberal feminism.

Egalitarian-liberal feminism conceives of freedom as personal autonomy (living a life of one’s own choosing) and political autonomy (being co-author of the conditions under which one lives). Egalitarian-liberal feminists hold that the exercise of personal autonomy depends on certain enabling conditions that are insufficiently present in women’s lives or that social and institutional arrangements often fail to respect women’s personal autonomy and other elements of women’s flourishing. They hold also that women’s needs and interests are insufficiently reflected in the basic conditions under which they live and that basic arrangements that perpetuate those conditions lack legitimacy because women are inadequately represented in the processes of democratic self-determination. Egalitarian-liberal feminists link autonomy deficits like these to the “gender system” (Okin 1989: 89), that is, inherited patriarchal traditions and institutions, and they hold that the women’s movement should work to identify and remedy them. As the protection and promotion of citizens’ autonomy is an appropriate role of the state on the egalitarian-liberal view, egalitarian-liberal feminists hold that the state can and should be the women’s movement’s ally in promoting women’s autonomy. There is disagreement among egalitarian-liberal feminists, however, about the role of personal autonomy in the good life, the appropriate role of the state, and how egalitarian-liberal feminism is to be justified.

Egalitarian-liberal feminists draw from the broad tradition of feminist theorizing for insight concerning the gender system. For example, some draw on radical feminist insights into the nature of violence against women (Nussbaum 1999a) and the nature of gender hierarchy (Watson 2019); some draw on psychoanalytic feminist theory (Meyers 2002, Cornell 2003); some draw on feminist work on caregiving (Bhandary 2019); and some draw on socialist feminist thinking about the exploitation of women’s work in the home (Gheaus 2008). Contemporary egalitarian-liberal feminism may be understood as a contribution to the larger scholarly philosophical conversation concerning egalitarian-liberalism. Since John Rawls’s work (1971, 1993, 2001) has played a very large role in that conversation over the past 50 years, it figures centrally in much egalitarian-liberal feminist philosophy.

1.1 Personal Autonomy

Egalitarian-liberal feminists hold that women should enjoy personal autonomy. That is, they hold that women should live lives of their own choosing. Some offer “procedural” accounts of personal autonomy (Mackenzie & Stoljar discuss these, 2000a: 13–19). These accounts suggest that to say women should enjoy personal autonomy means they are entitled to a broad range of autonomy-enabling conditions. On this view, the women’s movement should work to identify and promote these conditions. Identifying these enabling conditions requires careful attention to the particular ways in which autonomy deficits are produced in diverse women’s lives. Procedural accounts avoid judging directly the substance of women’s choices or the arrangements that ensue. The following list of enabling conditions is representative.

Being free of violence and the threat of violence : Violence and the threat of violence violate women’s dignity; they make women do what others want or reduce women’s sphere of activity to avoiding harm. In some cases violence fractures the self and takes from women their sense of self-respect (Brison 1997). The feminist literature on violence against women documents the particular role that violence and the threat of violence play in unfairly disempowering and limiting women (Cudd 2006: 85–118).

Having access to options : On the egalitarian-liberal feminist view, women are entitled to access to options (Alstott 2004: 52). Women’s access to options is frequently and unfairly restricted due to economic deprivation, in particular due to the “feminization of poverty” (Pearce 1978; see also Cudd 2006: 119–154). Other sources of unfairly reduced options for women are stereotyping and sex discrimination in education and employment (Smith 2004; Rhode 1997). Such stereotyping and discrimination affect some racial, ethnic and cultural groups in particularly pernicious ways. Egalitarian-liberal feminists also point to the way cultural homogeneity unfairly limits women’s options (Cudd 2006: 234), for example when culture assigns identities and social roles according to sex (Okin 1989: 170ff; Alstott 2004; Meyers 2004; Cornell 1998: x; Chambers 2008).

Being free of the limits set by patriarchal paternalistic and moralistic laws and policies : Patriarchal paternalistic laws and policies restrict women’s options on the grounds that such limits are in women’s interest. Think for example of laws that limit women’s employment options on the grounds that taking certain jobs is not in women’s interest (Smith 2004). Patriarchal moralistic laws and policies restrict women’s options on the grounds that certain options should not be available to women because morality forbids women’s choosing them. Think for example of laws that prohibit abortion, or laws that favor certain kinds of sexual expression or family forms (Cornell 1998; Brake 2004). Welfare state programs that distinguish between the supposedly “deserving” and “undeserving” poor are moralistic responses to poverty among women (Folbre 1984). Together, patriarchal paternalistic and moralistic laws and policies steer women into socially preferred ways of life. These are unfair restrictions on women’s choices, on the egalitarian-liberal feminist view, because women’s choices should be guided by their own sense of their self-interest and by their own values. (But see Chambers [2008: 203–231] for egalitarian-liberal feminist uses of paternalism.)

Some emphasize the importance of internal, psychological enabling conditions as well, for example the ability to assess one’s own preferences and imagine life otherwise (Meyers 2002: 168; Cudd 2006: 234–235; Mackenzie 2000). Without the ability to assess the preferences on the basis of which one makes choices and to imagine life otherwise, one can’t meaningfully be said to have options other than affirming the status quo (see also Chambers 2008: 263–4). These internal enabling conditions are related to the external ones. Violence and the threat of violence, stereotyping and discrimination, material deprivation, and cultural homogeneity all can have the effect of closing down reflection and imagination.

On this view, the women’s movement should work to identify and promote autonomy-enabling conditions. Identifying these conditions requires careful attention to the particular ways in which autonomy deficits are produced in particular women’s lives. On the egalitarian-liberal feminist view, the state has an important role to play in promoting these conditions (see §1.1.4 , §1.2.1 , and §1.2.2 ). Some egalitarian-liberal feminists emphasize that there is much that cannot be done by the state (Cudd 2006: 223). For example, while the state can refrain from blocking such endeavors, women themselves must develop new “alternative emancipatory imagery” (Meyers 2002: 168), and fashion new ways of being a woman and new kinds of relationships through experiments in living (Cudd 2006: 234; Cornell 1998).

Some critics argue that freedom is of limited value because, even when enabling conditions like these are in place, women may choose limiting and disadvantaging social arrangements. Some point to the phenomenon of deformed preferences: when attractive options are limited or arrangements unfair, people may develop preferences for those limits or for less than their fair share (Nussbaum 1999a: 33, 50; Cudd 2006: 152). This phenomenon makes changing preferences through increased freedom problematic and leads some feminists to reject theories that prioritize free choice (Yuracko 2003). Advocates of procedural accounts of autonomy concede that the enabling conditions do not rule out that a woman could choose, for example, to undergo clitorectomy (Meyers 2004: 213) or become a pornographic model (Cudd 2004: 58). As Ann Cudd explains, possibilities like these must be accepted because liberal feminism values freedom and thus cannot advocate direct “preference education” (Cudd 2004: 57). Liberal feminism must offer only a

gradualist approach. Individuals and groups will make various experiments in living that we cannot now precisely imagine. They … will sometimes go on a mistaken path. (2004: 57)

But they must be freed up to find their own way. As Diana Meyers explains, the moral imagination of feminist theorists and activists is limited (as is everyone’s); they cannot know with certainty what substantive choices are compatible with personal autonomy (Meyers 2004: 213). Moreover, one should expect autonomous lives to take diverse forms in diverse cultural contexts. On this view, “a morally defensible and politically viable conception of autonomy for an era of global feminism” must be agnostic about the content of women’s choices as long as they do not close off autonomy (2004: 205).

Some egalitarian-liberal feminists hold that the social arrangements of personal life should not only be freely chosen but should be characterized by fairness or justice. Jean Hampton draws on the contractualist tradition in moral and political philosophy to describe one way in which heterosexual intimate relationships often fail to be fair or just (Hampton 1993). (For extended discussion of Hampton’s feminism, see Abbey 2011: 120–151. For more on feminist uses of contractualism, see §1.2.1 .)

On Hampton’s view, a personal relationship is fair only if both parties to it could

reasonably accept the distribution of costs and benefits (that is, the costs and benefits that are not themselves side effects of any affective or duty-based tie between us) if it were the subject of an informed, unforced agreement in which we think of ourselves as motivated solely by self-interest. (Hampton 1993: 240)

Of course, many women choose to enter or remain in relationships in part because of affective benefits; for example women often get satisfaction from satisfying others or fulfilling a duty. Why set aside these affective benefits, as Hampton recommends, when evaluating the fairness of a relationship? Hampton does not set them aside out of a conviction that a woman’s affective nature is not part of her essential self. Nor does she set them aside out of a conviction that this aspect of a woman’s nature is not valuable. (For criticism of Hampton, see Sample 2002.) Her test sets them aside because affective benefits of relationships are not received from the other; they are benefits that flow from one’s own nature (Radzik 2005: 51). Thus while they may, and probably should, figure in a woman’s overall decision about whether to enter or remain in a particular relationship, Hampton believes they should not figure in the evaluation of a relationship’s fairness. As Linda Radzik explains in her defense of Hampton, a relationship is fair or just if the benefits that flow from each to the other are on par, that is, if each gives as much as she gets (2005: 51). When one party gets from the other significantly more than he gives, he is denying the other her legitimate entitlement to reciprocation.

This test formalizes an important insight of the women’s movement: personal relationships, in particular traditional heterosexual relationships, are often unfair to women, indeed often exploit women’s tendency to care about others. Injustice of this sort is not uncommon. Thus Hampton’s test invites criticism of a wide swath of human social life (Sample 2002: 271). But Hampton does not call on women to cease valuing others’ satisfaction or the fulfillment of duty (Hampton 1993: 227). Instead, she calls on the women’s movement to cultivate in women and men a sensitivity and an aversion to this kind of injustice and to develop remedies. (For an early feminist articulation of this idea, see Alex Kates Shulman’s “A Marriage Agreement” (1970) in Shulman 2012.)

Procedural accounts of personal autonomy (see §1.1.1 ) do not require that relationships be just in the way Hampton recommends. According to procedural accounts, it is possible that a choice to enter or remain in a personal relationship in which one gives more than she gets from the other can be autonomous. Therefore, the focus should be on ensuring that women are not pressured into or unable to exit them.

To be sure, Hampton’s account of justice in personal relationships can be a resource to women and men reflecting on their own preferences. It invites reflection on how one’s own preferences affect the distribution of benefits and burdens within a relationship. Also, moral criticism of relationships that exploit women’s preferences reminds us that relationships can be otherwise (because ought implies can). This reminder enhances personal autonomy by broadening the imagination. Thus procedural accounts of personal autonomy can include Hampton’s test, not as definitive of the acceptability of social arrangements, but as a contribution to the kind of reflection about the good life on which the personal autonomy of individuals depends.

Martha Nussbaum proposes an account of the good life that has

at its heart, a profoundly liberal idea … the idea of the citizen as a free and dignified human being, a maker of choices. (Nussbaum 1999a: 46)

Echoing procedural accounts of personal autonomy ( §1.1.1 ), Nussbaum explains:

if one cares about people’s powers to choose a conception of the good, then one must care about the rest of the form of life that supports those powers. (1999a: 45)

But for Nussbaum personal autonomy is merely one of the “major human functionings” (1999a: 43) which define “a good human life” (1999a: 42). These functionings include, among other things, bodily health and integrity, affiliation, and political participation (1999a: 41–42). To be sure, personal autonomy, or in Nussbaum’s words “practical reason”, is a good that “suffuses all the other functions” (1999a: 44). But personal autonomy is not prioritized. A good life is one in which one is able to enjoy all of the major human functionings, that is, to flourish.

Nussbaum’s approach takes on the problem of deformed preferences (see §1.1.1 ) directly. To be sure, some may choose lives that do not include the actual exercise of some of the functionings—an ascetic may choose to compromise bodily health, for example. But, Nussbaum explains, one must be able to function in each of these ways. Social arrangements are to be criticized if they render their participants unable to function in the valued ways regardless of their preferences (1999a: 50). The women’s movement should sensitize women and men to the injustice of denying women the ability to function in these valued ways, identify arrangements that are unjust to women by paying careful attention to diverse women’s lives, and recommend remedies. Nussbaum holds that her account is compatible with global moral pluralism and thus may function as a foundation for a global feminism (Nussbaum 1999a: 40).

Nussbaum’s “capabilities approach” may be compared with procedural accounts of autonomy (see §1.1.1 ). Procedural accounts suggest that the women’s movement should work to protect and promote women’s ability to live lives of their own choosing by identifying particular autonomy deficits in women’s lives and promoting the conditions that enable autonomy. These approaches avoid directly judging the substance of the choices women make or the arrangements that result. They leave it to individuals and groups to fashion new, diverse, non-oppressive ways of life. The list of enabling conditions for personal autonomy is not unlike Nussbaum’s list of human functionings. But advocates of procedural approaches may worry that the goal of the women’s movement, according to the capabilities approach, is to bring to women a particular way of life , namely one in which women can function in these ways, instead of freeing women up to find their own way (Cudd 2004: 50). As Drucilla Cornell, an advocate of a procedural approach explains, “social equality [should be] redefined so as to serve freedom” (Cornell 1998: xii) because “there is nothing more fundamental for a human being” (1998: 17; see also Cudd 2004: 51–52). Procedural accounts of autonomy can include Nussbaum’s approach, not as definitive of the kinds of lives women should live, but as an important contribution to the kind of reflection on the good life on which personal autonomy depends. (There is a large literature on Nussbaum’s liberal feminism; see for example Abbey 2011: 152–205; and Robeyns 2007.)

There is substantial agreement among egalitarian-liberal feminists that the gender system—that is, inherited patriarchal traditions and institutions—plays an important role in perpetuating morally objectionable deficits in personal autonomy in women’s lives and that the state can and should take action to remedy them. There is also substantial agreement concerning what the state should do. There is disagreement about some hard cases, however, that pit liberal values against one another.

Egalitarian-liberal feminists agree that the state must effectively protect women from violence, regardless of where that violence takes place (Cudd 2006: 85–118, 209; Rhode 1997: 1193–95). They also hold that sexist paternalistic and moralistic laws and policies are an unjust use of state power. Such laws place control over women’s lives in the hands of others and steer women into preferred ways of life. Laws restricting access to birth control and abortion are of particular import in this context because they take an extremely momentous choice away from women and, together with the cultural assignment of caregiving duties to women, steer women into the social role of mother. Women must have a legal right, and meaningful access, to birth control and abortion services. In addition, egalitarian-liberal feminists hold that the state must not grant preferential treatment to particular family forms (Brake 2004: 293; Lloyd 1995: 1328; McClain 2006: 60) which means giving gay and lesbian partnerships the same recognition currently available to heterosexuals (Brake 2012; Hartley & Watson 2010; McClain 2006: 6). Others argue for removing marriage’s privileged legal status altogether or treating it legally more like other associations (Case 2006; Chambers 2017; Metz 2010).

Egalitarian-liberal feminists also support laws against sex discrimination in education, employment, and public accommodations. According to egalitarian-liberal feminists, the refusal to hire or promote a woman or do business with her because she is a woman is a morally objectionable limit on her options. So are workplaces that are hostile to women. Liberal feminists argue that laws prohibiting sexual harassment and requiring affirmative action and comparable worth policies are often called for to remedy past and ongoing sex discrimination (Williams 2000: 253).

Egalitarian-liberal feminists agree also that a significant source of women’s reduced options is the structure of the workplace which assumes that workers are free of caregiving responsibilities (Okin 1989: 176; Williams 2000). Women, and increasingly men, do not fit this model. The effect of not fitting the model is dramatic. As Anne L. Alstott explains: “Caretakers at every income level have fewer options than noncaretakers at the same income level” (Alstott 2004: 97). She continues: “I am worried that child-rearing too dramatically contracts the options among which mothers can choose” (2004: 23). Alstott and others argue that the state must ensure that the socially essential work of providing care to dependents does not unreasonably interfere with the personal autonomy of caregivers. Policies proposed to ensure sufficient personal autonomy for caregivers include parental leave, state subsidized, high quality day care, and flexible work schedules (Cudd 2006: 228; Eichner 2021; Okin 1989: 175). Joan Williams has argued for legal recognition of the right to not be discriminated against in employment on the basis of one’s caregiving responsibilities. Williams recommends, if necessary, legal action alleging failure to recognize this right as an incentive to employers to accommodate caregivers (Williams 2000: 274). (See §1.2.1 for discussion of caregiving and distributive justice.)

The egalitarian-liberal feminist literature concerned with women’s personal autonomy emphasizes the role the state should play in protecting women from violence and discrimination; the importance of ridding the law and policy of patriarchal paternalism and moralism; and the role the state can play in restructuring the workplace, including ensuring access to childcare. Note, however, that egalitarian-liberal feminists are egalitarian-liberals and, as such, hold that among the proper uses of state power is to ensure that all individuals can enjoy a decent standard of living, including access to adequate income, education and healthcare (Eichner 2010; on a guaranteed minimum income, see Cudd 2006: 154; see also Stark 2021). Egalitarian-liberals also tend to support the right to collective bargaining to secure decent wages and working conditions (Cornell 1998: 57; Cudd 2006: 211). (For more on distributive justice, see §1.2.1 .)

There is disagreement among egalitarian-liberal feminists about some hard cases that pit liberal values against one another. Several hard cases concern autonomy and the body. Consider pornography. Egalitarian-liberal feminists tend to reject legal limits on pornography (Cornell 1998: 57–58). But some hold that arguments for restricting violent pornography are not unreasonable (Laden 2003: 148–149; Watson 2019 and 2007: 469; for what such a not unreasonable argument might look like, see Eaton 2007) and that the best arguments for freedom of expression fail to show that it should not be limited (Brison 1998). Indeed some argue that violent pornography can undermine the autonomy of viewers (Scoccia 1996) and the status of women as equal citizens (Spaulding 1988–89; see also Watson 2015). Prostitution is a similar case. Egalitarian-liberal feminists tend to reject laws prohibiting prostitution and advocate, instead, the legal regulation of the sex trade prioritizing women’s safety and women’s control over their own working conditions (Cornell 1998: 57; Nussbaum 1999a, 295). But some egalitarian-liberal feminists suggest that liberal values can support an argument for criminalizing the purchase of sex (Watson & Hartley 2018: 163–188). Surrogate motherhood is another case around which there is egalitarian-liberal feminist disagreement with some arguing that women have a right to sell procreative bodily services (see for example Church 1997) and others raising serious concerns (see for example Anderson 1990 and Satz 2010).

Some hard cases concern the role of the state in family life. Family life has dramatic effects on the personal autonomy of its adult members. Assuming the role of caregiver, for example, can dramatically contract options. On an egalitarian-liberal feminist view, the state has an interest in ensuring that family life does not undermine women’s personal autonomy. Some hold that the state should promote justice in the family—for example, the sharing of paid and unpaid labor by its adult members (Okin 1989: 171). Others hold that the state may not be guided by a substantive ideal of family life (Alstott 2004: 114; see also Nussbaum 2000a: 279–280; and Wolf-Devine 2004). In response to the disadvantage and vulnerability to which full-time care-givers in the home are commonly exposed, some egalitarian-liberal feminists suggest guaranteeing a non-wage-earning spouse one half of her wage-earning spouse’s paycheck (Okin 1989: 181). Others propose financial support for caregivers, for example state-funded care-giver allowances (Alstott 2004: 75ff; Baehr 2021; compare Eichner 2010: 77–80). Some warn against care-giver allowances however because, if women took disproportionate advantage of them—which is not unlikely—the gendered division of labor might be reinforced (Schouten 2021; see also Gheaus 2008 and Gheaus & Robeyns 2011). (See §1.2.1 for more discussion of this issue.)

