The gender of the public: feminist criticisms of liberalism and its derivatives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/2176-6665.2009v14n2p52Keywords:
Feminism, Liberalism, Political theory, Public/privateAbstract
This article addresses the distinction, originating in classical liberal thought, between the public and the private. It lays out briefly some of the principal aspects of feminist theory and then goes on to demonstrate how liberal political theory differentiates between public (political) and private (social) and, later, between “public” and personal. This discussion allows us to understand the basis for feminist theory’s accusation that liberalism treats justice exclusively as part of the public (masculine) domain, removing from consideration the social relations of gender in the domestic sphere. Finally, we discuss some of the principle aspects of the feminism of Susan Okin, in particular, her debate with the egalitarian liberalism of John Rawls, in which she sees possible contributions toward the coexistence of justice and gender.Downloads
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OKIN, Susan Moller. Women in western political thought. London: Virago, 1979.
OKIN, Susan Moller. Justice and gender. Philosophy and public affairs, Oxford, v. 16, n. 1, 1987.
OKIN, Susan Moller. Justice, gender and the family. New York: Basic Books, 1989.
OKIN, Susan Moller. The public/private dichotomy. In: FARRELLY, Colin (org.) Contemporary political theory. London: Sage, 2004.
OKIN, Susan Moller. Gênero, o público e o privado. Estudos feministas, Florianópolis, v. 16, n. 2, 2008.
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PATEMAN, Carole. O contrato sexual. São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 1993.
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RAWLS, John. Liberalismo político. São Paulo: Ática, 2000.
RAWLS, John. Resposta a Habermas. Educação e Sociedade, Campinas, v. 17, n. 57, 1996.
RAWLS, John. The Idea of Public Reason Revisited. [1997] In: Collected Papers, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.
ROSENBLUM, Nancy. Another liberalism. Romanticism and the reconstruction of liberal thought. Cambridge-Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987.
RUDDICK, Sara. Maternal thinking: towards a politics of peace. Boston: Beacon Press, 1995.
YOUNG, Iris Marion. Polity and group difference: a critique of the ideal of universal citizenship. Ethics, Chicago, v. 99, n. 2, 1989.
WEINSTEIN, Wendy L. The private and the free: a conceptual inquiry. In: PENNOCK, J. Roland; CHAPMAN, John W. (orgs.). Privacy: Nomos XIII. New York: Atherton, 1971.
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Published
2009-11-22
How to Cite
SILVA, André Luiz da; VENTURA, Raissa Wihby; KRITSCH, Raquel. The gender of the public: feminist criticisms of liberalism and its derivatives. Mediações - Revista de Ciências Sociais, Londrina, v. 14, n. 2, p. 52–82, 2009. DOI: 10.5433/2176-6665.2009v14n2p52. Disponível em: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/mediacoes/article/view/4507. Acesso em: 2 oct. 2024.
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