Feminism and Equality

The readings in this collection focus on the problems and dilemmas that feminists have raised in exploring the demand for sexual equality, and the tension that runs through feminist politics between claiming equality and asserting that the sexes are different. The starting point is the common history that feminism shares with liberalism, for both traditions have made their arguments in terms of equal rights, and both insist on the autonomy of the individual (female for the former, usually only male for the latter). But despite - or because of - the continuing importance of liberal feminism, there has been a substantial critique of this tradition which draws on classically socialist arguments about the limits of equal rights, but also develops a specifically feminist argument around the relationship between public and private spheres. "Feminism and Equality" includes writings from such authors as Juliet Mitchell, Michele Barrett, Jean Bethke Elshtain and Ellen DuBois to provide students of politics and philosophy with a guide to the political theory of feminism.