Proposing
a new kind of feminism that is genuinely international, Martha Nussbaum argues
for an ethical underpinning to all thought about development planning and
public policy, and dramatically moves beyond the abstractions of economists and
philosophers to embed thought about justice in the concrete reality of the
struggles of poor women. In this book, Nussbaum argues that international
political and economic thought must be sensitive to gender difference as a
problem of justice, and that feminist thought must begin to focus on the problems
of women in the third world. Taking as her point of departure the predicament
of poor women in India, she shows how philosophy should undergird basic
constitutional principles that should be respected and implemented by all
governments, and used as a comparative measure of quality of life across
nations. Nussbaum concludes by calling for a new international focus to
feminism, and shows through concrete detail how philosophical arguments about
justice really do connect with the practical concerns of public policy.
From
Kirkus Reviews
A major
voice for ethical law calls for a global feminism to address the deplorable
conditions of women in the Third World. Nussbaum (Law and Ethics/Univ. of
Chicago) draws once more on the research behind For Love of Country (1996) and
Sex and Social Justice (1998): the first for her condemnation of the legalized
rapeby spouses or strangersof Third World women (and child brides), the second
for her argument that Americans are morally responsible for alleviating the
suffering of the victims of inequality abroad. Enlivening her argument with
legal case histories and personal anecdotesfor example, a story about a
religious Muslim woman who was pained to lose her purdah (her modestly isolated
and veiled lifestyle)Nussbaum considers the challenges of introducing Western
moral and legal standards in entrenched patriarchal societies where women's
higher mortality rate is as endemic as poverty. In India, the primary country
discussed here, feminist reform runs up against powerful religious
establishments. The abortion of baby girls has declined and widows are no
longer expected to jump on their husbands funeral pyres, but until recently
Hindu women who had suffered from domestic abuse and fled could be forced back
home if they could not pay a fine. In polygamous Islamic regions and countries,
women have fewer legal rights to their own bodies, and the issues of religious
autonomy are stickier. But even when Third World women largely defend the
discriminatory practices of their culture, Nussbaum shows again and again how
resourceful deeply religious women and men can be in adapting the religion's
moral understanding to a changing reality. The authors prose is dense but
readable, though readers daunted by references to exogamous marriage, and
patrilocal residence may want to keep a dictionary handy. Easier to understand
is her urgent warning that there must be a global effort to help the millions
of women suffering malnutrition, drudgery, bad marriages, illiteracy, and more.
Martha
C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and
Ethics at the University of Chicago, appointed in Law, Philosophy, and
Divinity.
