Feminist Ethics and Social Policy

Feminist moral theory applied to family policy, health care, immigration, and pornography.

Assessing the potential contribution of feminist ethical theory to the evaluation of specific social policies, this book applies it to family policy, health care, immigration, and pornography. It also shows that feminist ethics criticizes the gender biases in traditional ethical theory, and develops concepts that are more gender-sensitive.

Much work in feminist ethics has been rather abstract. The editors of this work believe that the time has come to assess the potential contribution of feminist ethical theory to the evaluation of specific social policies. If feminist ethics has indeed mobilized important paradigm shifts in normative analysis, then this should enable creative ways of reflection on social policy. Feminist ethics criticizes the gender blindness and biases in much traditional ethical theory, and develops new theories and concepts that are more gender sensitive. Feminist ethics also works to conceptualize issues of right action, social justice, and the human good from out of the specifically gendered experience of diverse groups of women. Feminist ethics has no single set of questions or propositions, but includes a variety of approaches as demonstrated by these essays—some operate within a liberal framework of equality, freedom, justice, and rights, while others are more critical of mainstream liberal versions of these concepts.