Girls’ participation in families is, especially in the early years, nonvoluntary. The family affects the development of girls’ sense of self-worth as well as their preferences and the capacities, like the capacity for reflection and imagination, on which their ability to live lives of their own choosing depends (Okin 1989: 97). Egalitarian-liberal feminists hold that the state must protect and promote the development of autonomy capacities in children, especially girls. For example they hold that child-marriage should be legally prohibited (McClain 2006: 79); girls should have access to abortion without parental consent or notification (Rhode 1994: 1204); girls must receive a formal education free of sexist stereotyping, including instruction in the legal equality of women (McClain 2006: 81; Lloyd 1995: 1332), including autonomy-promoting sex education (McClain 2006: 57–58), and ensuring that girls are prepared to be economically independent (Lloyd 1995: 1332). Beyond this, some hold that girls’ interest in developing autonomy capacities requires that families be internally just, that is, that there be an equal division of paid and unpaid labor between adults so that families are not characterized by “dependence and domination” (Okin 1989: 99–100; see also Follesdal 2005). Others are not convinced that there is a necessary connection between this kind of justice in families and the development of girls’ autonomy capacities (Lloyd 1995: 1335–1343) and hold that the state may not be guided by a substantive ideal of family life (Alstott 2004: 114; see also Nussbaum 2000a: 279–280; and Wolf-Devine 2004). (See §1.2.1 for more discussion of this issue).

1.2 Political Autonomy

Some egalitarian-liberal feminists emphasize the importance of political autonomy, that is, being co-author of the conditions under which one lives. Some use contractualist political theory to argue that the state should ensure that the basic structure of society satisfies principles of justice that women, as well as men, could endorse (see §1.2.1 ). And some argue that the democratic legitimacy of the basic conditions under which citizens live depends on the inclusion of women in the processes of public deliberation and electoral politics (see §1.2.2 ).

Some egalitarian-liberal feminists, inspired by John Rawls’ contractualist liberal theory of justice (Rawls 1971; 1993; 2001), argue that the state should ensure that the basic structure of society distributes the benefits and burdens of social cooperation fairly, that is, in a manner that women as well as men could endorse (for example Alstott 2004; Baehr 2021; Bhandary 2019; Bojer 2002; Lloyd 1998; McClain 2006; Okin 1989; Thompson 1993; for an overview of feminist responses to Rawls, see Abbey 2013a). They argue that the basic structure currently distributes benefits and burdens unfairly, in part due to the gender system, that is, inherited patriarchal traditions and institutions.

As Rawls puts it, the basic structure of society is

the way in which the major social institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation. By major institutions I understand the political constitution and the principal economic and social arrangements.… Competitive markets and the monogamous family [are] examples of major social institutions.… The basic structure is the primary subject of justice because its effects are so profound and present from the start. The intuitive notion here is that this structure contains various social positions and that men born into different positions have different expectations of life determined, in part, by the political system as well as by economic and social circumstances. In this way the institutions of society favor certain starting places over others. (Rawls 1971: 6–7)

Rawls argues that the fairness of the basic structure of society may be assessed by asking what principles representatives of citizens (parties) would choose to determine the distribution of primary goods in society if they were behind a “veil of ignorance” (Rawls 1971: 12). The veil of ignorance blocks from the parties knowledge of their place in society: for example their socio-economic status, religion, and sex. (Rawls does not include sex in A Theory of Justice (Rawls 1971), but adds it in “Fairness to Goodness” (Rawls 1975: 537).) Susan Okin proposes we

take seriously both the notion that those behind the veil of ignorance do not know what sex they are and the requirement that the family and the gender system, as basic social institutions, are to be subject to scrutiny. (Okin 1989: 101)

Rawls argues that parties behind a veil of ignorance would choose two principles: a liberty principle providing for the “most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all” and a principle of equality requiring equality of opportunity and permitting inequalities in wealth and income only if they are to the benefit of the least well off (Rawls 1971: 302–303).

Okin argues that the gender system violates both the liberty and equality of opportunity principles because by effectively assigning roles to citizens according to sex it circumvents citizens’ “free choice of occupation” (Okin 1989: 103). On Okin’s view, this means that in a just society “gender could no longer form a legitimate part of the social structure, whether inside or outside the family” (1989: 103). None of the institutions of the basic structure, including the family, could assign roles according to sex. It is common to argue that the state, educational institutions and workplaces should not assign roles according to sex. But Okin argues that this applies to the family as well. Gender blindness must play the same role in the family that it plays in these institutions. In Okin’s words, there must be “congruence” between the principles that govern these institutions and those that govern family life (1989: 21). That is, families must be just.

Okin offers a second argument to support the claim that families must be just. Rawls explains that a society satisfying his two principles of justice can be stable because within it citizens develop a sense of justice (Rawls 1971: 453ff). For our purposes consider that citizens must develop the conviction that citizens generally are due the rights of equal citizenship. Okin argues that when children are raised within unjust families, families that lack “equality and reciprocity” and are sites of “dependence and domination”, they are not likely to develop the requisite sense of justice (Okin 1989: 99–100; see also McClain 2006: 73–84). Instead, girls and boys may grow to believe that women are not entitled to equal citizenship. Therefore, if the society governed by Rawls’ two principles of justice is to be stable, families must be just.

So, Okin’s view is that the state may and should promote a particular ideal of family life. She tells us that the state should

encourage and facilitate the equal sharing by men and women of paid and unpaid work, or productive and reproductive labor. (1989: 171)

Okin discusses several measures that might contribute to ensuring that gender no longer forms “part of the social structure, whether inside or outside the family” (Okin 1989: 103), including state subsidized daycare, a legal entitlement to parental leave and flextime (1989: 176, 186), as well as autonomy-promoting public education for children (1989: 177). She also recommends protecting from vulnerability those women who do choose traditional roles by making them legally entitled to half of their spouse’s paycheck (1989: 181). While Okin argues that what is desired is a “future in which all will be likely to choose this mode of life” (1989: 171, my emphasis), the fact that many people currently don’t choose egalitarian family life is not, for Okin, a reason for the state to not take measures to promote it (1989: 172). At the same time, Okin does not endorse simply any and all state involvement; for example, while she thinks justice requires the 50-50 sharing of domestic work, she doesn’t recommend that the state enforce it (1989: 171) (on this issue, see Neufeld & van Schoelandt 2014: and Baehr 2017: 18–19). (There is a substantial literature on Okin’s use of Rawls’ theory of justice. See for example Abbey 2011; Reich & Satz 2009.)

Since Okin published these arguments (1989), a substantial literature has developed by other egalitarian-liberal feminists—more or less in the Rawlsian tradition—which argues that women’s shouldering a disproportionate share of the costs of social reproduction is unjust. (See for example: Alstott 2004; Baehr 2021; Barclay 2013; Bhandary 2019; Brighouse & Wright 2008; Eichner 2010; Engster 2001, 2010; Gheaus 2009, 2012; Gheaus & Robeyns 2011; Gornick & Meyers 2008; Lloyd 1995, 1998; Nussbaum 2006: 96–223; Robeyns 2007; Reiheld 2015; Schouten 2017, 2019; Stark 2021; Watson & Hartley 2018; and Wright 2008.) Okin’s claim that the state should promote a particular, substantive ideal of family life is a central matter for discussion in this literature. So, for example, while Lloyd and Alstott endorse many of Okin’s policy proposals (Lloyd 1995: 1332; 1998: 218; Alstott 2004), they reject her claim that the state should promote a particular substantive ideal of family life (Lloyd 1995: 1340–1341; Lloyd 1998: 218; McClain 2006: 78). Alstott writes:

The egalitarian family is, even in principle, a troubling ideal. Strictly equal sharing seems unduly constraining, not merely because families today deviate from the ideal, but because free people might want to organize their lives differently. (Alstott 2004: 113)

Other egalitarian-liberal feminists have voiced similar concerns. Ann Cudd worries that state action intended to promote gender fairness and foster women’s autonomy could impose a homogenizing conception of the good life and stifle the very reinventions of self and experiments in living that women’s liberation requires (Cudd 2006: 209, 223; see also Wolf-Devine 2004). Elizabeth Anderson writes:

The plurality of conceptions of the good that are likely to survive in a world in which the state has done all it can be reasonably and justly expected to do will include a host of unreasonable conceptions of the good, some of which may well be patriarchal. In the face of such injustices, liberals counsel feminists to redirect their claims from the state to those promulgating such unreasonable conceptions of the good, and to redirect their activism from a focus on state action to other domains, including civil society, churches, and the family. I think this counsel is wise, which is why I am a liberal feminist. (Anderson 2009: 131; see also 141–144)

Recent work by egalitarian-liberal feminists Lori Watson and Christie Hartley (2018) and Gina Schouten (2019), however, may be understood as responding to these concerns as it aims to establish that some state action to undermine the gendered division of labor and promote egalitarian family life is both reasonable and just.

The gendered division of labor allocates to women the work of providing care for individuals who cannot care for themselves or who require help doing so. A full accounting of justice in caregiving focuses not only on the fairness of the distribution of caregiving work but also on the needs of individuals who receive care. Some egalitarian-liberal feminist work includes this dual focus. Asha Bhandary argues that the whole “system of practices” through which care is given and received must be subject to liberal evaluation with an eye to both those who provide and those who receive care (Bhandary 2019: 71, quoting Rawls 1958: 169). Elizabeth Brake argues that doing so requires recognizing “the social bases of caring relationships [as] primary goods” (2012: 175). And Martha Nussbaum argues that liberal political theory must begin with a “political conception of the person [that] holds that human beings are vulnerable temporal creatures, both capable and needy” (Nussbaum 2006: 221). (See also the essays in Bhandary and Baehr (2021) on caregiving and liberalism).

Rawlsian political philosophy provides the framework for the bulk of egalitarian-liberal feminist writing on distributive justice. The focus of much of that writing has been to explore Rawlsian resources for criticizing the role gender has and continues to play in the basic structure of societies like the United States and to lay out what a gender just society might look like. However, as Nancy Holmstrom writes (in a rather different context),

a feminism concerned only with ending the oppression women based on gender would be a very limited version, far from the emancipatory vision at its core. (Holmstrom 2011: 137)

Thus we should note that although egalitarian-liberal feminists are egalitarian-liberals, and as such hold that the state should ensure that all individuals enjoy a decent standard of living, poverty has not been a major focus of much egalitarian-liberal feminist work (but see Bhandary 2019; Cudd 2006; Eichner 2010; Stark 2021; Watson & Hartley 2018: 167–168, 228–9). Nor has much egalitarian-liberal feminist work attended directly to the role race has played and continues to play in the basic structure of societies like the United States (but see Bhandary 2019; and Mills 2017).

Some egalitarian-liberal feminists who emphasize the importance of political autonomy—that women be co-authors of the conditions under which they live—focus in particular on participation in the processes of democratic self-determination. These processes include both political deliberation in the many arenas of public political discourse and electoral politics. Some egalitarian-liberal feminists hold that the conditions under which women live lack legitimacy because women are inadequately represented in these processes. They hold that this political autonomy deficit is, in large part, due to the “gender system” (Okin 1989: 89), that is, inherited patriarchal traditions and institutions, and that the women’s movement should work to identify and remedy it.

Attempts to increase women’s participation in public deliberation and electoral politics confront a vicious circle of women’s exclusion. The gender system leads to women’s being underrepresented in influential forums of public deliberation, including in elected law-making bodies. For example women have less free time to engage in public deliberation because of the double-burden of paid and unpaid labor; sex stereotyping leads many to think that women (especially women from particular ethnic and cultural groups) are less capable of leadership than men; the behavior called for in agonistic public deliberation and electoral politics is understood to be masculine; issues of particular interest to women are seen as personal and not political issues; and women lack power in the many institutions (like churches, universities, and think tanks) that influence political debate. But when women are underrepresented in these forums and law-making bodies, it is unlikely that the justice of the gender system will become the subject of public conversation or its dismantling a target of legislative action.

Some egalitarian-liberal feminists explore ways to escape this vicious circle. Because women are excluded from important forums of public deliberation and electoral politics in complex ways, remedies must address a variety of problems. Justice in the distribution of benefits and burdens in society would go some way towards enabling women to access forums of public debate on equal terms with men (Okin 1989: 104). But cultural change is necessary as well if stereotypes about women’s abilities are not to interfere with their participation, if women’s needs and interests are to be understood as legitimate claims on democratic power, and if men’s dominance in institutions of influence is to be overcome. Seyla Benhabib argues that the women’s movement, along with other new social movements like the gay and lesbian liberation movement, has begun this work (Benhabib 1992). While much of this change is cultural, the state has a role to play. Linda McClain argues that all children must receive civic education—to equip them for democratic citizenship—including instruction in women’s equality (McClain 2006: 81). She also argues that the state may use its persuasive power to put traditionally excluded issues, like violence against women or the dilemma of balancing work and family, on the agenda for public deliberation (2006: 78).

Others take on the vicious circle of women’s exclusion by recommending legal mechanisms for the inclusion of women in electoral politics (see Rhode 1994: 1205–1208; Phillips 1991). Some suggest that legal mechanisms for including those who have been systematically excluded may be justified as remedies for the unjust disproportionate political power enjoyed by others (Phillips 2004: 6–10). Suggested mechanisms include targets or quotas for women and other underrepresented groups on party slates, or proportional representation in elected bodies. Karen Green, for example, argues for “guaranteed equal representation of both sexes in parliament” (Green 2006). There is diversity of opinion, however, among egalitarian-liberal feminists about the justice and efficacy of such mechanisms (Rhode 1994: 1205; and Mansbridge 1997).

John Rawls distinguishes between what he calls comprehensive and political liberal doctrines (Rawls 1993). This distinction has been of interest to egalitarian-liberal feminist philosophers. (For explicit discussion of the distinction in liberal feminism, see for example Abbey 2007; 2011: 72–82, 226–247; Baehr 2008; 2013; Chambers 2008: 159–201; Enslin 2003; Lloyd 1998; Neufeld 2009; Neufeld & Schoelandt 2014; Nussbaum 1999b: 108; 2000b: 76 fn38; Okin 1994; 1999: 129–130; Watson & Hartley 2018.)

Comprehensive egalitarian-liberal feminisms are grounded in particular moral doctrines. As we have seen, egalitarian-liberal feminists typically claim that some social and institutional arrangements are unjust and that such arrangements should be remedied; some claim that state power is an appropriate tool for such remediation. For example, and as we have seen, egalitarian-liberal feminists argue that families should foster women’s and girls’ personal autonomy and that domestic associations should distribute benefits and burdens fairly; and, as we have seen, some argue that state power may and should be used to these ends. Comprehensive egalitarian-liberal feminisms ground such claims in particular moral doctrines.

Among comprehensive liberal feminists we may count Jean Hampton, Carol Hay, Drucilla Cornell, Ann Cudd, Susan Okin, and Clare Chambers. Kantian moral theory serves as a foundation for Hampton’s feminist contractualist account of justice in personal relationships (Hampton 1993: 241; see Abbey 2011: 120–151) (see §1.1.2 ) and for Hay’s liberal feminist theory of oppression (Hay 2013), as well as for Cornell’s psychoanalytically informed liberal feminism that focuses on the right to intimate and sexual self-determination (Cornell 1998: 17–18; 2003; see also Thurschwell 1999: 771–772). Cudd explains that her liberal feminist account of oppression as harm is grounded in a “background moral theory”, namely

a liberal contractarian view of the sort developed by John Rawls in A Theory of Justice , or the more libertarian version of David Gauthier in Morals by Agreement . (Cudd 2006: 231)

Okin’s liberal feminism draws on Rawls’ A Theory of Justice , which Rawls himself claims is a comprehensive liberalism (Okin 1999: 129; Rawls 1993: xvii). (But note that Okin claims hers is “in between” comprehensive and political liberalism (Okin 1999: 129–130).) Chambers’ liberal feminism—which explores the relationship between social construction and choice—may also be counted among comprehensive liberal feminisms as it is grounded in personal autonomy as a moral value (Chambers 2008).

Political liberal feminisms are accounts of how state power may and should be used to feminist ends that are grounded in public political values. Public political values are not the particular values of any one moral doctrine; they are values that are shared by the many reasonable comprehensive moral doctrines citizens hold (Rawls 1993: 227–230). Advocates of political liberal feminism hold that state power is used justly when supported by values that are endorsable by all reasonable citizens.

Among political liberal feminists we may count S.A. Lloyd, Linda McClain, Martha Nussbaum, Gina Schouten, Christie Hartley, Lori Watson, and Amy Baehr. Lloyd constructs an argument based on public political values to the conclusion that “women’s disproportionate burden in social reproduction [must] be eliminated” (Lloyd 1998: 214). McClain argues that sex equality is a public and constitutional value (2006: 60; see also 22–23, 60–62, and 76) which requires state opposition to relations of subordination and domination in the family (2006: 62); state support for autonomy in intimate matters (2006: 22); and support for the development of autonomy capacities in children, especially girls (2006: 109). Nussbaum (see §1.1.3 ) also presents her “capabilities approach” as a political, and not a comprehensive, liberalism. The capabilities list, Nussbaum argues, can be shared by citizens holding a wide variety of comprehensive conceptions of the good life, and thus should be able to function as a foundation for a political liberalism (Nussbaum 2000b: 76 fn38). Schouten argues that the political liberal value of reciprocity undergirds state measures to alleviate the gendered division of labor (Schouten 2019). And Watson and Hartley argue that public deliberation based on shared values is incompatible with “pervasive social hierarchies” (Hartley & Watson 2010: 8; see also Watson & Hartley 2018). As Watson puts it,

a central task of public reason arguments, in the context of social hierarchy and inequality, is to expose the ways in which background conditions (inequalities) undermine the necessary conditions for reasonable deliberations among citizens to occur. (Watson 2007: 470)

Political liberal feminists suggest some advantages of political liberal over comprehensive liberal feminism. According to S.A. Lloyd,

it’s true that confining the argument to talk of socially recognized values requires operating with one hand tied behind one’s back, so to speak. Conclusions that would be quite easy to reach from stronger feminist principles, or other comprehensive principles, are much harder to reach using the sparse … toolbox [of public reason]. (Lloyd 1998: 210)

But if we can reach feminist conclusions on these sparse grounds, they will be much more difficult to reject. Amy Baehr suggests that arguments to feminist ends from public political values can move the political community toward a more reasonable understanding of those values (Baehr 2013; see also Rawls 1993: 227). Comprehensive liberal feminists, in turn, worry that the public political values on which feminist political liberalism must rely render the latter insufficiently critical of precisely those hierarchies and forms of disadvantage egalitarian liberal feminism aims to criticize and undermine (Abbey 2007; Baehr 1996; Chambers 2008: 12, 159–201; Enslin 2003; Hay 2013: 34–39; Okin 1994; see also Munoz-Darde 1998: 347).

