Feminism as Liberalism: A Tribute to the Work of Martha Nussbaum Symposium: Honoring the Contributions of Professor Martha Nussbaum to the Scholarship and Practice of Gender and Sexuality Law: Feminism and Liberalism

Authors

Tracy E. Higgins, Fordham University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Columbia Journal of Gender and Law

Volume

19

Publication Date

2010

Keywords

Liberalism, Women's Rights, Martha Nussbaum, Capabilities Approach, Fundamental Rights, Human Development, Feminism, South Africa, South African Women and Marriage Rights

Abstract

In this essay, I revisit and expand an argument I have made with respect to the limited usefulness of liberalism in defining an agenda for guaranteeing women's rights and improving women's conditions. After laying out this case, I discuss Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach to fundamental rights and human development and acknowledge that her approach addresses to a significant degree many of the objections I and other feminist scholars have raised. I then turn to fieldwork that I have done in South Africa on the issue of custom and women's choices with regard to marriage and divorce. Applying Professor Nussbaum's capabilities approach in this setting, I speculate as to the types of regulatory schemes that would be either demanded or tolerated by her approach. In the final part of the essay, I suggest that the capabilities approach offers a powerful means of specifying the preconditions for women's exercise of autonomy within the liberal state but that it proves somewhat less useful as a guide to policy choices under conditions that fall far short of this ideal.

Recommended Citation

Tracy E. Higgins, Feminism as Liberalism: A Tribute to the Work of Martha Nussbaum Symposium: Honoring the Contributions of Professor Martha Nussbaum to the Scholarship and Practice of Gender and Sexuality Law: Feminism and Liberalism, 19 Colum. J. Gender 65 (2010)
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/239