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Full Idea
A liberal society should give people considerable latitude to form families as they choose. …On the other hand the family …is one of the most notorious homes of sex hierarchy, denial of sexual opportunity, and sex-based violence and humiliation.
Gist of Idea
Liberals must respect family freedom - but families are the great oppressors of women
Source
Martha Nussbaum (Rawls and Feminism [2003], 03), quoted by Andrew Shorten - Contemporary Political Theory
Book Ref
Shorten,Andrew: 'Contemporary Political Theory' [Palgrave 2016], p.71
A Reaction
The question of how the state might intervene in the family rarely seems to turn up in standard political theory. This idea shows why that is a mistake.
| 22530 | Both women and children should be educated, as this contributes to a city's excellence [Aristotle] |
| 21083 | Women have no role in politics [Kant] |
| 21006 | If women share rights with men, they will exhibit similar virtues [Wollstonecraft] |
| 22785 | Even educated women are unsuited to science, philosophy, art and government [Hegel] |
| 20746 | One is not born, but rather becomes a woman [Beauvoir] |
| 21012 | Women are often treated like children, and not respected for their choices [Nussbaum] |
| 21125 | Liberals must respect family freedom - but families are the great oppressors of women [Nussbaum] |
| 23428 | Difference feminists say women differ fundamentally from men [Dobson] |
| 20751 | As a young girl assumes her status as feminine, she acts in a more fragile immobile way [Young,IM] |
| 20551 | Men have had the power to structure all of our social institutions [Swift] |