Egalitarian-liberal feminism has been subject to a variety of criticisms. Addressing some of these criticisms is a focus of some egalitarian-liberal feminist work.

Some reject egalitarian-liberal feminism because, they argue, feminist theory must rely on a much more robust feminist ideal of the good life than egalitarian-liberal feminism is able to provide (Yuracko 2003; Jaggar 1983). Some argue that liberalism’s focus on the individual renders it unable to adequately conceptualize injustice to groups (I. Young 1990: 18). Some argue that liberalism’s focus on distribution neglects relations of power (I. Young 1990: 37) and the eroticization of domination and subordination (MacKinnon 1987; 1989) which are the true linchpins of the gender system. Lori Watson and Christie Hartley’s recent feminist political liberal work may be profitably read as a response to worries like these as it aims to show how feminist political liberalism can conceptualize injustice to groups as a matter of relations of domination and subordination (Watson & Hartley 2018).

Critics have focused on the role played by ideals in liberal political philosophy, especially in Rawlsian liberalism. For example, Lisa Schwartzman argues that Rawls’ ideal of the fully just society obscures race and sex as “social markers of inequality” (Schwartzman 2006: 59). Charles Mills argues that a focus on dismantling an “existing unjust basic structure” requires a shift from

ideal theory [which] asks what justice demands in a perfectly just society…[to] non-ideal theory [which] asks what justice demands in a society with a history of injustice. (Mills 2017: 34; see also Pateman & Mills 2007; but compare Mills 2017: 201–215)

Egalitarian liberal feminist Asha Bhandary addresses these concerns by developing what she calls a “two-level contract theory” which is attentive to non-ideal contexts (Bhandary 2019).

Some are concerned that egalitarian-liberal feminist embrace of the ideal of the egalitarian family effectively elevates one particular comprehensive conception of the good life over the many others found in multicultural societies and across the globe (Shachar 2009; for discussion see Okin 1999 and Khader 2011). As we have seen ( §1.2.1 ) some egalitarian-liberal feminists eschew the ideal of the egalitarian family and thus avoid this criticism. Some argue that an egalitarian-liberal feminism that holds that women’s independence and self-sufficiency are central feminist ideals fails to recognize many relational goods on which many women depend for their well-being, and thus a women’s movement guided by such an ideal may harm many of the very women it aims to benefit (Khader 2018). Care ethicists also raise a concern about an egalitarian-liberal feminism for which independence and self-sufficiency are central ideals. They argue that centering such ideals obscures the fact that human beings come into the world dependent upon others and that many are dependent on others throughout their lives; this, in turn, obscures the value of being cared for and the role that caregiving plays in a good society (Held 1987, 2006b; Kittay 1999). Conceptualizing personal autonomy as relational, and thus downplaying independence and self-sufficiency, has been a focus of some recent egalitarian liberal feminist work (see the end of §1.1.1 ; see also the essays in Bhandary and Baehr (2021).)

Egalitarian-liberal feminism has been subject to socialist feminist critique. Nancy Fraser, for example, has issued a “provocation” by “contending that feminism has entered a dangerous liaison with neoliberalism”, that is, with political forces that promote largely unfettered capitalism (Fraser 2013: 14, see also 209–226). Arruzza, Bhattacharya and Fraser argue that a non-elite feminism, a “feminism for the 99%”, must eschew such a liaison (Arruzza, Bhattacharya, & Fraser 2019; see also Holmstrom 2011). Egalitarian-liberal feminists have not focused a great deal of attention on capitalism. But as some egalitarian-liberals embrace “liberal socialism”, it is not clear that egalitarian-liberal feminism couldn’t do the same (Rawls 2001: 138; see also Edmundson 2017; Baehr 2017: 10–12; Robeyns 2012; and Stark 2021).

Conservative critics of egalitarian-liberal feminism argue that reformers can do more harm than good when they undermine the institutions and norms which, while surely offending in many ways, also serve as the foundation for many people’s well-being (Muller 1997a; see also Fox-Genovese 1996). Such conservatives worry about the radical implications of egalitarian-liberal feminism, its willingness to put women’s autonomy ahead of institutions and norms on which, they believe, many people rely for their well-being. While Ann Cudd suggests that the expansion of opportunity and equality promised by liberal feminism “makes us all better off” (Cudd 2006: 237), conservatives encourage us to consider also the loss that is in liberation.

Classical-liberal critics of egalitarian-liberal feminism argue that

the very arguments that rightly led to the legal reforms affecting the status of women during the 19 th century militate against the demands for reform from the late 20 th century women’s movement. (Epstein 2002: 30; see also Tomasi 2009)

That is, they hold that the defense of equal rights and independence for women promulgated by these early feminists is incompatible with the tendency of the contemporary women’s movement to call on the state to improve the lives of women (see §2 ).

2. Classical-Liberal Feminism

In this article the term classical-liberal feminism is used for a family of doctrines that range from libertarian feminist doctrines that endorse very little (if any) state power to doctrines that endorse more, yet still limited state power, largely unfettered markets, and an expansive understanding of individual rights. The doctrines in this family share the following. They conceive of freedom as freedom from coercive interference; they hold that women, as well as men, have a right to freedom from coercive interference due to their status as self-owners; and they hold that coercive state power is justified only to the extent necessary to protect the right to freedom from coercive interference. Equity feminists are classical-liberal feminists who hold that, in societies like the United States, the only morally significant source of oppression of women is the state. They hold that feminism’s political role is to bring an end to laws that limit women’s freedom in particular, but also to laws that grant special privileges to women. Some equity feminists see a nonpolitical role for feminism, helping women to benefit from their freedom by developing beneficial character traits or strategies for success, or navigating among their increasing options. Other equity feminists are socially conservative and argue that, while the state should not enforce them, traditional values function as bulwarks against state power and produce independent and self-restraining citizens. Cultural libertarian feminists are classical-liberal feminists who hold that the culture of societies like the United States is patriarchal and a significant source of oppression of women. They hold that the patriarchal culture and the state are complementary systems of oppression. Cultural libertarian feminists hold that much of the oppression women suffer today is noncoercive, however, and thus should not be met with state remedies but with a nonviolent movement for feminist social change.

Classical-liberal feminists understand themselves as heirs to the first generation of feminist political philosophers, for example Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Taylor Mill, and John Stuart Mill (Taylor 1992: 25–39); the first generation of feminist political reformers in the United States, for example the abolitionist feminists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sarah Grimke (McElroy 2002a: 6–7)); and the tradition of 19 th century anarchist feminism which includes figures such as Voltairine de Cleyre (McElroy 2002a: 8; Presley 2000; Presley & Sartwell 2005). Equity feminists (see §2.2.1 ) stress the extent to which these early thinkers and activists identify women’s liberation with equal respect for women’s right against coercive interference (Stolba & Furchtgott-Roth 2001: 1–2). Cultural libertarian feminists (see §2.3 ) emphasize the extent to which these thinkers and activists challenged both coercive state power and the patriarchal culture (Presley 2000; Long & Johnson 2005—see Other Internet Resources ).

Classical liberalism holds that women and men are self-owners capable of acquiring property rights over things. As such women and men, equally, have the right to freedom from coercive interference with their person and property. This right to freedom from coercive interference consists in, at least, rights to freedom of conscience and expression, freedom to control what happens to one’s body, freedom of association, freedom to acquire, control and transfer property, freedom of contract, as well as the right to compensation when rights are violated. The state’s role is, exclusively, to protect citizens from coercive interference by protecting their rights. Some reject even a limited state, however, holding that nongovernmental means of protecting rights are to be preferred.

Classical-liberal feminists hold that the right to freedom from coercive interference has powerful implications for women’s lives. It implies that women have the right to freedom in intimate, sexual and reproductive matters. This includes sexual autonomy (the right to engage in sexual activity of one’s choosing including the buying and selling of sex (Almodovar 2002; Lehrman 1997: 23), and the right to defend oneself against sexual aggression, including the use of firearms (Stevens, Teufel, & Biscan 2002)); freedom of expression (the right to appear in, publish, and consume pornography free of censorship (McElroy 1995; Strossen 2000)); freedom of intimate association (the right to partner or enter into a private marriage contract (McElroy 1991a: 20)); and reproductive freedom (the right to use birth control, have an abortion (on the minority of pro-life libertarians see Tabarrok 2002: 157), and buy and sell bodily reproductive services, for example as in surrogate motherhood (Lehrman 1997: 22; McElroy 2002c; Paul 2002)). Freedom from interference with person and property also means that women have the right to engage in economic activity, entering contracts, and acquiring, controlling and transferring property free of sexist state limits (Epstein 2002; Kirp, Yudof, & Franks 1986: 204).

One way to characterize the wrong involved when states fail to recognize these rights of women is as a failure to respect women’s right to be treated as men’s equal, or the right to equal treatment under the law. To be sure, classical-liberal feminists hold that the law should not treat women and men differently. But this is because they believe everyone has the same rights, not because they believe women have a right to be treated the same as men. This is clear when we note that, for classical-liberal feminism, equal treatment under unjust law is not justice (McElroy 1991a: 3).

Same treatment under the law does not guarantee same outcomes. Classical-liberal feminists hold that women’s rights are not violated when citizens exercise their rights in ways that create unequal outcomes (Epstein 2002: 30). A woman’s rights are violated only when she is interfered with coercively, that is, when there is, or is a threat of, forced loss of freedom, property or life (which does not serve as just restraint or compensation).

2.2 Equity Feminism

Equity feminism is a form of classical-liberal feminism that holds that feminism’s political role is simply to ensure that everyone’s, including women’s, right against coercive interference is respected (Sommers 1994: 22). Wendy McElroy, an equity feminist writes:

I’ve always maintained that the only reason I call myself a feminist is because of [the] gov[ernment]. By which I mean, if the government (or an anarchist defense assoc[iation]) acknowledged the full equal rights of women without paternalistic protection or oppression, I would stop writing about women’s issues. (McElroy 1998c—see Other Internet Resources )

Feminism’s political role involves assuring that women’s right against coercive interference by private individuals is recognized and protected by the state (for example women’s right against groping on the street or rape within marriage (McElroy 1991b)), and that women’s right against coercive interference by the state itself is respected. The latter means feminists should object to laws that restrict women’s liberty in particular (for example laws that limit women’s employment options (Taylor 1992: 228)), and laws that protect women in particular (for example laws granting preferential treatment to women (Paul 1989)). Equity feminists suggest that this has been largely accomplished in countries like the United States. Joan Kennedy Taylor explains: feminism’s “goal of equal political liberty for women has been pretty much reached in the United States” (Taylor 2001; see also Sommers 1994: 274).

On the equity feminist view, the feminist slogan “the personal is political” is accurate when the state fails to recognize women’s right against coercive interference, especially in women’s personal lives. So, for example, in some countries husbands have legal control over their wives’ persons and property. (Some equity feminists argue that the women’s movement in Western countries should not hesitate to criticize countries in which this occurs (Sommers 2007).) But in countries like the United States, where the right of women against this sort of coercive interference is recognized and protected by law, equity feminists hold that “the personal is no longer political” (Lehrman 1997: 5; see also 21).

If an individual or group of individuals suffers sustained and systematic denial of their rights, on the equity feminist view, we may call them oppressed. Women were oppressed in the United States during most of its first two centuries; people of African descent were oppressed before the dismantling of Jim Crow laws. While the culture of the United States supported this denial of rights, equity feminists hold that the oppressor was the state (McElroy 1998cc—see Other Internet Resources ), which refused to recognize and protect the right of women and people of African descent to treatment as self-owners. When the state recognizes and protects this right of women and Americans of African descent, they are no longer oppressed, even if the culture disadvantages them. So, for example, in a discussion of whether Muslim women are oppressed, Cathy Young focuses on whether women’s conformity with a religious tradition that subordinates them is enforced by law. If it is, then women are oppressed (C. Young 2006).

If women are to be described as currently oppressed in societies like the United States, on the equity feminist view, one must show that the state fails to protect women, as a group, from sustained and systematic rights violations. Some feminists have argued that violence against women is pervasive in societies like the United States so that, even though the law recognizes women’s right against it, that right is insufficiently protected and thus women endure sustained and systematic denial of their right to bodily integrity (Dworkin 1991). Equity feminists endeavor to refute this claim by showing that the prevalence of violence against women has been exaggerated. For example Rita Simon contests the claim that as many as 154 out of 1,000 women have been raped. On her accounting, the number is closer to 19 per 1,000; and “rape is less common than other violent crimes” (Simon 2002: 235). In addition, she claims, “the criminal justice system does not ignore or make light of crimes against females” (2002: 236). Katie Roiphe argues that date rape is not a significant threat to women (Roiphe 1994). Concurring with Roiphe, Cathy Young writes:

women have sex after initial reluctance for a number of reasons.… [F]ear of being beaten up by their dates is rarely reported as one of them. (C. Young 1992)

Women have also been said to be oppressed because their right to be treated the same as men by employers, educational institutions, and associations has been violated in a sustained and systematic way. That is, some argue, women have been regularly denied the right to equal access to opportunities because they are women. Equity feminists generally hold that no rights are violated when employers, educational institutions, public accommodations or associations discriminate against women. Nonetheless, equity feminists argue that discrimination against women is not a serious problem. Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Christine Stolba argue that “complaints about systematic economic discrimination against women simply do not square with the evidence” (Stolba & Furchtgott-Roth 1999: xi; see also 2001). They argue that “women’s wages and education levels are closing the gap with those of men” (1999: xii). In addition, Stolba and Furchtgott-Roth claim that women have “surpassed men in education” (23; see also 23–43). Christina Hoff Sommers concurs, arguing that, rather than failing to provide girls with an education equal to that of boys, our current educational system disproportionately benefits girls (Sommers 2000: 20–23, 178).

Equity feminists argue that the differences in outcomes between women and men can be explained, not by violence against women and sex discrimination, but by differences in the preferences of women and men (Epstein 2002: 33; Stolba & Furchtgott-Roth 1999: xii). “In many cases where women remain behind men, personal choices explain outcomes more readily than does overt discrimination” (Stolba & Furchtgott-Roth 1999: xii). To be sure, classical-liberal feminists hold that women and men are sufficiently the same that they have the “same political interests”, in particular the interest in being treated as a self-owner (McElroy 2002a: 14–15). But, for some equity feminists, biological differences between the sexes largely explain the sex segregation in the workplace and in family roles still common in countries like the United States (Epstein 2002; Lehrman 1997: 5, 31).

Other equity feminists think biological sex differences alone do not explain this phenomenon (C. Young 2004). Women’s preferences may reflect the effects of socialization or incentives: for example women may be socialized to prefer stereotypically female roles, or the rewards associated with such roles for women may provide motivation for women to take them up. But equity feminists hold that, because women are not legally required, or actually forced in some other way, to choose traditional roles, their choices are not coerced and thus state remedies are inappropriate. On the equity feminist view, a law prohibiting women from becoming surgeons is coercive because it constitutes a threat of loss of liberty or property. But if one is socialized to prefer stay-at-home motherhood, or one discovers that one prefers to stay home with children given the other real options, one may still choose to become a surgeon without risking loss of liberty or property. As Stolba and Furchtgott-Roth put it (using the word “prevents” in a very strong sense): “Nothing prevents women from choosing the surgical specialty” (Stolba & Furchtgott-Roth 1999: 60; my emphasis).

While equity feminists hold that feminism’s political task—securing for women the right to freedom from coercive interference—is nearly completed, some equity feminists believe that feminism has a nonpolitical role to play in women’s personal lives. In its nonpolitical role, feminism can help women to develop character traits and strategies that will help them benefit from their freedom; and it can help women to navigate personally among their increasing options.

Karen Lehrman writes:

Men have typically held title to quite a few traits that women can now put to good use. In addition to ambition, assertiveness, and independence, there’s also decisiveness. (Lehrman 1997: 33; see also 62)

Other character traits emphasized by equity feminists include “self-confidence” (Stevens et al. 2002: 255), being able to think and argue independently (McElroy 1998a), and taking responsibility for oneself (Taylor 1992: 86). Some equity feminists suggest that feminism offers individual women and men the opportunity for freedom from conformity with sex roles (Lehrman 1997: 6; Taylor 1992: 23–24).

Equity feminists recommend strategies for success for women in education and employment as alternatives to state regulation. In male dominated fields, for example, equity feminists recommend that women mentor one another or organize supportive associations, making use of the techniques of 1960’s feminism like consciousness-raising (Taylor 1992: 100–101). Some recommend that, instead of being ambivalent about work outside of the home, women should “lean in” to it (Sandberg 2013). In What You Can Do About Sexual Harassment When You Don’t Want to Call the Cops , Joan Kennedy Taylor argues that women can avoid sexual harassment or lessen its impact if they learn to diffuse conflicts with men and understand the role of sexual banter in male culture (Taylor 1999). Equity feminists also recommend that women make full use of their right to contract by turning their preferences—for example the preference for being paid and/or promoted on the basis of one’s job performance and not on the basis of sexual favors—into rights through contract (Epstein 2002: 40; Taylor 1992: 169).

Some equity feminists stress that women need not give up their gender difference to benefit from their freedom (Lehrman 1997: 198). As Karen Lehrman writes, “completing the feminist revolution…primarily involves [women] completing their own personal evolutions” (1997: 35). Lehrman quotes Elizabeth Cady Stanton:

the strongest reason for giving woman … a complete emancipation from all forms of bondage of custom, dependence, superstition … is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life. (1997: 201, quoting “The Solitude of Self” [1892])

An important part of this individual life, on Lehrman’s view, is navigating among sexual difference and sameness in the personal construction of a satisfying life.

Some equity feminists are socially conservative (Morse 2001; Sommers 2000). To be sure, equity feminism as described here is a form of classical-liberalism. As such it involves the claim that traditional values should not be imposed on citizens by the state. For example, the state should not tax citizens to support institutions that promote traditional values; nor should the criminal or civil law create incentives for adherence to such values. But some equity feminists hold that it is best when citizens voluntarily adhere to traditional values. They hold that widespread voluntary adherence to traditional values is conducive to well-being in society because traditional values make possible the reproduction of independent and “self-restraining citizens” who are “the basis of free institutions, both economic and political” (Morse 2001: 161).

Socially conservative equity feminists do not take the classical liberal theory of the limits of state power to imply endorsement of a libertine cultural ethos. So, for example, while socially conservative equity feminists hold that the state should not force citizens to accept traditional family forms (because individuals have a right against such coercive interference), they hold that society should strongly discourage disfavored ways of life and encourage favored ones through noncoercive, nonstate means. Socially conservative equity feminists hold that when feminism strays from its political role of assuring equal rights and ventures into women’s personal lives it tends to discourage in women the kinds of delayed gratification and self-sacrifice on which vital social institutions, like the family, depend (Morse 2001: 133).

