Standard Moral Theories from a Feminist Perspective

This chapter focuses on the three moral theories that have long dominated Western philosophy. The overviews of social contract theory, utilitarianism, and Kantian ethics are followed by a criticism, from a feminist point of view, of the failings the theories have in common, described as distorted pictures of the persons who are the moral agents in the theories, the societies these people inhabit, and the understanding of rationality the theories presuppose. It then explains why the theories can’t well be employed to address these failings.

Discrimination and Oppression

The chapter surveys the feminist ethicist’s tool kit, introducing and explaining such concepts as gender neutrality, androcentrism, and difference. Gender neutrality is broken down into a critical examination of androgyny and assimilation that is put to use in a reflection on affirmative action. This is followed by a consideration of oppression and how it operates.

The Importance of Who We Are

This chapter explains why personal identities are important and why feminist ethicists care about them. The concept of a personal identity is analyzed as a social construction. The chapter points out that identities are always multiple and relational, and often unchosen. This is followed by a discussion of the narrative constitution of identities and what that implies. Then comes an explanation of how gender damages identities and what can be done about it by means of counterstories. The chapter ends with a meditation on why it’s so difficult for counterstories to get the social uptake they need if they are to repair the identity.

Globalization and Cross-Cultural Judgments

The chapter opens with an explanation of why feminists need to pay attention to global issues. It begins with a description of the Southern “debt” and offers a critical explanation of neoliberalism’s four doctrines: free trade, opposition to government regulation, refusal of responsibility for social welfare, and privatization of resources. This is followed by a look at three kinds of work that have been globalized and primarily involve women: domestic work, nursing, and sex work. The chapter concludes with a discussion of cross-cultural judgments.

Feminist Ethics of Care and Responsibility

This chapter offers an in-depth discussion of two specifically feminist moral theories. It opens with a discussion of the ethics of care, followed by criticisms and how they can be addressed. Then it takes up what might be called a feminist ethics of responsibility, which stresses the importance of relationships other than caring ones. Here, morality is depicted as practices of responsibility that may be thrust upon one, contested, accepted, delegated, deflected, and so on, and that are often epistemically rigged in favor of those in positions of power. The chapter closes by pointing out that both feminist moral theories insist on the fundamental importance of human relationships, are keenly attentive to unjust power imbalances, and begin with nonideal, real-time personal interactions.

Intersectionality

The chapter begins with examples of intersectionality that display how it works. While particular attention is given to the intersections of race and gender, the concept is shown to apply beyond race and gender to cover any social groups against which discrimination is directed. After critiques of intersectionality are addressed, students are introduced to the concept of microaggressions and shown how these too are intersectional.

What Is Feminist Ethics?

The chapter explains what is meant by ethics, feminism, and gender, drawing contrasts between feminist and nonfeminist ways of doing ethics. An ethics sketch map shows students the various branches of ethics and how feminists approach them. It is followed by a discussion of power and the moral attention it requires, with a specific focus on gender as an abusive power system that pervades everyday social life.

Bioethics

The chapter begins with a definition of bioethics and explains why it is so important. This is followed by an overview of the standard, nonfeminist ways of doing bioethics and why they are unsatisfactory from a feminist point of view. Feminist analyses of four topics in bioethics are offered that demonstrate the usefulness of a feminist approach to bioethics: the doctor-patient relationship, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, and allocation of healthcare resources.

Violence

The chapter opens with an explanation of why violence is such an important topic for feminist ethics. It then addresses three forms of violence: rape and sexual harassment, rape as a weapon of war, and domestic violence. Rape is explained in terms of property theories, consent theories, and abusive group relations theories, followed by a discussion of the #MeToo movement. The feminist analysis of war includes not only rape as a weapon but also enslaving women and girls for sexual services. Finally, domestic violence is argued to be an expression of the socially structured power system called gender, kept in place by repeated iterations of itself.