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Liberal Feminism
Julinna C. Oxley
Okin, Susan Moller. Justice, Gender, and the Family. New York: Basic Books,
1989.
Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women, edited by Susan M. Okin,
Indianapolis: Hackett, 1869/1988.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. London:
Joseph Johnson, 1792/London: Penguin, 2004.
First articulated in the late eighteenth century, liberal feminism is a political
philosophy whose express aim is to free women from oppressive gender
roles and achieve sexual equality (also called gender justice). Although
women’s social situation changes from one generation to the next – due in
large part to the influence of liberal feminists – the message of liberal feminism remains the same: women, as rational human beings, are deserving of
the same social and political rights as men, and gender justice is best
achieved by modifying existing social institutions and political systems. The
political agenda of liberal feminism addresses present-day inequalities: early
liberal feminists sought to gain the right to vote and equal access to education, while contemporary liberal feminists aim to secure equal social, political, and economic opportunities, equal civil liberties, and sexual freedoms.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of feminism is its claim that
women are socially oppressed, especially since Western women in the
twenty-first century do not appear to be oppressed. Yet contemporary
liberal feminists contend that society is structured in ways that favor men.
Just the Arguments: 100 of the Most Important Arguments in Western Philosophy,
First Edition. Edited by Michael Bruce and Steven Barbone.
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2011 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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Many liberal feminists (such as Mill in the nineteenth century and Okin in
the twentieth) argue that the primary source of woman’s subordination is
her social role in the family, not just her biological role in reproduction or
the male tendency to sexual violence (other oft-cited explanations for why
women are the “weaker” sex). Since liberal feminism is the oldest version
of feminism, it is the target of much criticism, especially by other feminists
who argue that liberal feminists overlook differences of race, socioeconomic
status, and sexual orientation relevant to an accurate assessment of women’s
situation.
While liberal feminism is an active political movement with a variety of
participants, all feminists agree that the aims of liberal feminism remain
unfulfilled worldwide. For this reason, liberal feminism will continue to
attract zealous adherents as well as vocal detractors.
Marriage continues the cycle of inequality set in motion by the anticipation
of marriage and the related sex segregation of the workplace. Partly because
of society’s assumptions about gender, but also because women, on entering
marriage, tend already to be disadvantaged members of the work force,
married women are likely to start out with less leverage in the relationship
than their husbands [. . .] In many marriages, partly because of discrimination
at work and the wage gap between the sexes, wives (despite initial personal
ambitions and even when they are full-time wage workers) come to perceive
themselves as benefiting from giving priority to their husbands’ careers. Hence
they have little incentive to question the traditional division of labor in the
household. This in turn limits their own commitment to wage work and their
incentive and leverage to challenge the gender structure of the workplace.
Experiencing frustration and lack of control at work, those who thus turn
toward domesticity, while often resenting the lack of respect our society gives
to full-time mothers, may see the benefits of domestic life as greater than the
costs.
Thus, the inequalities between the sexes in the workplace and at home
reinforce and exacerbate each other. It is not necessary to choose between
two alternative, competing explanations of the inequalities between men and
women in the workplace [. . .]. When the pivotal importance of genderstructured marriage and the expectation of it are acknowledged, these explanations can be seen, rather, as complementary reasons for women’s inequality.
A cycle of power relations and decisions pervades both family and workplace,
and the inequalities of each reinforce those that already exist in the other.
Only with the recognition of this truth will we be able to begin to confront
the changes that need to occur if women are to have a real opportunity to be
equal participants in either sphere [. . .].
The family is the linchpin of gender, reproducing it from one generation
to the next [. . .] family life as typically practiced in our society is not just,
either to women or to children. Moreover, it is not conducive to the rearing
of citizens with a strong sense of justice. In spite of all the rhetoric about
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equality between the sexes, the traditional or quasi-traditional division of
family labor still prevails [. . .]. Any just and fair solution to the urgent
problem of women’s and children’s vulnerability must encourage and facilitate
the equal sharing by men and women of paid and unpaid work, of productive
and reproductive labor [. . .]. A just future would be one without gender.
(Okin, 146–71)
P1. If a society is just and fair to women, then men and women will have
equal social, political, and economic rights, liberties, and
opportunities.
P2. But in many Western societies, men and women do not have equal
social, political, and economic rights, liberties, and opportunities.
C1. Many Western societies are not just and fair to women (modus
tollens, P1, P2).
P3. If a society is to be just and fair to women, then it ought not promote
or engage in practices that contribute to women’s oppression.
P4. If a society does not promote or engage in practices that contribute to
women’s oppression, then its social, political, and legal institutions
should be modified so as to eradicate features that contribute to women’s
oppression.
