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Feminist Ethics
The Handmaid’s Duty
Feminist Ethics
First, what is Feminism?
According to Brannigan, p.179, its original meaning and
impetus is:
… the long-standing history of control and
dominance by men throughout the world, men
who have not viewed women as their equals.
This suggests that Feminism is a reaction to a proposed injustice
against women by men.
4 Kinds of Feminism
Nina Rosenstand classifies four basic types of feminism:
1) Classical Feminism
2) Difference Feminism
3) Equity Feminism
4) Radical Feminism
Classical Feminism
Classical feminism is
characterized by focusing on
the personhood of women,
and their status as morally
equal to men in that regard.
There is a strong focus on
distinguishing between
 biologically based and
 socially constructed
differences between men and
women
The match forever known
as The Battle of the Sexes
http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016060.html
Classical Feminism (continued)
The usual or historical view of women as the weaker sex,
attributed to anatomical and psychological differences, is
rejected by arguments.
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Inability to excel in math and science
Inability to compete in sports
Inability to withstand physical hardship
Inability to withstand psychological hardship
Etc.
These are all beliefs that classical feminists historically have
argued against and rejected to one degree or another.
Classical Feminism (continued)
Brannigan, p. 184, classifies Simone de Beauvoir as
a classical feminist.
De Beauvoir was Jean-Paul Sartre’s close friend and
developed her approach to feminism in light of
his philosophical work in Being and Nothingness.
Classical Feminism (continued)
In The Second Sex, she applies Sartre’s view that there is no such
thing as “human nature” to her status as a woman, resulting
in the view that womanliness is equally a construct of
consciousness without being a necessary part of her identity.
Classical Feminism (continued)
After considering women from a
“historical, psychoanalytical,
biological, literary, mythical, and
personal lens” she concludes that
women are treated as “Other, as
Alien, in a world defined,
determined, and controlled by
men.”
Difference Feminism
In contrast to Classical Feminism, Difference
Feminism asserts that despite the equal moral
status of men and women as persons, there are
genuine differences between the sexes and those
differences need not all be considered “equal.”
Carol Gilligan (1936 -), a Harvard psychologist, is the
most prominent proponent of the view.
Difference Feminism
(continued)
Gilligan’s book, In a Different Voice, argues that there are
differences between how men and women, boys and girls,
reason morally.
Her work is a reaction to the work of her colleague, child
psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987).
Kohlberg conducted experiments by which he concluded that
boys mature morally ahead of girls.
Difference Feminism
(continued)
Kohlberg had identified six stages of moral development:
1. Stage of punishment and obedience
2. Stage of individual instrumental purpose and exchange
3. Stage of mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and conformity
4. Stage of social system and consciousness maintenance
5. Stage of prior rights and social contract
6. Stage of universal ethical principles
In responding to a scenario about whether to steal in order to secure a life-saving
drug, boys typically appealed to principles (4 through 6), while girls asked why,
instead of stealing, the person couldn’t just explain his circumstances better and
avoid having to steal (reasoning at stage 3).
Difference Feminism
(continued)
Gilligan agrees that the experiment shows that boys and girls
reason differently, but disagrees that boys reasoning is more
morally mature.
Brannigan represents Gilligan’s critique of Kohlberg’s test as
reflecting a 2 fold bias:
1. “His position represents the enduring Western philosophical
bias against the role of feelings and emotions since it
assumes logical analysis and reasoning to be the most
important faculty of the human psyche.”
2. “His position clearly and unfairly affronts women on the
premise that they are less apt to think in terms of reasoned
rules or principles.”
Difference Feminism
(continued)
Gilligan’s emphasis and defense of feelings and emotions in
moral decision making, an “ethic of care” in her
terminology, is tempered by these concessions:
1. She does not assert that an ethic of care is superior to one
grounded on appeal to rules and principles.
2. She does not claim that women’s approach is better than
men’s.
3. She suggests they are both necessary and must be integrated
for good moral reasoning.
Equity Feminism
Equity feminism is contrasted with “gender
feminists” that pose men and women as
enemies.
In Who Stole Feminism? Christina Hoff
Sommers suggests that now that women
have achieved a significant level of social
equality with men, they should get on with
pursuing their talents and using the
freedoms won by earlier feminists.
Her article is a response to gender feminists who censured
her for her comments regarding the scene in Gone With the
Wind when Rhett Butler carries Scarlett O’Hara up the stairs.
Gender feminists consider the scene a de facto endorsement
of rape, while Sommers did not.
Equity Feminism
Sommers:
The presumption that men collectively are engaged in keeping women
down invites feminist bonding in a resentful community, . . .
American feminists are guided by women who believe what they
call the male hegemony or the sex gender system, a misogynous
culture that socializes women to be docile and submissive to the
controlling gender.
Sommers defends the original spirit of behind feminism, that of
classical feminism.
Radical Feminism
Radical feminism is named etymologically from “radix,” Latin
for “root.”
What is the root cause of inequality and oppression of women?
Patriarchal (fatherly) social structure and gender relations.
While Radical feminism agrees with Equity feminism that
important advances in women’s rights have occurred, they
believe much more needs to be done.
Radical Feminism (continued)
Examples from Brannigan include:

Free sexual activity among men is condoned while it is not among
women

Men’s careers are still assigned more importance than those of
women

Men are still paid better than women

Women’s sports are considered second-class

Kids are showing interest in Ken and Barbie dolls again!
Radical Feminism (continued)
To further illustrate, Brannigan turns to the claim that standards
of beauty are determined by men.
“Women still view themselves as persons needing to be attractive to
men.”
Where in particular are these values expressed?
 The fashion industry
 The cosmetics industry
Cosmetic surgeries such as breast augmentation are considered
established by “male values.”
Criticism of Feminism, Generally
Going back to the original impetus for a feminist ethics:
… the long-standing history of control and dominance by men
throughout the world, men who have not viewed women as their
equals.
 Why blame men?
 Why not blame the necessary structure of social
evolution—(from hunter-gatherer to nomadic herders, to
simple farming, to complex or intensive agricultural
societies, etc.) and its necessary divisions of labor that
perhaps required a certain childbearing, childrearing,
and homemaking roles for women?
 Aren’t men placed in their roles by economic and social
structure requirements as well?
Criticism of Feminist Ethics, Specifically
Brannigan renders Gilligan’s division of moral reasoning by
gender as
“Women tend to consider the human dynamics within particular
situations, whereas men tend to think more in terms of
specific rules and principles.”
 He points out that once we get specific in looking at a
particular case, the differences seem to disappear.
 Focusing on the details in a human relationship is part
of what any good Aristotelian would do, using the
intellectual virtue of prudence to determine just what
would constitute kindness or generosity in a particular
case…
Criticism of Feminist Ethics, Specifically (cont.)
 Similarly, even a Kantian realizes that the Categorical
Imperative’s first “material” formulation focuses on treating
other persons as ends with intrinsic value, and never merely
as a means or a tool.
 Does such reasoning really seem paradigmatically “male”?
Further reading
Nathan Nobis, Feminist Ethics Without Feminist Ethical Theory
http://homepage.uab.edu/nnobis/papers/feminist-ethics.pdf
Stanford’s Encyclopedia Article on Feminist Ethics
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-ethics/