To be sure, there are political conservatives who take equity feminism’s claim that women and men should be treated the same by the law as a rule of thumb. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese is an example of such a political conservative (Fox-Genovese 1991; 1996). The difference between political conservatives who embrace the equity feminist account of women’s equality and socially conservative equity feminists is that the former endorse the use of state power to promote traditional values while the latter do not. Also, socially conservative equity feminists hold that individuals’ political rights derive from their status as self-owners (Morse 2001: 57) while political conservatives hold that citizens’ political rights derive from their status as members of communities (Fox-Genovese 1991: 9). In contemporary popular political discourse it is often hard to distinguish these two, as they are in political coalition. To appeal to both classical liberal and socially conservative constituencies, on occasion theorists help themselves to a bit of both traditions. For example, Jennifer Roback Morse identifies herself as a libertarian: “When the topic is the proper relationship between the individual and the state, libertarianism is pretty much the right path” (Morse 2001: 4). But she also makes the un-libertarian and politically conservative recommendation that the state should intervene in personal relationships by making it “costly to divorce” (2001: 164, see also 104, 111).

Cultural libertarianism is a form of classical liberalism that is

concerned about constraints on individual freedom from government as well as from traditionalist familial, religious, and community institutions—the same civil institutions that conservatives see as necessary for ordered liberty to thrive. (C. Young 2007)

Cultural libertarian feminism holds that these institutions reflect the patriarchal nature of society and oppress women. Thus cultural libertarian feminism recognizes sources of women’s oppression other than the state (Presley 2000; Long & Johnson 2005—see Other Internet Resources ). As Charles Johnson and Roderick Long put it, patriarchal culture and the state are “interlocking systems of oppression” (Long & Johnson 2005—see Other Internet Resources ), both of which should be opposed by feminists. They explain:

There is nothing inconsistent or un-libertarian in holding that women’s choices under patriarchal social structures can be sufficiently “voluntary,” in the libertarian sense, to be entitled to immunity from coercive legislative interference, while at the same time being sufficiently “involuntary,” in a broader sense, to be recognized as morally problematic and as a legitimate target of social activism. (Long & Johnson 2005—see Other Internet Resources ).

Calling this view “anarchist feminism”, Sharon Presley writes: “What the anarchist feminists are calling for is a radical restructuring of society, both in its public and private institutions” (Presley 2000). Such feminists hold that much of the oppression women currently suffer is noncoercive, however. Laws against prostitution are coercive—the state can put a violator in jail or force her to pay a fine. But on the cultural libertarian feminist view much of the pressure to conform to gender roles is not coercive. Noncoercive oppression can be resisted, although it is often not easy to do so. Cultural libertarian feminists hold that noncoercive oppression should not be remedied by the state (see also Tomasi 2009). As Presley and Kinsky explain, on the cultural libertarian view, to try to remedy the noncoercive oppression of women with coercive state action “just changes the sort of oppression, not the fact” (Presley & Kinsky 1991: 78). This oppression should be opposed by a nonviolent movement for feminist social change.

Cultural libertarian feminists target the patriarchal culture by, for example, developing in individuals (especially women) the ability to be independent. This involves enabling individuals to resist authority and think for themselves (Presley 2001). Cultural libertarian feminists also recommend the development of more deeply consensual relationships and institutions (Heckert 2004—see Other Internet Resources ), relationships and institutions in which there is an equality of authority (Long 2001—see Other Internet Resources ). While some equity feminists (see §1.2 ) would applaud this work, they would call it “personal”, reserving the term “political” for the work of securing for women their right against coercive interference. Equity feminist Wendy McElroy writes:

I understand that there is a cultural form of feminism and many women would still fight for improved prestige or status, and I wouldn’t criticis[e] them for doing so. It just wouldn’t grip me. Guess I’m a political animal after all. (McElroy 1998c—see Other Internet Resources )

But cultural libertarian feminists consider this work to be an integral part of a larger political struggle for women’s freedom.

Classical-liberal feminism requires same treatment of women and men under just law. This means that sex discrimination by the state, for example when the state functions as an employer, is impermissible (Block 1991: 102; Epstein 2002: 34; Warnick 2003: 1608). But classical-liberal feminists oppose laws that prohibit discrimination against women by nonstate actors, for example in employment, education, public accommodations, or associations (McElroy 1991b: 22–23; Epstein 2002). They hold that the interaction of citizens should be subject to state control only to the extent necessary to protect citizens’ right against coercive interference. Businesses violate citizens’ right against coercive interference if they steal from their customers or employees; associations violate it if they extort their members; colleges violate it if they kidnap students. But businesses do not violate this right if they refuse to do business with women, pay women less for the same work, or create a working environment that is hostile to them because of their sex. Private educational institutions do not violate this right if they refuse to educate girls or women, offer them an inferior education, or create a learning environment that is hostile to them because of their sex. Business and professional associations do not violate this right if they refuse to admit women as members or make them feel unwelcome because of their sex.

Classical-liberal feminism, as described here, clearly implies rejection of the legal prohibition against private discrimination in employment, education, public accommodations, and associations. But in the literature one finds a range of views. Some categorically reject any legal protection against private discrimination (Taylor 1992: 62). Others accept basic protections such as those afforded in U.S. law by the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972; but reject more robust protections, such as non-remedial affirmative action or comparable worth (Stolba & Furchtgott-Roth 2001: 179; see also 107–108).

Classical-liberal feminism holds that private businesses, educational institutions, and associations are free to give or withhold preferential treatment to women. But the state may not treat women preferentially because the state must treat citizens the same regardless of sex. Nor may the state require that private businesses, educational institutions, or associations treat women preferentially. This is because, on the classical-liberal feminist view, failure to treat women preferentially is not a violation of anyone’s right against coercive interference. Examples of preferential treatment under the law, which classical-liberal feminists oppose, include affirmative action in employment and education (Lehrman 1997: 25), comparable worth (Paul 1989) and advantages for women in the legal treatment of custody and domestic violence (Simon 2002).

While classical-liberal feminists resist state remedies for private discrimination against women, they also hold that such discrimination is not currently a serious problem in countries like the United States. In addition, they argue,

even where discrimination may exist, we find little, if any, evidence that expanded government intervention would serve any useful purpose. (Stolba & Furchtgott-Roth 1999: xii)

and speculate that freer markets would make whatever discrimination currently takes place even more rare (McElroy 2002b, 187).

Much of the classical-liberal feminist literature, especially the equity feminist literature, is written for public policy and popular audiences, so emphasis is on policy implications rather than philosophical justifications. Nonetheless, we find in the literature a variety of justifications, some consequentialist and some non-consequentialist.

The most common justification offered in the classical-liberal feminist literature is consequentialist. This argument says that the political arrangements recommended by classical-liberalism, as compared with the alternatives, will provide women with more of what is good for them: for example safety, income and wealth, and options. Liberalizing guns laws will make women safer (Stevens, et al. 2002); legalizing prostitution and pornography will improve the lives of women in those trades (Almodovar 2002; Strossen 2000) and open opportunities for others; freer markets will root out discrimination against women and stimulate the proliferation of amenities essential to working women, like daycare centers (Epstein 2002: 33; Paul 2002: 208–209; Stolba & Furchtgott-Roth 2001: 124, 180; Conway 1998). Indeed, some argue that liberalizing the market will release such an “explosion of prosperity” that women will not need help from a welfare state (Long 1997—see Other Internet Resources ).

A variety of non-consequentialist arguments are offered as well. Kirp, Yudof, and Franks, for example, refer to Kant’s categorical imperative and claim that treating individuals as self-owners is what is meant by treating individuals as ends in themselves ((Kirp, et al. 1986: 13–14). Wendy McElroy grounds her thought in the natural law tradition (McElroy 1998b). Some imply a perfectionist justification according to which the perfection of the human being requires being treated as a self-owner (Presley 2001).

Some criticism of classical-liberal feminism addresses the consequentialist argument offered in support of classical-liberal feminism. The consequentialist argument says that the political arrangements recommended by classical-liberalism, as compared with the alternatives, will provide women with more of what is good for them (see §2.5 ). Following Ashlie Warnick, we can distinguish the claim that particular liberty-restricting policies are bad for women (and that some liberty-enhancing policies are good for women) from the claim that all liberty-restricting policies harm women, or that a minimal state (or no state) would be better for women overall (Warnick 2003). It is surely possible to cite liberty-restricting policies that are bad for women—laws limiting women’s employment options—and thus to cite liberty-enhancing policies that are good for women—not having such laws. But it is also possible to cite liberty-restricting policies that are good for women—for example the legal prohibition against sex discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations (which classical-liberal feminists recommend dismantling (see §2.4 )). Of course, if sex discrimination is rare, as some classical-liberal feminists contend (see §2.2.1 ), laws prohibiting it will not produce much benefit. But, as egalitarian-liberal feminists Deborah Rhode and Ann Cudd argue, sex discrimination remains a significant problem (Rhode 1997: 156; Cudd 2006: 140–142). Think also of the classical-liberal feminist recommendation that women and men be treated exactly the same by the state (see §2.1 and §2.4 ). While different treatment can stigmatize and entrench stereotypes, same treatment can disadvantage women if they are not similarly situated to men—which, arguably, is the case (Minow 1990). So the larger case—that all liberty-restricting policies harm women, or that a minimal state (or no state) would be better for women overall—has not been made convincingly (Warnick 2003). Another concern about the larger case is that much of the support offered is speculative, for example Roderick Long’s assertion that “the explosion of prosperity” classical liberal arrangements would bring about ”would go a long way toward providing women with an economic safety net more effective than any government welfare program” (Long 1997—see Other Internet Resources ).

Some criticism addresses non-consequentialist arguments for classical-liberal feminism. These arguments say that, regardless of the consequences, women and men should be treated as self-owners with rights to property justly acquired and to freedom from coercive interference because this is what they deserve as ends in themselves, because this is what insight into natural law teaches, or because this is what their perfection requires (see §2.5 ). Critics contend that even if we concede the relevant classical-liberal premises—that women and men should be treated in ways they deserve as ends in themselves, or as natural law teaches, or in ways their perfection requires—it does not follow that the state should treat individuals merely as self-owners entitled only to property justly acquired and freedom from coercive interference. For example, egalitarian-liberal feminism suggests that treating individuals as ends in themselves requires legal measures to protect women’s personal and political autonomy—measures such as anti-discrimination law, workplace changes to accommodate caregiving responsibilities, and adequate material means (see §1.1.4 and §1.2.1 ). Since classical-liberal feminism rejects such measures, egalitarian-liberal feminism suggests that it fails to treat women as ends in themselves. Also, that treating individuals as ends in themselves means treating them as entitled merely to protection from coercive interference is plausible only if one ignores the fact of human dependency. By the fact of human dependency is meant the fact that all human beings are utterly dependent on the caregiving of others for many years at the start of life, that many come to need the caregiving of others due to temporary or permanent disability later in life, and that many require caregiving when they become infirm at the end of life; and also, that those who provide caregiving for those who cannot care for themselves become dependent on others for support (Kittay 1995: 10). If human beings are dependent in these ways, then treating them as ends in themselves will, at least for some of the time, mean something other than merely leaving them alone. Failure to recognize this suggests that classical-liberal feminism assumes that there is a nonpolitical “realm of private life in which the reproductive and nurturant needs of human beings are taken care of” (Okin 1989: 75). Such an assumption makes it impossible to evaluate the justice of the arrangements under which caregiving is given and received and removes from our consideration the nature of obligations to, and entitlements of, members of society who require caregiving to survive and thrive. Some worry that one form of classical liberalism—libertarianism—seriously misunderstands the political relevance of caregiving because it construes one key caregiving arrangement, the parent-child relationship, as one of ownership (see Okin 1989: 80–85; see also Nozick 1974; Andersson 2007; and Jeske 1996). As Jennifer Roback Morse, herself a libertarian puts it: ”I think it is well to admit… that our inattention to family life and community responsibility has left libertarians open to the charge that we do not care very much about these matters” (Morse 2001: 28).

