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Justice, Gender, and the Family

Susan Moller Okin

Liberal feminism

The book that forced modern theories of justice to confront the family. Okin argues that leading liberal philosophers — Rawls above all — treat the family as a private sphere outside the scope of justice, even though it is where people first learn (or fail to learn) a sense of fairness, and where gender inequality is reproduced. She insists that a truly just society must extend principles of justice to the home and to the division of domestic labour. A landmark uniting liberal and feminist theory.

About the author

New Zealand–born American political theorist (1946–2004), professor at Stanford University and a leading liberal feminist philosopher. Her work brought feminist questions to the center of analytic political theory; Justice, Gender, and the Family and her later writings on multiculturalism and women's rights remain widely taught and debated.

Synopsis

Okin examines major contemporary theories of justice and finds them 'gender-blind': they assume just institutions while ignoring the unjust gendered family that shapes citizens. She argues the family is a crucial 'school of justice,' that the unequal division of paid and unpaid labour leaves women vulnerable, and that genuine justice requires reforming gender roles and applying Rawlsian fairness within the household, not just the polity.

Core passage idea

Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted work

Okin argues that theories of justice cannot stop at the front door: because the family shapes our sense of fairness and reproduces gender inequality, a just society must extend justice to the home itself.

By bringing the family inside the scope of justice, Okin exposes a blind spot in liberal theory and links the fairness of the household to the fairness of society. The claim that the family is a 'school of justice' reframes gender equality as a precondition of a just public order.

To avoid a bubble

Pair with thinkers who defend a protected private sphere against state scrutiny, with multiculturalists Okin herself challenged (in 'Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?'), and with feminists who think liberal justice is too thin to dismantle patriarchy.

Reading note

Read it directly against Rawls's Theory of Justice, which it both uses and criticizes. A central text bridging liberal political philosophy and feminism, and a model of immanent critique.

Best paired with

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice; Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract.

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