Abstract

This dissertation defends liberalism against those feminists who would jettison it as necessarily implicated in patriarchy. Many feminists claim that because liberalism rests on the assumption that the family is a private institution largely outside political control, and because patriarchy begins in and manifests itself most poignantly in the family, liberalism effectively leaves women captive within patriarchal family life. This dissertation argues that a close analysis of liberal theory reveals not only that the patriarchal aspects are historically contingent, but also that feminism must acknowledge and return to its liberal heritage if it hopes to reconcile sexual equality with individual freedom. In opening the family to politics, some feminists endanger individual integrity. Liberalism provides a model for battling familial inequities and their economic and political implications, while preserving individual integrity. ;The liberal thought of John Locke, John Mill, and John Rawls demonstrates the feminist potential built into liberal theory. The evolution among these liberal thinkers exposes a heightening sensitivity to the link between formal and substantive equality, and testifies to potential built into the liberal distinction between private and public for confronting ever greater threats to individual liberty. Locke explores the relation between political liberty and familial, economic and religious ends, differentiating between each in order to secure each. He creates a framework which assimilates the unique character of each sphere with a rudimentary understanding of the interdependence and interaction between spheres. Mill pursues the liberal project of expanding individual choice by elaborating a standard of harm which distinguishes areas of individual concern from legitimate community interests. By recognizing and addressing harm regardless of the sphere within which it occurs, Mill grapples with the unique harm done to women in families. Discerning that genuine liberty demands fair play, Rawls redefines private and public to explicitly include a concern for the distribution of resources necessary to exercise true choice; as such, his liberal principles provide for affirmative action aimed at alleviating the burdens of the least advantaged groups--including those burdened as members of an oppressed class based on sex.