• Abbey, Ruth, 2007, “Back toward a Comprehensive Liberalism?: Justice as Fairness, Gender, and Families”, Political Theory , 35(1): 5–28. doi:10.1177/0090591706295052
• –––, 2011, The Return of Feminist Liberalism , Montréal & Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press.
• –––, 2013a, “Introduction: Biography of a Bibliography: Three Decades of Feminist Response to Rawls”, in Abbey 2013b: 1–23.
• ––– (ed.), 2013b, Feminist Interpretations of Rawls , College Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
• Almodovar, Norma Jean, 2002, “For Their Own Good: The Results of the Prostitution Laws as Enforced by Cops, Politicians, and Judges”, in McElroy 2002d: 71–87.
• Alstott, Linda, 2004, No Exit: What Parents Owe Their Children and What Society Owes Parents , New York: Oxford University Press.
• Altman, Andrew and Lori Watson, 2019, Debating Pornography , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780199358700.001.0001
• Anderson, Elizabeth, 1990, “The Ethical Limitations of the Market”, Economics and Philosophy , 6(2): 179–205. doi:10.1017/S0266267100001218
• –––, 2009, “Toward a Non-Ideal, Relational Methodology for Political Philosophy: Comments on Schwartzman’s Challenging Liberalism”, Hypatia , 24(4): 130–145. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01062.x
• Andersson, Anna-Karin, 2007, “An Alleged Contradiction in Nozick’s Entitlement Theory”, The Journal of Libertarian Studies , 21(3): 43–63.
• Antony, Louise M. and Charlotte E. Witt (eds.), 1993, A Mind of One’s Own , Oxford: Westview. doi:10.4324/9780429502682
• Arruzza, Cinzia, Tithi Bahhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser, 2019, Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto , Londo: Verso.
• Baehr, Amy R., 1996, “Toward a New Feminist Liberalism: Okin, Rawls, and Habermas”, Hypatia , 11(1): 49–66. Reprinted in The Philosophy of Rawls: A Collection of Essays (Volume 3), Henry S. Richardson and Paul J. Weithman (eds.), New York: Garland Publishing, 1999: 295–312. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.1996.tb00506.x
• ––– (ed.), 2004, Varieties of Feminist Liberalism , Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
• –––, 2008, “Perfectionism, Feminism and Public Reason”, Law and Philosophy , 27(2): 193–222. doi:10.1007/s10982-007-9017-3
• –––, 2013, “Liberal Feminism: Comprehensive and Political”, in Abbey 2013b: 150–166.
• –––, 2017, “A Capacious Account of Liberal Feminism”, Feminist Philosophy Quarterly , 3(1): art. 4. doi:10.5206/fpq/2016.3.4
• –––, 2021, “Political Constructivism and Justice in Caregiving”, in Bhandary and Baehr 2021: ch. 8, pp. 187–212.
• Barclay, Linda, 2013, “Liberal Daddy Quotas: Why Men Should Take Care of the Children, and How Liberals Can Get Them to Do It”, Hypatia , 28(1): 163–178. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2011.01255.x
• Benhabib, Seyla, 1992, Situating the Self: Gender, Community and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics , New York: Routledge.
• Bhandary, Asha, 2010, “Dependency in Justice: Can Rawlsian Liberalism Accommodate Kittay’s Dependency Critique?”, Hypatia , 25(1): 140–156. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01088.x
• –––, 2019, Freedom to Care: Liberalism, Dependency Care, and Culture , New York: Routledge.
• Bhandary, Asha and Amy R. Baehr (eds.), 2021, Caring for Liberalism: Dependency and Liberal Political Theory , New York: Routledge.
• Block, Walter, 1991, “Levin on Feminism and Freedom”, Journal of Libertarian Studies , 10(1): 97–106.
• Bojer, Hilde, 2002, “Women and the Rawlsian Social Contract”, Social Justice Research , 15(4): 393–407. doi:10.1023/A:1021223225278
• Brake, Elizabeth, 2004, “Rawls and Feminism: What Should Feminists Make of Liberal Neutrality?”, Journal of Moral Philosophy , 1(3): 293–309. doi:10.1177/174046810400100305
• –––, 2012, Minimizing Marriage: Marriage, Morality, and the Law , New York: Oxford.
• Brighouse, Harry and Erik Olin Wright, 2008, “Strong Gender Egalitarianism”, Politics & Society , 36(3): 360–372. doi:10.1177/0032329208320566
• Brison, Susan J., 1997, “Outliving Oneself: Trauma, Memory and Personal Identity”, in Meyers 1997: 12–39.
• –––, 1998, “The Autonomy Defense of Free Speech”, Ethics , 108(2): 312–339. doi:10.1086/233807
• Browne, Jude (ed.), 2007, The Future of Gender , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511619205
• Case, Mary Anne, 2006, “Marriage Licenses”, Minnesota Law Review , 89: 1758–1796.
• Chambers, Clare, 2008, Sex, Culture, and Justice: The Limits of Choice , University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
• –––, 2017, Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defence of the Marriage-Free State , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198744009.001.0001
• Church, Jennifer, 1997, “Ownership and the Body”, in Meyers 1997: 85–103.
• Cohen, Joshua, Matthew Howard, and Martha C. Nussbaum (eds.), 1999, Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Conway, David, 1998, Free-Market Feminism , London: Institute of Economic Affairs.
• Cornell, Drucilla, 1998, At the Heart of Freedom: Feminism, Sex, and Equality , Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• –––, 2003, “Autonomy Re-Imagined”, Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society , 8(1): 144–149. doi:10.1353/psy.2003.0008
• Cudd, Ann E., 2004, “The Paradox of Liberal Feminism: Preference Rationality, and Oppression”, in Baehr 2004: 37–62.
• –––, 2006, Analyzing Oppression , New York: Oxford University Press.
• Cudd, Ann and Nancy Holmstrom, 2011, Capitalism For and Against: A Feminist Debate , New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511920981
• Dworkin, Andrea, 1991, “Terror, Torture, and Resistance”, Canadian Women’s Studies , 12(1): 37–42. [ Dworkin 1991 available online ]
• –––, 1992, Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Eaton, Anne W., 2007, “A Sensible Antiporn Feminism”, Ethics , 117(4): 674–715. doi:10.1086/519226
• Edmundson, William A., 2017, John Rawls: Reticent Socialist , New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Eichner, Maxine, 2010, The Supportive State , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343212.001.0001
• –––, 2021, “The Free-Market Family: Liberalism, Families, and Government’s Responsibility to Regulate the Market”, in Bhandary and Baehr 2021: ch. 10, pp. 238–265.
• Engster, Daniel, 2001, “Mary Wollstonecraft’s Nurturing Liberalism: Between an Ethic of Justice and Care”, American Political Science Review , 95(3): 577–588. doi:10.1017/S0003055401003136
• –––, 2010, “The Place of Parenting within a Liberal Theory of Justice: The Private Parenting Model, Parental Licenses, or Public Parenting Support?”, Social Theory and Practice , 36(2): 233–262. doi:10.5840/soctheorpract201036213
• Enslin, Penny, 2003, “Liberal Feminism, Diversity and Education”, Theory and Research in Education , 1(1): 73–87. doi:10.1177/1477878503001001005
• Epstein, Richard, 2002, “Liberty and Feminism”, in McElroy 2002d: 30–42.
• Folbre, Nancy, 1984, “The Pauperization of Motherhood: Patriarchy and Public Policy in the United States”, Review of Radical Political Economics , 16(4): 72–88. doi:10.1177/048661348401600406
• Follesdal, Andreas, 2005, “Exit, Choice, and Loyalty: Religious Liberty versus Gender Equality”, Journal of Social Philosophy , 36(4): 407–420. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.2005.00285.x
• Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth, 1991, Feminism Without Illusions: A Critique of Individualism , Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
• –––, 1996, Feminism is Not the Story of My Life: How Today’s Feminist Elite Has Lost Touch With the Real Concerns of Women , London: Doubleday.
• Fraser, Nancy, 2013, Fortunes of Feminism: From State-Managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis , Brooklyn: Verso.
• Gaus, Gerald, Shane D. Courtland, and David Schmidts, 2018, “Liberalism”,, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = < https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2018/entries/liberalism/ >.
• Gheaus, Anca, 2008, “Basic Income, Gender Justice and the Costs of Gender-Symmetrical Lifestyles”, Basic Income Studies , 3(3): art. 8. doi:10.2202/1932-0183.1134
• –––, 2009, “The Challenge of Care to Idealizing Theories of Distributive Justice”, in Tessman 2009: 105–119. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6841-6_7
• –––, 2012, “Gender Justice”, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy , 6(1): 1–25. doi:10.26556/jesp.v6i1.60
• Gheaus, Anca and Ingrid Robeyns, 2011, “Equality-Promoting Parental Leave: Equality-Promoting Parental Leave”, Journal of Social Philosophy , 42(2): 173–191. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.2011.01525.x
• Gornick, Janet C. and Marcia K. Meyers, 2008, “Creating Gender Egalitarian Societies: An Agenda for Reform”, Politics & Society , 36(3): 313–349. doi:10.1177/0032329208320562
• Green, Karen, 2006, “Parity and Procedural Justice”, Essays in Philosophy , 7(1): 18–28. doi:10.5840/eip20067116
• Hampton, Jean, 1993, “Feminist Contractarianism”, in Antony and Witt 1993: 227–256.
• Hanen, Marsha P and Kai Nielsen (eds.), 1987, Science, Morality, and Feminist Theory , Calgary: University of Calgary Press.
• Hartley, Christie and Lori Watson, 2010, “Is a Feminist Political Liberalism Possible?”, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy , 5(1): 1–22. doi:10.26556/jesp.v5i1.48
• –––, 2012, “Political Liberalism, Marriage and the Family”, Law and Philosophy , 31(2): 185–212. doi:10.1007/s10982-011-9119-9
• Hay, Carol, 2013, Kantianism, Liberalism, and Feminism: Resisting Oppression , New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Held, Virginia, 1987, “Non-contractual Society: A Feminist View”, in Hanen and Nielsen 1987: 111–138.
• –––, 2006a, The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global , New York: Oxford. doi:10.1093/0195180992.001.0001
• –––, 2006b, “Liberalism and the Ethics of Care”, in Held 2006a: ch. 5.
• Holmstrom, Nancy, 2011, “Against Capitalism as Theory and as Reality”, in Cudd and Holmstrom 2011: 133–260.
• Jaggar, Alison, 1983, Feminist Politics and Human Nature , Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.
• Jeske, Diane, 1996, “Libertarianism, Self-Ownership, and Motherhood”:, Social Theory and Practice , 22(2): 137–160. doi:10.5840/soctheorpract19962225
• Khader, Serene J., 2011, Adaptive Preferences and Women’s Empowerment , New York: Oxford. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199777884.001.0001
• –––, 2018, Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic , New York: Oxford. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190664190.001.0001
• Kirp, David L., Mark G. Yudof, and Marlene Strong Franks, 1986, Gender Justice , Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Kittay, Eva Feder, 1995, “Taking Dependency Seriously: The Family and Medical Leave Act Considered in Light of the Social Organization of Dependency Work and Gender Equality”, Hypatia , 10(1): 8–29. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.1995.tb01351.x
• –––, 1999, Love’s Labor: Essays on Women, Equality and Dependency , New York: Routledge.
• Laden, Anthony Simon, 2003, “Radical Liberals, Reasonable Feminists: Reason, Power and Objectivity in MacKinnon and Rawls”, Journal of Political Philosophy , 11(2): 133–152. doi:10.1111/1467-9760.00171
• Lehrman, Karen, 1997, The Lipstick Proviso: Women, Sex & Power in the Real World , New York: Anchor/Doubleday.
• Lloyd, S.A., 1995, “Situating a Feminist Critique of John Rawls’ Political Liberalism ”, Loyola Law Review , 28(4): 1319–1344.
• –––, 1998, “Toward a Liberal Theory of Sexual Equality”, Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues , 9: 203–224.
• Mackenzie, Catriona, 2000, “Imagining Oneself Otherwise”, in Mackenzie and Stoljar 2000b: 124–150.
• Mackenzie, Catriona and Natalie Stoljar, 2000a, “Introduction: Autonomy Refigured”, in Mackenzie and Stoljar 2000b: 3–34.
• ––– (eds.), 2000b, Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self , New York: Oxford University Press.
• MacKinnon, Catharine, 1987, Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• –––, 1989, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Mansbridge, Jane, 1999, “Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent ‘Yes’”, The Journal of Politics , 61(3): 628–657. doi:10.2307/2647821
• McElroy, Wendy (ed.), 1991a, Freedom, Feminism and the State: An Overview of Individualist Feminism , second edition, Chicago: Ivan R. Dee.
• –––, 1991b, “The Roots of Individualist Feminism in 19th-Century America”, in McElroy 1991a: 3–26.
• –––, 1995, XXX: A Woman’s Right to Pornography , New York: St. Martin’s Press.
• –––, 1998a, The Reasonable Woman: A Guide to Intellectual Survival , Amherst, MA: Prometheus Books.
• –––, 1998b, “The Non-Absurdity of Natural Law”, The Freeman , 48(2): 108–111. [ McElroy 1998b available online ]
• –––, 2002a, “Introduction: Foundation of Individualist Freedom”, in McElroy 2002d: 5–26.
• –––, 2002b, “What Does Affirmative Action Affirm?” in McElroy 2002d: 181–188.
• –––, 2002c, “Breeder Reactionaries: The ‘Feminist’ War on New Reproductive Technologies”, in McElroy 2002d: 267–278.
• ––– (ed.), 2002d, Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the Twenty-First Century , Chicago: Ivan R. Dee.
• McClain, Linda, 2006, The Place of Families: Fostering Capacity, Equality and Responsibility , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Metz, Tamara, 2010, Untying the Knot: Marriage, the State, and the Case for their Divorce , Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Meyers, Diana Tietjens (ed.), 1997, Feminists Rethink the Self , Boulder, CO: Westview.
• –––, 2002, Gender in the Mirror: Cultural Images and Women’s Agency , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0195140419.001.0001
• –––, 2004, Being Yourself: Essays on Identity, Action, and Social Life , Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
• Mills, Charles W., 2017, Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190245412.001.0001
• Minow, Martha, 1990, Making All the Difference: Inclusion, Exclusion, and American Law , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Morse, Jennifer Roback, 2001, Love and Economics: Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn’t Work , Dallas, TX: Spence Publishing.
• Muller, Jerry Z., 1997a, “What Is Conservative Social and Political Thought?” in Muller 1997b: 3–31.
• ––– (ed.), 1997b, Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Present , Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Munoz-Darde, Veronique, 1998, “Rawls, Justice in the Family and Justice of the Family”, The Philosophical Quarterly , 48(192): 335–352. doi:10.1111/1467-9213.00104
• Neufeld, Blain, 2009, “Coercion, the Basic Structure, and the Family”, Journal of Social Philosophy , 40(1): 37–54. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.2009.01437.x
• Neufeld, Blain and Chad Van Schoelandt, 2014, “Political Liberalism, Ethos Justice, and Gender Equality”, Law and Philosophy , 33(1): 75–104. doi:10.1007/s10982-013-9174-5
• Nozick, Robert, 1974, Anarchy, State and Utopia , New York: Basic Books.
• Nussbaum, Martha C., 1999a, Sex and Social Justice , New York: Oxford University Press.
• –––, 1999b, “A Plea for Difficulty”, in Cohen, Howard, and Nussbaum 1999: 105–114.
• –––, 2000a, Women and Human Development , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511841286
• –––, 2000b, “The Future of Feminist Liberalism”, Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association , 74(2): 47–79. doi:10.2307/3219683
• –––, 2006, Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership , Cambridge, MA: Belknap.
• Okin, Susan Moller, 1989, Justice, Gender and the Family , New York: Basic Books.
• –––, 1994, “ Political Liberalism , Justice, and Gender”, Ethics , 105(1): 23–43. doi:10.1086/293677
• –––, 1999, “Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?” in Cohen, Howard, and Nussbaum 1999: 7–26.
• O’Neill, Martin and Thad Williamson (eds.), 2012, Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond , Malden, MA: Blackwell.
• Pateman, Carol and Charles Mills, 2007, Contract and Domination , Malden, MA: Polity Press.
• Paul, Ellen Frankel, 1989, Equity and Gender: The Comparable Worth Debate , New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
• –––, 2002, “Fetal Protection and Freedom of Contract”, in McElroy 2002d: 131–151.
• Paul, Ellen Frankel, Fred Miller, Jr, and Jeffrey Paul (eds), 2007, Liberalism Old and New , (Social Philosophy and Policy, 24, part 1), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Pearce, Diana, 1978, “The Feminization of Poverty”, Urban & Social Change Review , 11(1–2): 28–36.
• Phillips, Anne, 1991, Engendering Democracy , Cambridge: Polity Press.
• –––, 2004, “Defending Equality of Outcome”, Journal of Political Philosophy , 12(1): 1–19. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9760.2004.00188.x
• Presley, Sharon, 2000, “No Authority But Oneself: The Anarchist Feminist Philosophy of Autonomy and Freedom”, Social Anarchism , 27(Fall–Winter): art. 3.
• –––, 2001, Think For Yourself: Questioning Pressures to Conform , Berkeley, CA: Ronin Publishing.
• Presley, Sharon and Lynn Kinsky, 1991, “Government is Women’s Enemy”, in McElroy 1991a: 77–86.
• Presley, Sharon and Crispin Sartwell (eds.), 2005, Exquisite Rebel: Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre—Feminist, Anarchist, Genius , Albany, NY: State University of New York.
• Radzik, Linda, 2005, “Justice in the Family: A Defence of Feminist Contractarianism”, Journal of Applied Philosophy , 22(1): 45–54. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5930.2005.00291.x
• Rawls, John, 1958, “Justice as Fairness”, The Philosophical Review , 67(2): 164–194. doi:10.2307/2182612
• –––, 1971, A Theory of Justice , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• –––, 1975, “Fairness to Goodness”, The Philosophical Review , 84(4): 536–554. Reprinted in Rawls 1999: 267–285. doi:10.2307/2183853
• –––, 1993, Political Liberalism , New York: Columbia University Press.
• –––, 1999, John Rawls: Collected Papers , Samuel Freeman (ed.), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• –––, 2001, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Reiheld, Alison, 2015, “Just Caring for Caregivers: What Society and the State Owe to Those Who Render Care”, Feminist Philosophy Quarterly , 1(2). doi:10.5206/fpq/2015.2.1
• Rhode, Deborah L., 1994, “Feminism and the State”, Harvard Law Review , 107(6): 1181–1208.
• –––, 1997, Speaking of Sex: The Denial of Gender Inequality , Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Reich, Robert and Debra Satz (eds.), 2009, Toward a Humanist Justice: The Political Philosophy of Susan Moller Okin , Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337396.001.0001
• Robeyns, Ingrid, 2007, “When Will Society Be Gender-Just?” in Browne 2007: 54–74. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511619205.004
• –––, 2012, “Care, Gender, and Property-Owning Democracy”, in O’Neill and Williamson 2012: 163–179.
• Roiphe, Katie, 1994, The Morning After: Sex, Fear and Feminism , Boston, MA: Back Bay Books.
• Rosenblatt, Helena, 2018, The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century , Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Sample, Ruth, 2002, “Why Feminist Contractarianism?”, Journal of Social Philosophy , 33(2): 257–281. doi:10.1111/0047-2786.00008
• Sandberg, Cheryl, 2013, Women, Work, and the Will To Lead , New York: Random House.
• Satz, Debra, 2010, Why Some Things Are Not For Sale: The Moral Limits of Markets , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195311594.001.0001
• Schouten, Gina, 2013, “Restricting Justice: Political Interventions in the Home and in the Market: Restricting Justice”, Philosophy & Public Affairs , 41(4): 357–388. doi:10.1111/papa.12022
• –––, 2017, “Citizenship, Reciprocity, and the Gendered Division of Labor: A Stability Argument for Gender Egalitarian Political Interventions”, Politics, Philosophy & Economics , 16(2): 174–209. doi:10.1177/1470594X15600830
• –––, 2019, Liberalism, Neutrality, and the Gendered Division of Labor , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198813071.001.0001
• –––, 2021, “Justice and Legitimacy in Caregiver Support: A Proposal for Managing Tradeoffs between Gender Egalitarian and Economic Egalitarian Social Aims”, in Bhandary and Baehr 2021: ch. 11, pp. 266–291.
• Schwartzman, Lisa, 2006, Challenging Liberalism: Feminism as Political Critique , College Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
• Scoccia, Danny, 1996, “Can Liberals Support a Ban on Violent Pornography?”, Ethics , 106(4): 776–799. doi:10.1086/233672
• Shachar, Ayelet, 2009, “What We Owe Women”, in Reich and Satz 2009: 143–165.
• Shulman, Alex Kates, 1970 [2012], “A Marriage Agreement”, Up From Under , 1(2): 5–8; adapted and reprinted in A Marriage Agreement and Other Essays: Four Decades of Feminist Writing , New York: Open Road Media, 2012.
• Simon, Rita, 2002, “Women and Violent Crime”, in McElroy 2002d: 231–237.
• Smith, Patricia, 2004, “Liberalism as an Antidote to Stereotyping”, in Baehr 2004: 21–36.
• Sommers, Christina Hoff, 1994, Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women , New York: Simon and Schuster.
• –––, 2000, The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men , New York: Simon and Schuster.
• –––, 2007, “The Subjection of Islamic Women”, Weekly Standard , 12(34). [ Sommers 2007 available online ]
• Spaulding, Christina, 1988–89, “Anti-Pornography Laws as a Claim for Equal Respect: Feminism, Liberalism & Community”, Berkeley Women’s Law Journal , 4(1): 128–165.
• Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 1882, “The Solitude of Self”, The Woman’s Column , January 1882, 2–3. Reprinted in Ellen Carol DuBois (ed.), Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: Correspondence, Writings, and Speeches , New York: Schocken Books, 1981, p. 247. [ Stanton 1882 available online ]
• Stark, Cynthia, 2021, “Moral Desert, Justice as Fairness, and the Gendered Division of Labor”, in Bhandary and Baehr 2021: ch. 7, pp. 168–186.
• Stevens, Richard W., Hugo Teufel III, and Matthew Y. Biscan, 2002, “Disarming Women: Comparing ‘Gun Control’ to Self-Defense”, in McElroy 2002d: 238–263.
• Stolba, Christine and Diana Furchtgott-Roth, 1999, Women’s Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America , Washington, DC: AEI Press and Independent Women’s Forum.
• –––, 2001, The Feminist Dilemma: When Success Is Not Enough , Washington, DC: AEI Press.
• Strossen, Nadine, 2000, Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex and the Fight for Women’s Rights , New York: New York University Press.
• Tabarrok, Alexander, 2002, “Abortion and Liberty”, in McElroy 2002d: 152–177.
• Taylor, Joan Kennedy, 1992, Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist Feminism Rediscovered , Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
• –––, 1999, What You Can Do About Sexual Harassment When You Don’t Want to Call the Cops , New York: New York University Press.
• –––, 2001, “A New View of the Libertarian Family: Review of Love and Economics: Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn’t Work , by Jennifer Roback Morse”, Association of Libertarian Feminists (ALF) News , 80. [ Taylor 2001 available online ]
• Tessman, Lisa (ed.), 2009, Feminist Ethics and Social and Political Philosophy: Theorizing the Non-Ideal , Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6841-6
• Thompson, Janna, 1993, “What Do Women Want? Rewriting the Social Contract”, International Journal of Moral and Social Studies , 8: 257–272.
• Thurschwell, Adam, 1999, “Radical Feminist Liberalism: At the Heart of Freedom: Feminism, Sex, and Equality , by Drucilla Cornell”, Rutgers Law Review , 51(3): 745–776.
• Tomasi, John, 2009, “Can Feminism be Liberated from Governmentalism?” in Reich and Satz 2009: 67–92.
• Warnick, Ashlie, 2003, “IFeminism. Review of Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the Twenty-First Century , Edited by Wendy McElroy”, Michigan Law Review , 101(6): 1602–1621.
• Watson, Lori, 2007, “Constituting Politics: Power, Reciprocity, and Identity”, Hypatia , 22(4): 96–112. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2007.tb01322.x
• –––, 2014, “Why Sex Work Isn’t Work Logos Journal”, Logos: A Journal of Modern Society & Culture , 13(3–4): art. 1. [ Watson 2014 available online ]
• –––, 2019, “A Defense of a Sex Equality Approach to Pornography”, in Altman and Watson 2019: 151–297.
• Watson, Lori and Christie Hartley, 2018, Equal Citizenship and Public Reason: A Feminist Political Liberalism , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190683023.001.0001
• Williams, Joan, 2000, Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do About It , New York: Oxford University Press.
• Wolf, Christopher (ed.), 2004, Liberalism at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Contemporary Liberal Political Theory and Its Critics , second Edition, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
• Wolf-Devine, Celia, 2004, “The Hegemonic Liberalism of Susan Moller Okin”, in Wolf 2004: 41–59.
• Wright, Erik Olin, 2008, “Institutions Promoting Gender Egalitarian Families”, Politics & Society , 36(3): 311–312. doi:10.1177/0032329208320561
• Young, Cathy, 1992, “Women, Sex and Rape”, Washington Post (National Weekly Edition) July 29, 1992, p. 25. [ Young 1992 available online ].
• –––, 2004, “Taking Science Seriously: Conservative Dogma About Sex Roles Ignores Inconvenient Realities”, Reason: Free Minds and Free Markets , August/September issue: 16–18. [ Young 2004 available online ]
• –––, 2006, “Are Muslim Women Oppressed? An Exploration of the Place of Women in Islam”, on Reason: Free Minds and Free Markets , 24 October 2006. [ Young 2006 available online ]
• –––, 2007, “Enforcing Virtue”, Reason: Free Minds and Free Markets , March issue: 16–17. [ Young 2007 available online ]
• Young, Iris, 1990, Justice and the Politics of Difference , Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Yuracko, Kimberly, 2003, Perfectionism and Contemporary Feminist Values , Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press.
• Abbey, Ruth, 1999, “Back to the Future: Marriage as Friendship in the Thought of Mary Wollstonecraft”, Hypatia , 14(3): 78–95. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.1999.tb01053.x
• Allen, Anita L., 2003, Why Privacy Isn’t Everything: Feminist Reflections on Personal Accountability , Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
• Almeder, Robert F., 1994, “Liberal Feminism and Academic Feminism”, Public Affairs Quarterly , 8(4): 299–315.
• Anderson, Elizabeth S., 1991, “John Stuart Mill and Experiments in Living”, Ethics , 102(1): 4–26. doi:10.1086/293367
• Antony, Louise M., 1998, “Back to Androgyny: What Bathrooms Can Teach Us About Equality”, Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues , 9: 1–20.
• Baehr, Amy R., 2003, “A Feminist Liberal Approach to Hate Crime Legislation”, Journal of Social Philosophy , 34(1): 134–152. doi:10.1111/1467-9833.00171
• Bassham, Gregory, 1992, “Feminist Legal Theory: A Liberal Response”, Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy , 6: 293–319.
• Baum, Bruce, 1997, “Feminism, Liberalism and Cultural Pluralism: J. S. Mill on Mormon Polygyny”, Journal of Political Philosophy , 5(3): 230–253. doi:10.1111/1467-9760.00033
• Bhandary, Asha, 2016, “A Millian Concept of Care: What Mill’s Defense of the Common Arrangement Can Teach Us About Care”, Social Theory and Practice , 42(1): 155–182. doi:10.5840/soctheorpract20164217
• Bojer, Hilde, 2000, “Children and Theories of Social Justice”, Feminist Economics , 6(2): 23–39. doi:10.1080/13545700050076098
• Boucher, Joanne, 2003, “Betty Friedan and the Radical Past of Liberal Feminism”, New Politics , 9(3): 23–32.
• Brake, Elizabeth, 2000, “A Liberal Response to Catharine MacKinnon”, Southwest Philosophical Studies , 22: 17–23.
• Brennan, Samantha, 2004, “The Liberal Rights of Feminist Liberalism”, in Baehr 2004: 85–102.
• Brennan, Jason, Bas von der Vossen and David Schmidtz (ed.), 2018, Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism , New York: Routledge.
• Brison, Susan J., 2006, “Contentious Freedom: Sex Work and Social Construction”, Hypatia , 21(4): 192–200. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2006.tb01136.x
• Burgess-Jackson, Keith, 1995, “John Stuart Mill, Radical Feminist”:, Social Theory and Practice , 21(3): 369–396. doi:10.5840/soctheorpract19952132
• Card, Robert F., 2001, “Gender, Justice Within the Family, and the Commitments of Rawlsian Liberalism”, Public Affairs Quarterly , 15(2): 155–171.
• Case, Mary Anne, 1995, “Of Richard Epstein and Other Radical Feminists”, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy , 18: 369–418.
• Cohen, Joshua, 1992, “Okin on Justice, Gender, and Family”, Canadian Journal of Philosophy , 22(2): 263–286. doi:10.1080/00455091.1992.10717280
• Cornell, Drucilla, 1995, The Imaginary Domain: Abortion, Pornography, and Sexual Harassment , New York: Routledge.
• Cudd, Ann E., 2018, "Feminism and Libertarian Self-Ownership", in Brennan, von der Vossen and Schmidtz 2018: 127–139.
• Dimock, Susan, 2008, “Why All Feminists Should Be Contractarians”, Dialogue , 47(2): 273–290. doi:10.1017/S0012217300002614
• Donner, Wendy, 1993, “John Stuart Mill’s Liberal Feminism”, Philosophical Studies , 69(2–3): 155–166. doi:10.1007/BF00990081
• Elshtain, Jean Bethke, 1982 [1991], “Antigone’s Daughters”, Democracy , April 1982. Reprinted in McElroy 1991a: 61–76.
• English, Jane, 1977, “Justice between Generations”, Philosophical Studies , 31(2): 91–104. doi:10.1007/BF01857179
• Engster, Daniel and Maurice Hamington (eds), 2015, Care Ethics and Political Theory , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198716341.001.0001
• Epstein, Richard A., 1999, “Liberty, Patriarchy, and Feminism”, University of Chicago Legal Forum , 89: 106–111.
• Exdell, John, 1994, “Feminism, Fundamentalism, and Liberal Legitimacy”, Canadian Journal of Philosophy , 24(3): 441–463. doi:10.1080/00455091.1994.10717379
• Friedan, Betty, 1963 [1974], The Feminine Mystique , New York: Norton.
• Freeman, Samuel (ed.), 2003, Cambridge Companion to Rawls , New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521651670
• Gerson, Gal, 2002, “Liberal Feminism: Individuality and Oppositions in Wollstonecraft and Mill”, Political Studies , 50(4): 794–810. doi:10.1111/1467-9248.00008
• –––, 2004, “Gender in the Liberal Tradition: Hobhouse on the Family”, History of Political Thought 25(4): 700–725.
• Gill, Emily R., 2001, Becoming Free: Autonomy and Diversity in the Liberal Polity , Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press.
• Gladstein, Mimi and Chris Sciabarra (eds), 1999, Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand , University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.
• Graham, Gordon, 1994, “Liberal vs Radical Feminism Revisited”, Journal of Applied Philosophy , 11(2): 155–170. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5930.1994.tb00105.x
• Green, Karen, 1986, “Rawls, Women and the Priority of Liberty”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy , 64(sup1): 26–36. doi:10.1080/00048402.1986.9755423
• –––, 1994, “Freud, Wollstonecraft, and Ecofeminism”:, Environmental Ethics , 16(2): 117–134. doi:10.5840/enviroethics199416227
• Groenhout, Ruth E., 2002, “Essentialist Challenges to Liberal Feminism”, Social Theory and Practice , 28(1): 51–75. doi:10.5840/soctheorpract20022812
• Hager, Mark M., 1999, “Sex in the Original Position: A Restatement of Liberal Feminism”, University of Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal , 14(2): 181–241.
• Heberle, Renée J. and Benjamin Pryor (eds), 2008, Imagining Law: On Drucilla Cornell , Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
• Hekman, Susan, 1992, “John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women : The Foundations of Liberal Feminism”, History of European Ideas , 15(4–6): 681–686. doi:10.1016/0191-6599(92)90078-Q
• Jensen, Pamela Grande (ed.), 1996, Finding a New Feminism: Rethinking the Woman Question for Liberal Democracy , Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
• Johnson, Pauline, 1994, Feminism as Radical Humanism , Boulder, CO: Westview.
• Jones, Bernie D., 2003, “Single Motherhood by Choice, Libertarian Feminism, and the Uniform Parentage Act”, Texas Journal of Women and the Law , 12(2): 419–449.
• Kearns, Deborah, 1983, “A Theory of Justice—And Love; Rawls on the Family”, Politics (now the Australian Journal of Political Science ), 18(2): 36–42. doi:10.1080/00323268308401886
• Kensinger, Loretta, 1997, “(In)Quest of Liberal Feminism”, Hypatia , 12(4): 178–197. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.1997.tb00303.x
• Kymlicka, Will, 1991, “Rethinking the Family”, Philosophy & Public Affairs , 20(1): 77–97.
• Laden, Anthony Simon, 2001, Reasonably Radical: Deliberative Liberalism and the Politics of Identity , Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
• Lloyd, S.A., 1994, “Family Justice and Social Justice”, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly , 75(3–4): 353–371. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0114.1994.tb00135.x
• Loudermilk, Kim, 2004, Fictional Feminism: How American Bestsellers Effect the Movement for Women’s Equality , New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203485170
• Machan, Tibor (ed.), 2006, Liberty and Justice , Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press.
• Makus, Ingrid, 1996, Women, Politics and Reproduction: The Liberal Legacy , Tonawanda, NY: University of Toronto Press.
• McElroy, Wendy, 1981, “Against the ERA”, Libertarian Forum , 15(3–4/June–July): 6–7.
• –––, 1991c, “Abortion”, in McElroy 1991a: 145–156.
• –––, 1998, The Reasonable Woman. A Guide to Intellectual Survival , Amherst, MA: Prometheus Books.
• McKeen, Catherine, 2006, “Gender, Choice and Partiality: A Defense of Rawls on the Family”, Essays in Philosophy , 7(1): 29–48. doi:10.5840/eip20067117
• McKitrick, Jennifer, 2006, “Liberty, Gender, and the Family”, in Machan 2006: 83–103.
• Mendus, Susan, 1999, “The Importance of Love in Rawls’s Theory of Justice ”, British Journal of Political Science , 29(1): 57–75. doi:10.1017/S0007123499000034
• Mill, John Stuart, 1869 [1989], The Subjection of Women , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Morse, Jennifer Roback, 1986, A Matter of Choice: A Critique of Comparable Worth by a Skeptical Feminist , New York: Priority Press.
• –––, 1999, “No Families, No Freedom: Human Flourishing in a Free Society”, Social Philosophy and Policy , 16(1): 290–314. doi:10.1017/S0265052500002338
• Nash, Kate, 1998, Universal Difference: Feminism and the Undecidability of “Women” , Basingstoke: Macmillan.
• Nussbaum, Martha C., 2003, “Rawls and Feminism”, in Freeman 2003: 488–520. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521651670.015
• Okin, Susan Moller, 2005, “‘Forty Acres and a Mule’ for Women: Rawls and Feminism”, Politics, Philosophy & Economics , 4(2): 233–248. doi:10.1177/1470594X05052540
• Phillips, Anne, 2001, “Feminism and Liberalism Revisited: Has Martha Nussbaum Got It Right?”, Constellations , 8(2): 249–266. doi:10.1111/1467-8675.00229
• Posner, Richard A., 1989, “Conservative Feminism”, University of Chicago Legal Forum , 191: 209–217.
• Presley, Sharon, 1999, “Ayn Rand’s Philosophy of Individualism: A Feminist Psychologist’s Perspective”, in Gladstein and Schiabarra 1999: 251–274.
• Richardson, Janice, 2007, “On Not Making Ourselves the Prey of Others: Jean Hampton’s Feminist Contractarianism”, Feminist Legal Studies , 15(1): 33–55. doi:10.1007/s10691-006-9041-y
• Russell, J.S., 1995, “Okin’s Rawlsian Feminism?: Justice in the Family and Another Liberalism”, Social Theory and Practice , 21(3): 397–426. doi:10.5840/soctheorpract19952133
• Schaeffer, Denise, 2001, “Feminism and Liberalism Reconsidered: The Case of Catharine MacKinnon”, American Political Science Review , 95(3): 699–708. doi:10.1017/S0003055401003082
• Schwartz, Justin, 2001, “Rights of Inequality: Rawlsian Justice, Equal Opportunity, and the Status of the Family”, Legal Theory , 7(1): 83–117. doi:10.1017/S135232520107104X
• Smith, Andrew F., 2004, “Closer But Still No Cigar: On the Inadequacy of Rawls’s Reply to Okin’s ‘ Political Liberalism , Justice, and Gender’”, Social Theory and Practice , 30(1): 59–71. doi:10.5840/soctheorpract20043012
• Smith, G. W., 2000, “J. S. Mill on What We Don’t Know About Women”, Utilitas , 12(1): 41–61. doi:10.1017/S0953820800002600
• Smith, Patricia, 1998, “Autonomy, Aspiration and Accomplishment: Some Steps and Barriers to Equality for Women”, Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues , 9: 257–278.
• Sommers, Christina Hoff, 2002, “The Case against Ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)”, Government Testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 13, 2002, published by American Enterprise Institute. [ Sommers 2002 available online ]
• Spinner‐Halev, Jeff, 2001, “Feminism, Multiculturalism, Oppression, and the State”, Ethics , 112(1): 84–113. doi:10.1086/322741
• Stafford, William, 2004, “Is Mill’s ‘Liberal’ Feminism ‘Masculinist’?”, Journal of Political Ideologies , 9(2): 159–179. doi:10.1080/13569310410001691190
• Strossen, Nadine, 1991, “The American Civil Liberties Union and Women’s Rights”, New York University Law Review , 66(6): 1940–1961.
• Strossen, Nadine, 1993, “Fighting Big Sister for Liberty and Equality”, New York Law School Law Review , 38: 1–8.
• Taylor, Joan Kennedy, 1991, “Protective Labor Legislation”, in McElroy 1991a: 187–192.
• –––, 1993, Women’s Issues: Feminism, Classical Liberalism, and the Future , Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution.
• Thurschwell, Adam, 2008, “Radical Feminist Liberalism”, in Heberle and Pryor 2008: 31–58.
• Tong, Rosemarie, 1998a, “Liberal Feminism”, in Tong 1998c: 10–44.
• –––, 1998b, “Radical Feminism: Libertarian and Cultural Perspectives”, in Tong 1998c: 45–93.
• –––, 1998c, Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction , second edition, Boulder, CO: Westview.
• Tulloch, Gail, 1989, “Mill’s Epistemology in Practice in His Liberal Feminism”, Educational Philosophy and Theory , 21(2): 32–39. doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.1989.tb00167.x
• Vaughn, Karen I., 1993, “Who Owns the Children? Libertarianism, Feminism, and Property”, Reason Papers 18: 189–200.
• Walker, John D., 1995, “Liberalism, Consent, and the Problem of Adaptive Preferences”:, Social Theory and Practice , 21(3): 457–471. doi:10.5840/soctheorpract19952135
• Ward, Cynthia V., 1994, “A Kinder, Gentler Liberalism? Visions of Empathy in Feminist and Communitarian Literature”, The University of Chicago Law Review , 61(3): 929–955. doi:10.2307/1600171
• –––, 1999, “Introduction: Reconstructing Liberalism”, William and Mary Law Review , 40(2): 719–721.
• Weiss, Michael and Cathy Young, 1996, “Feminist Jurisprudence: Equal Rights or Neo-Paternalism?” Policy Analysis , 256 (Cato Institute).
• Wendell, Susan, 1987, “A (Qualified) Defense of Liberal Feminism”, Hypatia , 2(2): 65–93. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.1987.tb01066.x
• Wijze, Stephen de, 2000, “The Family and Political Justice: The Case for Political Liberalisms”, The Journal of Ethics , 4(3): 257–282. doi:10.1023/A:1009855117726
• Williams, Joan, 2006, Opt Out or Forced Out? The Untold Story of Why Women Leave the Workforce , Berkeley, CA: The Center for WorkLife Law, University of California, Hastings College of Law.
• Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1792 [1998], A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , New York: Norton.
• Young, Cathy, 1999, Ceasefire: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality , New York: The Free Press.