C2. If a society is to be just and fair to women, then [Western] societies
that seek gender justice should modify social, political, and legal
institutions and eradicate features that contribute to women’s disadvantage (hypothetical syllogism, P3, P4).
The Nature of Women’s Disadvantage and Oppression
P1. If men and women do not spend the same amount of time performing
domestic duties or doing unpaid labor in the home (including cooking,
cleaning, raising children, etc.), then there will be an unequal distribution
of labor in the family.
P2. In a traditional family, men and women do not spend the same amount
of time performing unpaid labor in the home – women perform most of
the domestic duties.
C1. There is an unequal distribution of unpaid labor in the traditional
family (modus ponens, P1, P2).
P3. If there is an unequal distribution of unpaid labor in the family, then
this situation is unjust to women because the work is assigned in virtue
of individual innate characteristics, and has long-term repercussions that
make the woman vulnerable.
C2. The traditional family is unjust to women because the work is
assigned in virtue of individual innate characteristics, and has long-
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term repercussions that make the woman vulnerable (modus ponens,
P3, C1).
The Source of Women’s Disadvantage and Oppression
P2. (repeated): In a traditional family, men and women do not spend the
same amount of time performing domestic duties – women perform most
of the domestic duties.
P5. Women perform the majority of domestic duties because men expect
women to do most of the work in the home and are reluctant to contribute to household labor. These expectations inform the “gendered
structure” of the family (causal reasoning for P2).
P6. If women spend more time working in the home than men, then they
have less time to take advantage of opportunities to advance in the
workplace than men do.
C3. Women have less time and thus fewer opportunities to advance in
the workplace (modus ponens, P6, P2).
P7. If women have less time and thus fewer opportunities to advance in the
workplace as men, they do not have equality of opportunity in social
and political life.
C4. Women do not have equality of opportunity in social and political
life (modus ponens, P7, C3).
P8. Women will have equality of opportunity in social and political life only
if they do not perform the majority of the unpaid labor in the home
(implied by P5–C4).
P9. For women not to perform a majority of the unpaid labor in the home,
then men will have to be responsible for at least half of domestic duties
(by definition).
C5. If domestic duties are defined by the “gendered structure” of the
family, then men are not responsible for at least half of domestic duties
(substitution, P5, P9).
C6. When men are not responsible for at least half of the domestic duties
(the “gendered structure” of the traditional family), then women
cannot achieve equality of opportunity in social and political life
(modus ponens, P5, C5).
Achieving Gender Justice
P10. Gender roles, including norms and expectations regarding men’s and
women’s roles in the family and in society, are learned in the family.
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P11. If children are raised in traditional “gender-structured” families where
women lack power and independence, then the children learn that inequalities between men and women are the norm and that they can be
expected in social life (follows from P10).
P12. Many children are now raised in traditional “gender-structured” families where women are vulnerable because they lack power and
independence.
C7. Many children will learn that inequalities between men and women
are the norm, and that they can be expected in social life (modus
ponens, P11, P12).
P13. If many children will learn that inequalities between men and women
are the norm and that they can be expected in social life, then when they
grow up and start their own families, many people will perpetuate the
idea that inequalities between men and women are the norm and that
this can be expected in social life (i.e., the cycle of inequality).
C8. When they grow up and start their own families, many people will
perpetuate the idea that inequalities between men and women are the
norm and that this can be expected in social life (i.e., the cycle of
inequality) (modus ponens, P13, C7).
P14. A just and fair society seeks to eradicate inequality in its existing
institutions, especially ones that perpetuate inequality.
P15. If the family is a social institution, then it should be an egalitarian
structure.
P16. If the family is to be an egalitarian structure, then men and women
will share equally the paid and unpaid work, productive and reproductive labor.
C9. If the family is a social institution, then men and women in the family
will share equally the paid and unpaid work, productive and reproductive labor (hypothetical syllogism, P15, P16).
P17. The family is a social institution.
C10. A just society will encourage and facilitate the equal sharing by
men and women of paid and unpaid work, of productive and reproductive labor (modus ponens, C9, P17).
P18. If a just society encourages and facilitates the equal sharing by men
and women of paid and unpaid work, and of productive and reproductive labor, then it will do so by eliminating traditional gender roles and
their corresponding expectations regarding work and family life.
C11. A just society will eliminate traditional gender roles and their corresponding expectations regarding work and family life; for example,
by passing social policies that facilitate equally shared parenting,
reorganizing work life to make parenting a priority, and educating
children regarding the problems with gender stereotyping (modus
ponens, P18, C10).