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Liberalism, Adaptive Preferences, and Gender Equality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Abstract

I argue that a gendered division of labor is often the result of choices by women that count as fully voluntary because they are an expression of preferences and commitments that reflect women's understanding of their own good. Since liberalism has a commitment to respecting fully voluntary choices, it has a commitment to respecting these gendered choices. I suggest that justified political action may require that we fail to respect some people's considered choices.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by Hypatia, Inc.

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