How to cite this entry . Preview the PDF version of this entry at the Friends of the SEP Society . Look up topics and thinkers related to this entry at the Internet Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO). Enhanced bibliography for this entry at PhilPapers , with links to its database.

• Heckert, Jamie, 2004, “ Towards Consenting Relations: Anarchism and Sexuality ”, presented at the meeting on Past and Present of Radical Sexual Politics in the series Socialism and Sexuality , 3–4 October 2003, University of Amsterdam.
• Long, Roderick T., 1997, “ Beyond Patriarchy: A Libertarian Model of the Family ”, Formuation , Free Nation Foundation, Spring 1997.
• –––, 2001, “ Equality: The Unknown Ideal ”, Mises Daily Articles , 16 October 2001.
• Long, Roderick and Charles Johnson, 2005, “ Libertarian Feminism: Can This Marriage Be Saved? ” Draft of 1 May 2005.
• McElroy, Wendy, 1998c, “ An Exchange of E-Mail Letters on Gertrude B. Kelly ”, Association of Libertarian Feminists (ALF) News , 68.

democracy | feminist philosophy | feminist philosophy, topics: perspectives on autonomy | feminist philosophy, topics: perspectives on power | feminist philosophy, topics: perspectives on reproduction and the family | justice: distributive | liberalism | libertarianism | liberty: positive and negative | pornography: and censorship | rights

Copyright © 2020 by Amy R. Baehr < amy . baehr @ hofstra . edu >

• Accessibility

Support SEP

Mirror sites.

View this site from another server:

• Info about mirror sites

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is copyright © 2023 by The Metaphysics Research Lab , Department of Philosophy, Stanford University

Library of Congress Catalog Data: ISSN 1095-5054

Liberal Feminism

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

• History Of Feminism
• Important Figures
• Women's Suffrage
• Women & War
• Laws & Womens Rights
• Feminist Texts
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• B.A., Mundelein College
• M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School

In 1983, Alison Jaggar published Feminist Politics and Human Nature where she defined four theories related to feminism:

• Liberal feminism
• Radical feminism
• Socialist feminism

Her analysis was not completely new; the varieties of feminism had begun to emerge as early as the 1960s. Jaggar's contribution was in clarifying, extending and solidifying the various definitions, which are still often used today.

Goals of Liberal Feminism

Jagger described liberal feminism as theory and work that concentrates more on issues such as equality in the workplace, in education, and in political rights. Liberal feminism also focuses on how private life impedes or enhances public equality.

Thus, liberal feminists tend to support marriage as an equal partnership, and more male involvement in child care. Support for abortion and other reproductive rights  have to do with control of one's life and autonomy. Ending domestic violence and sexual harassment remove obstacles to women achieving on an equal level with men.

Liberal feminism's primary goal is gender equality in the public sphere, such as equal access to education, equal pay, ending job sex segregation, and better working conditions. From this standpoint, legal changes would make these goals possible.

Private sphere issues are of concern mainly as they influence or impede equality in the public sphere. Gaining access to and being paid and promoted equally in traditionally male-dominated occupations is an important goal.

What do women want? Liberal feminists believe they want the same things men want:

• to get an education
• to make a decent living
• to provide for one's family.

Means and Methods

Liberal feminism tends to rely on the state to gain equality—to see the state as the protector of individual rights.

Liberal feminists, for example, support affirmative action legislation requiring employers and educational institutions to make special attempts to include women in the pool of applicants, on the assumption that past and current discrimination may simply overlook many qualified women applicants.

Passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has been a key goal for liberal feminists. From the original women's suffrage proponents who moved to advocate a federal equality amendment to many of the feminists of the 1960s and 1970s in organizations including the National Organization for Women , each generation viewed the amendment as necessary to create a more just society.

The amendment is one state shy of the 38 needed for passage, but ERA supporters in 2019 saw renewed hope as the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage approached.

A vote that could have made Virginia the 38th state to ratify the ERA missed by a single vote in early 2019. But the U.S. Supreme Court upheld new redistricting lines in the state later in 2019 and a move was underway in Congress to officially extend the ratification deadline .

The text of the Equal Rights Amendment, as passed by Congress and sent to the states in the 1970s, is classical liberal feminism:

"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

While not denying there may be biologically-based differences between men and women, liberal feminism cannot see these differences as adequate justification for inequality, such as the wage gap between men and women.

Critics of liberal feminism point to a lack of critique of basic gender relationships, a focus on state action which links women's interests to those of the powerful, a lack of class or race analysis, and a lack of analysis of ways in which women are different from men. Critics often accuse liberal feminism of judging women and their success by male standards.

"White feminism" is a kind of liberal feminism which assumes that the issues facing white women are the issues all women face, and unity around liberal feminist goals is more important than racial equality and other such goals.  Intersectionality was a theory developed in criticism of liberal feminism's common blindspot on race.

In more recent years, liberal feminism has sometimes been conflated with a kind of libertarian feminism, sometimes called equity feminism or individual feminism. Individual feminism often opposes legislative or state action, preferring to emphasize developing the skills and abilities of women to compete better in the world as it is. This feminism opposes laws that give either men or women advantages and privileges.

Resources and Further Reading

• Alison M. Jaggar. Feminist Politics and Human Nature .
• Drucilla Cornell. At the Heart of Freedom: Feminism, Sex, and Equality .
• Josephine Donovan. Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions of American Feminism .
• Elizabeth Fox-Genovese . Feminism Without Illusions: A Critique of Individualism .
• Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique
• Catharine MacKinnon. Toward a Feminist Theory of the State .
• John Stuart Mill . The Subjection of Women .
• Mary Wollstonecraft . A Vindication of the Rights of Woman .
• Socialist Feminism vs. Other Types of Feminism
• Top 20 Influential Modern Feminist Theorists
• Cultural Feminism
• Goals of the Feminist Movement
• Feminist Organizations of the 1970s
• Feminist Philosophy
• Socialist Feminism Definition and Comparisons
• 21 Quotes About Anti-Feminism
• Feminist Quotes from Famous Women
• Biography of Aileen Hernandez
• Feminist Theory in Sociology
• What Is Radical Feminism?
• The Core Ideas and Beliefs of Feminism
• The Women's Liberation Movement
• Equal Rights Amendment
• What Is 'The Second Feminist Wave?'

• Search Menu

Sign in through your institution

• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Archaeology
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
• Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
• Archaeology by Region
• Archaeology of Religion
• Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
• Biblical Archaeology
• Contemporary and Public Archaeology
• Environmental Archaeology
• Historical Archaeology
• History and Theory of Archaeology
• Industrial Archaeology
• Landscape Archaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Browse content in Architecture
• Architectural Structure and Design
• History of Architecture
• Residential and Domestic Buildings
• Theory of Architecture
• Browse content in Art
• Art Subjects and Themes
• History of Art
• Industrial and Commercial Art
• Theory of Art
• Biographical Studies
• Byzantine Studies
• Browse content in Classical Studies
• Classical History
• Classical Philosophy
• Classical Mythology
• Classical Literature
• Classical Reception
• Classical Art and Architecture
• Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
• Greek and Roman Papyrology
• Greek and Roman Epigraphy
• Greek and Roman Law
• Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Late Antiquity
• Religion in the Ancient World
• Digital Humanities
• Browse content in History
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Diplomatic History
• Environmental History
• Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
• Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
• Historical Geography
• History by Period
• History of Emotions
• History of Agriculture
• History of Education
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• Industrial History
• Intellectual History
• International History
• Labour History
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Local and Family History
• Maritime History
• Military History
• National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
• Oral History
• Political History
• Public History
• Regional and National History
• Revolutions and Rebellions
• Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Urban History
• World History
• Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
• Language Learning (Specific Skills)
• Language Teaching Theory and Methods
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Cognitive Linguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Forensic Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
• Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
• History of English
• Language Evolution
• Language Reference
• Language Acquisition
• Language Variation
• Language Families
• Lexicography
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Linguistic Theories
• Linguistic Typology
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation and Interpretation
• Writing Systems
• Browse content in Literature
• Bibliography
• Children's Literature Studies
• Literary Studies (Romanticism)
• Literary Studies (American)
• Literary Studies (Asian)
• Literary Studies (European)
• Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
• Literary Studies (Modernism)
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
• Literary Studies (19th Century)
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (British and Irish)
• Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
• Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
• Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
• Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
• Literary Studies (History of the Book)
• Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
• Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
• Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
• Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
• Literary Studies (War Literature)
• Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Mythology and Folklore
• Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Music
• Applied Music
• Dance and Music
• Ethics in Music
• Ethnomusicology
• Gender and Sexuality in Music
• Medicine and Music
• Music Cultures
• Music and Media
• Music and Religion
• Music and Culture
• Music Education and Pedagogy
• Music Theory and Analysis
• Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
• Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
• Musicology and Music History
• Performance Practice and Studies
• Race and Ethnicity in Music
• Sound Studies
• Browse content in Performing Arts
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Epistemology
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Non-Western Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
• Practical Ethics
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Biblical Studies
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• History of Religion
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Qumran Studies
• Religion and Education
• Religion and Health
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Science
• Religion and Law
• Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cookery, Food, and Drink
• Cultural Studies
• Customs and Traditions
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
• Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
• Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
• Sports and Outdoor Recreation
• Technology and Society
• Travel and Holiday
• Visual Culture
• Browse content in Law
• Arbitration
• Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
• Commercial Law
• Company Law
• Browse content in Comparative Law
• Systems of Law
• Competition Law
• Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
• Government Powers
• Judicial Review
• Local Government Law
• Military and Defence Law
• Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
• Construction Law
• Contract Law
• Browse content in Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Criminal Evidence Law
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Employment and Labour Law
• Environment and Energy Law
• Browse content in Financial Law
• Banking Law
• Insolvency Law
• History of Law
• Human Rights and Immigration
• Intellectual Property Law
• Browse content in International Law
• Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
• Public International Law
• IT and Communications Law
• Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
• Law and Politics
• Law and Society
• Browse content in Legal System and Practice
• Courts and Procedure
• Legal Skills and Practice
• Primary Sources of Law
• Regulation of Legal Profession
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Policing
• Criminal Investigation and Detection
• Police and Security Services
• Police Procedure and Law
• Police Regional Planning
• Browse content in Property Law
• Personal Property Law
• Study and Revision
• Terrorism and National Security Law
• Browse content in Trusts Law
• Wills and Probate or Succession
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Allied Health Professions
• Arts Therapies
• Clinical Science
• Dietetics and Nutrition
• Occupational Therapy
• Operating Department Practice
• Physiotherapy
• Radiography
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Browse content in Anaesthetics
• General Anaesthesia
• Neuroanaesthesia
• Clinical Neuroscience
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Acute Medicine
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Clinical Genetics
• Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Genito-urinary Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Toxicology
• Medical Oncology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Community Medical Services
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Forensic Medicine
• Haematology
• History of Medicine
• Browse content in Medical Skills
• Clinical Skills
• Communication Skills
• Nursing Skills
• Surgical Skills
• Browse content in Medical Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
• Surgical Dentistry
• Medical Ethics
• Medical Statistics and Methodology
• Browse content in Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neuropathology
• Nursing Studies
• Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Gynaecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Browse content in Paediatrics
• Neonatology
• Browse content in Pathology
• Chemical Pathology
• Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
• Histopathology
• Medical Microbiology and Virology
• Patient Education and Information
• Browse content in Pharmacology
• Psychopharmacology
• Browse content in Popular Health
• Caring for Others
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Self-help and Personal Development
• Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
• Cell Biology
• Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Reproduction, Growth and Development
• Primary Care
• Professional Development in Medicine
• Browse content in Psychiatry
• Addiction Medicine
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Learning Disabilities
• Old Age Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Radiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiation Oncology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Browse content in Surgery
• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Surgery
• Peri-operative Care
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Surgical Oncology
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Aquatic Biology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Natural History
• Plant Sciences and Forestry
• Research Methods in Life Sciences
• Structural Biology
• Systems Biology
• Zoology and Animal Sciences
• Browse content in Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Computational Chemistry
• Crystallography
• Environmental Chemistry
• Industrial Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Mineralogy and Gems
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Browse content in Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Architecture and Logic Design
• Game Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Mathematical Theory of Computation
• Programming Languages
• Software Engineering
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Virtual Reality
• Browse content in Computing
• Business Applications
• Computer Security
• Computer Games
• Computer Networking and Communications
• Digital Lifestyle
• Graphical and Digital Media Applications
• Operating Systems
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental Geography
• Geology and the Lithosphere
• Maps and Map-making
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Oceanography and Hydrology
• Palaeontology
• Physical Geography and Topography
• Regional Geography
• Soil Science
• Urban Geography
• Browse content in Engineering and Technology
• Agriculture and Farming
• Biological Engineering
• Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
• Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Energy Technology
• Engineering (General)
• Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
• History of Engineering and Technology
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials
• Technology of Industrial Chemistry
• Transport Technology and Trades
• Browse content in Environmental Science
• Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
• Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Environmental Sustainability
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
• Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Materials Science
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
• Nanotechnology
• Browse content in Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Biomathematics and Statistics
• History of Mathematics
• Mathematical Education
• Mathematical Finance
• Mathematical Analysis
• Numerical and Computational Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Pure Mathematics
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Development of the Nervous System
• Disorders of the Nervous System
• History of Neuroscience
• Invertebrate Neurobiology
• Molecular and Cellular Systems
• Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
• Neuroscientific Techniques
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biological and Medical Physics
• Classical Mechanics
• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
• History of Physics
• Mathematical and Statistical Physics
• Measurement Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Particles and Fields
• Plasma Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity and Gravitation
• Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Affective Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Music Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Psychological Assessment and Testing
• Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
• Psychology Professional Development and Training
• Research Methods in Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Anthropology of Religion
• Human Evolution
• Medical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business Strategy
• Business History
• Business and Technology
• Business and Government
• Business and the Environment
• Comparative Management
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Management
• Human Resource Management
• Industrial and Employment Relations
• Industry Studies
• Information and Communication Technologies
• International Business
• Knowledge Management
• Management and Management Techniques
• Operations Management
• Organizational Theory and Behaviour
• Pensions and Pension Management
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Strategic Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Forms of Crime
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
• Development Studies
• Browse content in Economics
• Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
• Asian Economics
• Behavioural Finance
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Systems
• Economic Methodology
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• General Economics and Teaching
• Health, Education, and Welfare
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Labour and Demographic Economics
• Law and Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Microeconomics
• Public Economics
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
• Welfare Economics
• Browse content in Education
• Adult Education and Continuous Learning
• Care and Counselling of Students
• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Educational Equipment and Technology
• Educational Strategies and Policy
• Higher and Further Education
• Organization and Management of Education
• Philosophy and Theory of Education
• Schools Studies
• Secondary Education
• Teaching of a Specific Subject
• Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
• Teaching Skills and Techniques
• Browse content in Environment
• Applied Ecology (Social Science)
• Climate Change
• Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environment)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Browse content in Human Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Economic Geography
• Political Geography
• Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
• Browse content in Politics
• African Politics
• Asian Politics
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Elections and Electoral Studies
• Environmental Politics
• European Union
• Foreign Policy
• Gender and Politics
• Human Rights and Politics
• Indian Politics
• International Relations
• International Organization (Politics)
• International Political Economy
• Irish Politics
• Latin American Politics
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Behaviour
• Political Economy
• Political Institutions
• Political Methodology
• Political Communication
• Political Philosophy
• Political Sociology
• Political Theory
• Politics and Law
• Politics of Development
• Public Policy
• Public Administration
• Quantitative Political Methodology
• Regional Political Studies
• Russian Politics
• Security Studies
• State and Local Government
• UK Politics
• US Politics
• Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
• African Studies
• Asian Studies
• East Asian Studies
• Japanese Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Native American Studies
• Scottish Studies
• Browse content in Research and Information
• Research Methods
• Browse content in Social Work
• Addictions and Substance Misuse
• Adoption and Fostering
• Care of the Elderly
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Couple and Family Social Work
• Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
• Emergency Services
• Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
• International and Global Issues in Social Work
• Mental and Behavioural Health
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Practice Settings
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Welfare and Benefit Systems
• Browse content in Sociology
• Childhood Studies
• Community Development
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Economic Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Migration Studies
• Occupations, Professions, and Work
• Organizations
• Population and Demography
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Theory
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Social Research and Statistics
• Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
• Sociology of Religion
• Sociology of Education
• Sport and Leisure
• Urban and Rural Studies
• Browse content in Warfare and Defence
• Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
• Land Forces and Warfare
• Military Administration
• Military Life and Institutions
• Naval Forces and Warfare
• Other Warfare and Defence Issues
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Weapons and Equipment

• < Previous chapter
• Next chapter >

2 Feminism on Liberalism

Professor of Political Philosophy

• Published: February 2024
• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

This chapter considers what liberalism is, from the perspective of feminism. The chapter starts by considering the multiple feminist critiques of liberal theory. Liberalism, according to these critiques, is too universalist and abstract, failing to understand the significance of power and the private sphere. The chapter then moves to those who see the possibility of a productive partnership between liberalism and feminism, whether in philosophy or in activism. For some that partnership is forged by a liberal feminism or ‘choice feminism’ that centres women’s choices, whatever they may be; others endorse a more critical feminist liberalism. It is this latter option, a feminist liberalism, that holds the most potential.

Signed in as

Institutional accounts.

• Google Scholar Indexing
• GoogleCrawler [DO NOT DELETE]

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code
• Add your ORCID iD

Institutional access

Sign in with a library card.

• Sign in with username/password
• Recommend to your librarian
• Institutional account management
• Get help with access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

• Click Sign in through your institution.
• Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
• When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
• Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

• Click Sign in through society site.
• When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Rights and permissions
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Empowerment

Individual feminism theory.

Liberal feminism is acknowledged to be the modern model of feminism, symbolized by the belief that women have innate influence to attain equality. That is why in liberal feminism, the aspects or concepts of civil society altering itself to adapt to feminine does not materialize (McElroy, 2002).

However, feminists are of the opinion that changing the existing law would help in eradicating those laws which are hostile to women. Thus exploring the movie-American violet which tells the story surrounding the life of Dee Roberts, we are allowed to delve into the nature and circumstances affecting her life.

Based on the development and deliberations of the popular civil rights legal proceedings regarding Regina Kelly v.John Paschall , which was filed against 15 defendants whose racial background, was African-American. The circumstances surrounding Dee Roberts do indicate that despite the challenges which included false accusations she opted to fight. Consider the fact that after being dragged to the women prison on drug charges she learns that she was charged as drug peddler.

Though, she has no previous drug record she is subjected to choose either to plead guilty and subsequently go home as a convicted criminal or equally remain in jail and opt to challenge the courts decision. This included endangering her custody including the option of having to stay in the prison for a long period due to the anticipated sentence.

As the story gains currency we do note that despite Dee Robert life as well as her freedom and children being at risk she opts to face the district attorney and subsequently challenge the courts rulings. the manner Dee Roberts is presented in the film can be explained by the way diverse liberal feminism argues in relation to gender equality. It ought to be noted that the circumstances surrounding her symbolizes the manner women are treated in the society.

However, her immediate challenge was to secure her freedom. This is demonstrated in the manner she opted to Remain in prison and fight to clear her name against the false accusations.

From such a situation it can thus be said the situation can be made better by employing the dynamics and principals of individual empowerment as is articulated under liberal feminism. This can be allied to the fact that liberal feminism have played a critical role in bridging the gap separated the two sexes.

In regard to Dee Roberts the situation could be corrected by establishing gender sensitive institutions. Consider the fact that lack of apposite legal procedures that guarantees woman equal rights as men played a central role in as far as the discusses individual is concerned.

Note that, by employing the aspects of social theories in regard to feminism Dee Roberts could not have found herself in such a situation. However, due to poor governance, racism and lack of proper procedures of dealing with crime hence she was wrongly charged. Examining the concepts of feminism the apposite way of rectifying the entire issue is for the women to stand against the oppressive legislations. In regard to what Dee Roberts encountered the remedy would be found if women accept to speak against the social evils.

Exploring the films plot it is apparent that the circumstances surrounding Roberts were recurring issues within the black community. She realized that more and more women were being subjected to suffering either through imprisonment or being shamed as drug dealer. It is from such a position she realized that she was not alone and made up her mind to stand firm not only for her problems but also for those helpless women outside.

By waging a war with intent to strike the very heart of the fraudulent Texas justice system she demonstrates that with determination nothing is impossible. Thus, in order to establish lasting solution to such a problem the suitable thing to do is to sensitize and empower women in regard to the rights surrounding their civil liberties. This can be achieved by developing articulate procedures of empowering women. The objectives of such measures would entail creating a common ground on which gender issues would be viewed adequately.

According to the individual feminism theory this situation can be reversed by allowing women as individuals to have unrestricted equality with men. It ought to be noted that Dee Roberts suffered because she was just a woman and more a black woman. Thus, if the stipulations of individual feminism theories could be employed as individual she could demand redress fro the government.

This can be allied to the fact that individual feminism theory as its core focus on individual rights, diversity, autonomy and liberty. The objectives of this theory are to protect the rights and privileges of individual woman. Thus, it can be employed in regard Dee Roberts’s case to fight the legal systems in order to enact changes that are not hostile to women.

In essence, this would help in getting rid of class privileges as well as gender privileges. What this asserts is that all genders would be treated with equal rights, including an equal claim to posses’ property. And this demonstrates why individual feminism would be the suitable tool to rectify the situation in Dee Roberts’s circumstance. The reason being it encourages women to have full control and responsibility for their own survival (Taylor,2000).

More so, the significance of this approach is that it can be employed to oppose any legal or political interference in regard to the choices women make concerning their bodies. Therefore, from such an approach the concepts of racism and hatred for woman as is witnessed in regard to Dee Roberts case can be fought and the women be given a fair treatment before the courts of law.

The situation in the film demonstrates how weak legal legislations can affect the individuals and equally deny them their liberties which are guaranteed by the law. It ought to be noted that no legal legislation ought to be employed to violate the individual liberties.

Hence, the individual feminism theory stands as a core vehicle that could be exploited to create a favorable condition in which women are treated equally as is men. Also it would be prudence to point that what had taken place in Texas was a raw violation of human rights, as a woman Dee Roberts was entitled to be protected and that is why individual feminism theory is essential in providing a suitable ground on which to establish measures of ascertaining women liberties are protected.

Thus, the remedy for the identified problem, which is abuse of human rights, can be remedied by establishing apposite legal mechanisms to guard the basic human rights. As is stipulated under individual feminism theory women do have a right to be treated equally as is with men (Sommers, 1995).

McElroy, Wendy (2002). Freedom and Feminism in the 21st century . NY:Ivan R. Dee.

Sommers, H (1995). Who stole feminism? New York: Simon & Schuster.

Taylor,K J. (2000) Individualist Feminism Rediscovered NY: Prometheus Books.

• Conflict in Everyday Use
• Relationship Between Mothers and Daughters
• "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker Critical Analysis
• Concepts of Feminism in the Present Societies
• Female Empowerment in Beyoncé's "Run the World"
• Metropolis' Women: Analysis of the Movie's Feminism & Examples
• Modern Gender Issues: Women in the Society
• Feminist Ethics Concept
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, October 12). Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism. https://ivypanda.com/essays/liberal-feminism/

"Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism." IvyPanda , 12 Oct. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/liberal-feminism/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism'. 12 October.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism." October 12, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/liberal-feminism/.

1. IvyPanda . "Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism." October 12, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/liberal-feminism/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism." October 12, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/liberal-feminism/.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Feminist Critiques of Liberalism (The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism)

2015, “Feminist Critiques of Liberalism,” The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism, ed. Steven Wall (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 355-380.

Related Papers

The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism

Linda M G Zerilli

Gila Stopler

Midwest Studies in Philosophy

Matthew McManus

Tom Godfrey

Understanding the historical development of the liberal tradition is essential for any reader of political philosophy. This is due to the historically crucial role that liberal ideas have played in shaping our institutions, mapping out the rights of citizens, and establishing the roles and responsibilities of the state. Today's reader of political philosophy can, however, be forgiven for being deterred from thoroughly examining the development of liberal thought. The discipline is saturated with celebratory, critical, and sceptical responses concerning the value of liberal theory, and this can often overwhelm those seeking a point of entry. That Atanassow and Kahan's Liberal Moments provides readers with a relatively comprehensive overview of this vast intellectual and historical tradition is not only to their credit but also to that of the twenty-four contributors who each provide informative introductions to key liberal thinkers. The book's chief purpose is therefore explanatory. Importantly, and rare to see in a text on liberalism, the contributors neither dismiss any of the ideas or arguments put forward by the liberal thinkers to whom they turn their gaze, nor do they give precedence to their own ideas over their chosen theorist's claims. For the critical philosopher, this may be frustrating, but for the historian of philosophy, students at the beginning of their academic careers, or even experienced academics looking to brush up on their own knowledge, this book deserves praise and attention. Although Liberal Moments does not pursue an overarching line of argumentation, consistent themes are addressed throughout. Firstly, taken together, the chapters seek to convey 'the wide scope, chronological, intellectual and not least geographical, of liberalism as it has developed across the globe since the French Revolution' (1). Secondly, by examining the development of liberalism as a global doctrine, the book aims to explain 'why liberalism found itself in today's leading position' (1). Lastly, Atanassow and Kahan work with a restricted definition of liberalism. While they acknowledge that 'Liberalism is the first truly global political movement', they define the features of liberal thought as consisting of 'an emphasis on individual rights and interests, government […] legitimized by some form of consent, a distinction between the public and private sphere, suspicion of concentrated authority' and 'constitutional guarantees to protect citizens from potentially harmful interference from authority' (2). This limited definition is deployed to (i) enable readers to formulate their own judgements about the conceptual ideas, language, and political practises at the heart of the liberal tradition, and (ii) provide a normative framework within which readers can judge for themselves the extent to which each considered liberal thinker embodies or departs from these core ideas. Throughout the text, each thinker is also located contextually. By taking context seriously, Atanassow and Kahan are able to capture a recurrent theme in the development of liberal thought: liberal thinkers theorised ideas which responded to their relative contextual situations, such that their thought acted as 'political interventions' and 'took an active part in shaping their own societies while contributing, often self-consciously, to a global discourse of liberty' (2). This gives this introductory text a comparative advantage over others that focus solely on the merits of the philosophical arguments of liberalism. The book consists of three sections: Liberal beginnings, Liberalism Confronts the World, and Liberalism Confronts the Twentieth Century. Liberal beginnings explores the ideas and arguments of 'the first generation of post-revolutionary liberals', including Montesquieu, Madame de Staël, Constant, Bentham, Madison, and Tocqueville. These thinkers are grouped together for two main reasons. Firstly, they were all essential contributors to the growth in distinctively liberal ways of discussing the relationship between the individual and society. Secondly, while 'vastly different in intellectual orientation and sensibilities, they were all influenced by Montesquieu's thought' (5). Montesquieu is central to this chapter as he is regarded by Atanassow and Kahan to be the first liberal thinker to take

Devanshi Iyer

There is no single conception of liberalism in today’s world, neither has there ever been. From Mills’ and Locke’s minimal government involvement conception of liberty to Berlin’s and Taylor’s distinction between negative and positive liberty, to Kymlicka’s liberal multicultural hypothesis to Okin’s redressal of liberal ideas of multiculturalism and their clash with feminist values, there have been a wide array of definitions for liberalism. In this paper, I will argue for the greatest challenge of liberalism being the tensions within it, especially tensions between individual choice and liberal justice. I will first flesh out the different conceptions of liberty and explicate possible points of contradiction within them. Then, having established a tension within liberalism, I will use this hypothesis and apply it on 3 different kinds of cases in details. These cases would be 1) The imposition of democracy, 2) The ban of the burqa in France, and 3) The legitimacy of the ‘choice’ to discriminate. Finally, I will conclude the paper by attempting to minimise these tensions within liberalism and formulate a more consistent version of it.

Jack Donnelly

James Sherman

Philosophical Books

Susan Brison

RELATED PAPERS

ERICKA GONZALEZ HERNANDEZ

Issusanto Ar

10th IFAC Workshop on Programmable Devices and Embedded Systems (2010)

Stanislaw Deniziak

Journal of Biogeography

Peter Tattersfield

Lucero Morales

Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons

Journal of Crohn's and Colitis

Reeval Segel

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Robin Christensen

wikiohana net

Computer Communications

Md Imran Raza

Handbook of Evidence-Based Radiation Oncology

Eleanor Blakely

JURNAL WIDYA LAKSANA

SYARIF HIDAYAT

Tolga Karahan

The Epma Journal

Murat Agirov

Physical Review A

Boris Malomed

Karol Flores

Philosophy of Science

Daniel J . Singer

SSRN Electronic Journal

Maria Demertzis

Journal of Chemical Technology &amp; Biotechnology

Fatos Germirli Babuna

Healthcare Informatics Research

Wichai Eungpinichpong

The European Physical Journal A

Charles Hyde

Sabahudin Jasarevic

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Differentiate Between Liberal Feminism And Radical Feminism

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

On This Page:

Radical feminism seeks to address the patriarchal system itself as the root cause of women’s oppression, while liberal feminism aims to promote gender equality through policy reforms within the existing social system. Radical feminism is viewed as more militant with its calls to fundamentally transform society’s power structures.

Radical Feminism

Radical feminism is a branch of feminism that seeks to dismantle the traditional patriarchal power and gender roles that keep women oppressed.

The word radical means ‘of or relating to the root’ – thus, radical feminists see patriarchy as the root cause of gender inequality, and they seek to up-root this.

Radical feminists believe that the cause of gender inequality is based on men’s need or desire to control women. They argue that global change in the patriarchal systems is required to achieve liberation for women.

They also assert that patriarchal systems are in place in an attempt to gain control over women’s bodies, such as laws about abortion and contraception.

According to radical feminists, women are objectified, and many experience violence from men as a way for them to gain control and dominate women.

They argue that violence against women is not down to a few perpetrators, but it is a wider, societal problem.

What Are The Goals Of Radical Feminism?

Radical feminists aim for structural change in the patriarchal systems that are oppressing women. They argue that real liberation for women cannot be achieved unless societal institutions are changed. 

They also aim for women to have bodily autonomy by giving women the freedom of choice for what they do with their lives and their bodies. This includes giving them the right to safe abortions and contraception. 

Radical feminists also want to shed light on the disproportionate amount of violence that women face at the hands of men. Many radical feminists believe that pornography and sex work increase the objectification of women, and this contributes to more violence and subordination of women. 

Likewise, radical feminists aim to put women-centered strategies in place to help women, such as having shelters for abused women and women-only spaces. Some radical feminists are known for being trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) since they do not view transgender women as real women.

Thus, many would seek to exclude transgender women from women-centered strategies. This stance has led to a lot of criticism from other branches of feminism. 

Liberal Feminism

Liberal feminism is a popular branch of feminism that emphasizes the value of freedom, which can be achieved through political and legal reform.

The ideas of liberal feminism are rooted in liberalism, a political philosophy that encourages the development of freedom, particularly in the political and economic spheres.

According to liberal feminism, there is gender inequality because women do not have the same rights as men. They claim that once this is achieved for women, it will eradicate the persist inequalities. They also believe that sexism is the fundamental cause of discrimination against women.

Liberal feminists have most notably fought for women’s right to vote, to work, to have an education, and to have equal pay to men. Many liberal feminists believe that their fight for these rights means that their battle is largely won.

However, many others believe there are still issues to work on, such as the gender pay gap and representation in politics and the media.

What Are The Goals Of Liberal Feminism?

Liberal feminists want women to be granted the same social and political rights as men, have equal pay for doing the same work as men, and be equal in marriage and partnership.

Many of these changes are thought to come through legal and legislative reformation.

In addition, liberal feminists aim for equality in the representation of women in the workplace, politics, and the media.

They would want to see more women in positions of power and being equally represented to men in film and television. Reforming the system is a big part of liberal feminism.

They believe that gender justice is best achieved by modifying existing social institutions and political systems that have the capacity to adjust. Liberal feminism is also individualistic rather than group-based.

This means that rights are granted to individual women who are assumed to be equally deserving of these rights, rather than granting rights to a whole group.

Differences

When they emerged.

Liberal feminism is thought to have emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries through the work of early feminist scholars such as Mary Wollstonecraft, who advocated for educational and social equality for women, and John Stuart Mill, who defended the civic and legal equality of women and their right to vote.

There was then a rise in liberal feminism during the first wave of feminism in the 19th and early 20th centuries when women fought for their right to vote.

Radical feminism primarily developed during the second wave of feminism from the 1960s onwards. It is thought to have been developed in opposition to liberal and Marxist feminism at the time.

Although becoming popularized in the 1960s, there are believed to have been radical feminist activism and ideas during the first wave of feminism. For example, some of the actions of the women in the suffrage movement can be considered radical.

The cause of gender inequality

Liberal feminism does not generally consider what the root cause of gender inequality is. Instead, they claim that the oppression of women comes from their lack of political and civil rights and that once they have these rights, they will be equal to men.

However, they do not explain why it is that women were not granted these rights in the first place. Radical feminists would claim that they go a step further than liberal feminists by wanting to tackle the root of gender inequality – the patriarchy.

The patriarchy and its structures and institutions, which follow patriarchal ideals, are thought to be the cause of all gender injustice.

Radical feminists would criticize liberal feminism since they claim that only seeking to add more women into the already established systems is not enough.

Just because there are more women in positions of power does not mean there is not still sexism and misogyny, radical feminists would reason. They would argue that the whole system needs to be uprooted and changed for women to be free from gender inequality.

In tackling gender inequality

For liberal feminists, gender inequality is thought to be eliminated once women gain the same rights as men. This is done by reforming the legal, political, social, and other systems.

However, for radical feminists, it is believed that reforming the systems that are already in place will not do enough to make real change. Instead, they suggest that eliminating gender inequality will require a radical restructuring of society and its systems.

They believe that removing male supremacy from all spheres of society is the only way that women will be truly liberated.

Thoughts on marriage and the family

There are differences between radical and liberal feminism regarding ideas about the private sphere. Liberal feminists are generally not against heterosexual marriage and having children, as long as this is what the woman wants.

If the woman is being treated as an equal by their partner and chooses how to raise their family, this is a feminist choice.

Although this is not the case for everyone, many radical feminists would choose not to marry or engage in any heterosexual relationship with men. Some may engage in political lesbianism as a way to be segregated from men.

Many hold the view that traditional marriage is a patriarchal institution since this makes women part of men’s private property. Even in modern marriage, radical feminists argue that women who are married to men are under patriarchal rule and are still made to complete much of the unpaid labor in the household compared to their husbands.

Similarities

Despite the many differences between radical and liberal feminism, these branches have some similarities.

Liberal feminists generally support radical feminists’ views that abortion and other reproductive rights should be granted to women. They would also believe that women should have control and autonomy over their own lives and bodies.

Radical and liberal feminists both work to encourage gender equality in the private and public spheres. They have both also achieved legislative change for women’s rights and aim to end domestic violence obstacles that stop women from achieving an equal level to men.

A criticism of both radical and liberal feminism is that they are mainly prominent in Western cultures, aiming to tackle gender inequality, particularly for Western women.

Intersectional feminism would suggest that radical and liberal feminism may fail to account for different groups of women and how oppression affects them uniquely.

For instance, women who are of different ethnicities, gender identities, sexualities, disabilities, and social classes would have different experiences of gender inequality.

Cottais, C. (2020). Liberal feminism. Gender in Geopolitics Institute. Retrieved 2022, September, 2 from: https://igg-geo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IGG_CCottais_Liberal_feminism2020.pdf

Cottais, C. (2020). Radical Feminism. Gender in Geopolitics Institute. Retrieved 2022, September 2, from: https://igg-geo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Technical-Sheet-Radical-feminism.pdf

Graham, G. (1994). Liberal vs radical feminism revisited. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 11(2), 155-170.

Oxley, J. C. (2011). Liberal feminism. Just the Arguments, 100, 258262.

Rowland, R., & Klein, R. (1996). Radical feminism: History, politics, action. Radically speaking: Feminism reclaimed, 9-36.

Related Articles

Latour’s Actor Network Theory

Cultural Lag: 10 Examples & Easy Definition

Value Free in Sociology

Cultural Capital Theory Of Pierre Bourdieu

Pierre Bourdieu & Habitus (Sociology): Definition & Examples

Two-Step Flow Theory Of Media Communication

• Share full article

Overlooked No More: Hansa Mehta, Who Fought for Women’s Equality in India and Beyond

For Mehta, women’s rights were human rights, and in all her endeavors she took women’s participation in public and political realms to new heights.

A postcard depicting Hansa Mehta. Her work included helping to draft India’s first constitution as a newly independent nation. Credit... via Mehta family

Supported by

By Radha Vatsal

While researching this article, Radha Vatsal discovered that she and Hansa Mehta both descended from the 19th-century novelist Nandshankar Mehta.

• May 31, 2024

This article is part of Overlooked , a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.

Human rights has long been considered a Western concept, but recent scholarship has been uncovering the influence of women from the global south. Women like Hansa Mehta.

Mehta stood up against the British government during India’s struggle for independence. She campaigned for women’s social and political equality and their right to an education. And she fought for her ideals during the framing of the constitution for a newly independent India.

For Mehta, women’s rights were human rights. This conviction was best exemplified at a 1947 meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, to which she had been appointed as one of just two women delegates, alongside Eleanor Roosevelt. Mehta boldly objected to the wording of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the commission was tasked with framing.

It read: “All men are born free and equal in dignity and rights, they are endowed by nature with reason and conscience, and should act towards one another like brothers.”

Mehta pointed out that the phrase “all men” was out of date and could be interpreted to exclude women.

Roosevelt countered that the use of the word “men” was “generally accepted to include all human beings,” according to minutes of the meeting. But Mehta — a soft-spoken, slight woman who dressed in traditional saris — held her ground, insisting that the language should be changed to “human beings.”

The declaration was adopted with her suggestion the next year, and it has been used as the foundation for treaties around the world.

Two years earlier, Mehta was one of three women who drafted the Indian Women’s Charter of Rights and Duties, which affirmed that women have equal rights to education, suffrage, pay and distribution of property, as well as the same rights as men in marriage and divorce. When the panel that became the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in 1946 was forming its guiding principles, it turned to her ideas.

In her work for the U.N., as in all her endeavors, Mehta took women’s participation in public and political realms to new heights.

Hansa Mehta was born on July 3, 1897, in Surat (now in the northwestern state of Gujarat), to Harshadagauri and Manubhai Mehta. Her father, Manubhai, was a philosophy professor at Baroda College (now Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda ); he later became the prime minister of the state of Baroda.

Hansa’s paternal grandfather, Nandshankar Mehta, was headmaster of an English-language school, a civil servant and the author of the historical novel “Karan Ghelo”(1866), about the 13th-century ruler of Gujarat whose foolishness resulted in the loss of his kingdom. It is considered the first novel written in the Gujarati language.

“I was fortunate enough to be born in a family which had liberal ideas on all questions of life,” Mehta said in 1972 in an oral history at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi.

At a time when she estimated that only 2 percent of Indian women were literate, Mehta attended a high school for girls that had been set up by Baroda’s progressive ruler. She read widely, including novels by Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper. She was one of a handful of young women to receive a bachelor’s degree, hers in philosophy, from Baroda College.

Mehta continued her education in England, where she met the poet and political activist Sarojini Naidu . Naidu took her under her wing and brought her to the International Woman Suffrage Alliance conference in Geneva in 1920.

Naidu “made me do things I otherwise would not have dreamt of doing,” like speaking in public, Mehta wrote in “Indian Woman,” a 1981 collection of her essays.

In 1923, she traveled alone to the United States, a rare undertaking for women at the time, and visited colleges and universities to learn about American women’s education.

She met Mohandas K. Gandhi when he was in jail in India in the 1920s, and in 1930 she responded to his call for women to join the freedom movement. She picketed stores that sold English rather than Indian-made cloth and helped lead protests, landing in jail three times.

As a founder of the All India Women’s Conference, and later its president, Mehta tied the political struggle for India’s independence with the fight to improve the condition of her countrywomen. “If we wish to build up a democratic state, it will not pay the state to keep half the number of its citizens uneducated,” she wrote in “Indian Woman .” But she opposed special quotas; she wanted to level the playing field between men and women.

Mehta was appointed to the Commission on the Status of Women in 1946 and to the Commission on Human Rights in 1947 — the same year that India gained its independence — and served until 1952. In 1946, she was one of about 15 women to join India’s Constituent Assembly, which met to write a constitution for the new nation.

As an assembly member she lobbied for a civil code that would eventually supersede religious laws and ensure gender equality, and she strengthened the language on what are known as “directive principles” — guidelines that are unenforceable by the courts but nonetheless crucial in governing a multiethnic and multireligious secular democracy.

In 1924, Mehta married Jivraj Mehta (a common surname in India), the chief medical officer in Baroda. The marriage was regarded as controversial because he was of a lower caste. She said in her oral history that her own community wanted to expel her from her caste, “but then I told them I was going out of the caste myself, as I did not believe in caste.”

She and her husband had two children. He became the first chief minister of Gujarat in 1960 and, in 1963, the Indian high commissioner to the United Kingdom, a post equivalent to an ambassadorship.

Mehta was vice chancellor of the Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University (commonly known as S.N.D.T.) from 1946 to 1948 and vice chancellor of the University of Baroda from 1949 to 1958. At Baroda, she was the first woman to hold that title at an Indian coed university. The library there is named after her. In 2021, the U.N. held the inaugural Dr. Hansa Mehta Dialogue , a discussion on the fundamental importance of women’s empowerment.

Throughout her life, Mehta wrote essays and translated stories and plays into Gujarati. She died at 98 on April 4, 1995.

In the oral history, when she was asked why India, although it was largely conservative in its attitude toward women, had more women in the public and political sphere than many Western nations, Mehta spoke of Shakti, the female personification of divine power. “Historical reasons,” she replied, “because from the beginning we have always considered woman as a competent person. ‘Shakti’ — she is always worshiped as ‘Shakti.’”

Radha Vatsal’s historical novel “No. 10 Doyers Street,” about a woman journalist from India who becomes embroiled in the case of a Chinatown gangster in 1900s New York, will be published in March 2025.

Overlooked No More

Since 1851, white men have made up a vast majority of new york times obituaries. now, we’re adding the stories of other remarkable people..

Lizzie Magie: Magie’s creation, The Landlord’s Game, inspired the spinoff we know today: Monopoly. But credit for the idea long went to someone else .

Henrietta Leavitt: The portrait that emerged from her discovery , called Leavitt’s Law, showed that the universe was hundreds of times bigger than astronomers had imagined.

Miriam Solovieff: She led a successful career as a violinist  despite coping with a horrific event: witnessing the killing of her mother and sister at the hands of her father at 18.

Beatrix Potter:  She created one of the world’s best-known characters for children and fought to have the book published, but she never sought celebrity status .

Cordell Jackson: A pioneering record-label owner and engineer, she played guitar in a raw and unapologetically abrasive way .

Ethel Lindgren: The anthropologist is best remembered for importing reindeer  to the Scottish Highlands, centuries after they were hunted to extinction.

Advertisement