Nancy J. Hirschmann

FREEDOM, RECOGNITION, AND OBLIGATION: A FEMINIST APPROACH TO POLITICAL THEORY

I argue that a feminist methodology can help liberal political theory get beyond the problems that it has been recycling since the seventeenth century. Taking political obligation as the focus for my analysis, I show how feminist psychoanalytic and psychological theory can help uncover the structural sexism of liberal theory and epistemology and point the way toward more consistent—and less biased—theoretical formulations. Rejecting the essentialist view of gender difference that has been attributed to this literature, I argue that it is more interesting and appropriate to read it as a symbolic language of power and as a heuristic device for uncovering the gendered dimensions of supposedly “neutral” concepts like obligation.

Revisioning the political : feminist reconstructions of traditional concepts in western political theory

* Introduction Nancy J. Hirschmann and Christine Di Stefano. * Community/Sexuality/Gender: Rethinking Power Nancy C.M. Hartsock. * Revisioning Freedom: Relationship, Context, and the Politics of Empowerment N. J. Hirschmann. * What Is Authoritys Gender? Kathleen B. Jones. * Autonomy in the Light of Difference C. Di Stefano. * Reconstructing Democracy Jane Mansbridge. * Care as a Political Concept Joan C. Tronto. * Rethinking Obligation for Feminism N. J. Hirschmann. * Equalizing Privacy and Specifying Equality Zillah Eisenstein. * Privacy at Home: The Twofold Problem Anita L. Allen. * Privacy, Publicity, and Power: A Feminist Rethinking of the Public-Private Distinction Martha A. Ackelsberg and Mary Lyndon Shanley. * All the Comforts of Home: The Genealogy of Community Shane Phelan. * Reflections on Families in the Age of Murphy Brown: On Gender, Justice, and Sexuality Iris Marion Young.

Eastern veiling, Western freedom ?

The practice of Islamic veiling is examined in terms of the notion of freedom. Historically, veiling has been seen by Westerners as the ultimate symbol, if not tool, of gender oppression in Islamic cultures; yet many Islamic women not only participate voluntarily in the practice but claim it as a mark of resistance, agency, and cultural membership. This would seem to pose a paradox for Western feminists, but this paradox stems from a misunderstanding of veiling perpetrated by feminists and nonfeminists alike, as well as from inappropriate conceptions of freedom that dominate Western political theory, and to which Western feminism finds itself indebted. Examining veiling as a multifaceted practice located within varying and complex contexts may develop an understanding of freedom that recognizes the ways in which patriarchal contexts set the parameters within which women express their agency.

Disability as a New Frontier for Feminist Intersectionality Research

Disability is the new gender. I make this claim with trepidation and a sense of irony. Certainly, disability studies today is like womens studies was in the 1970s and 1980s, when feminist scholars had to convince colleagues in “mainstream” political science that gender was something worth attending to, that it was a serious enterprise, and that it should be part of the mainstream. The fields of history and English have been somewhat more welcoming of disability as a valid topic of study, just as these fields preceded political science in realizing that gender was an important category of study. But political science has been slow to catch on.

Queer/fear: disability, sexuality, and the other

This paper examines the relationship between disability and “queerness.” I argue that the hostility frequently expressed against both disabled and queer individuals is a function of fear of the undecidability of the body. I draw on feminist, queer, and disability theory to help us understand this phenomenon and suggest that these different kinds of theories have a complementary relationship. That is, feminist and queer theory help us see how this fear works, disability theory helps us see why it exists.

Mill, Political Economy, and Women's Work

The sexual division of labor and the social and economic value of womens work in the home has been a problem that scholars have struggled with at least since the advent of the “second wave” womens movement, but it has never entered into the primary discourses of political science. This paper argues that John Stuart Mills Political Economy provides innovative and useful arguments that address this thorny problem. Productive labor is essential to Mills conception of property, and property was vital to womens independence in Mills view. Yet since Mill thought most women would choose the “career” of wife and mother rather than working for wages, then granting that work productive status would provide a radical and inventive foundation for womens equality. Mill, however, is ambiguous about the productive status of domestic labor, and is thereby representative of a crucial failure in political economic thought, as well as in egalitarian liberal thought on gender. But because Mill at the same time develops a conception of production that goes well beyond the narrow limits offered by other prominent political economists, he offers contemporary political scientists and theorists a way to rethink the relationship of reproductive to productive labor, the requirements for gender equality, and the accepted categories of political economy.

Civil Disabilities: Citizenship, Membership, and Belonging

An estimated one billion people around the globe live with a disability; this number grows exponentially when family members, friends, and care providers are included. Various countries and international organizations have attempted to guard against discrimination and secure basic human rights for those whose lives are affected by disability. Yet despite such attempts many disabled persons in the United States and throughout the world still face exclusion from full citizenship and membership in their respective societies. They are regularly denied employment, housing, health care, access to buildings, and the right to move freely in public spaces. At base, such discrimination reflects a tacit yet pervasive assumption that disabled persons do not belong in society. Civil Disabilities challenges such norms and practices, urging a reconceptualization of disability and citizenship to secure a rightful place for disabled persons in society. Essays from leading scholars in a diversity of fields offer critical perspectives on current citizenship studies, which still largely assume an ableist world. Placing historians in conversation with anthropologists, sociologists with literary critics, and musicologists with political scientists, this interdisciplinary volume presents a compelling case for reimagining citizenship that is more consistent, inclusive, and just, in both theory and practice. By placing disability front and center in academic and civic discourse, Civil Disabilities tests the very notion of citizenship and transforms our understanding of disability and belonging. Contributors: Emily Abel, Douglas C. Baynton, Susan Burch, Allison C. Carey, Faye Ginsburg, Nancy J. Hirschmann, Hannah Joyner, Catherine Kudlick, Beth Linker, Alex Lubet, Rayna Rapp, Susan Schweik, Tobin Siebers, Lorella Terzi.

Feminism and Liberal Theory.

In her article on “Freedom, Recognition, and Obligation: A Feminist Approach to Political Theory,” published in the December 1989 issue of this Review , Nancy J. Hirschmann argued that a feminist methodology could breathe new and useful life into liberal political theory, relieving it of its structural sexism. In this Controversy, Richard C. Sinopoli takes issue with key claims made by Hirschmann. In turn, Hirschmann elaborates her case.

Disability rights, social rights, and freedom

In this essay, I seek to problematize the notion of rights as they have often been applied to persons with disabilities, and particularly in the framework of “social rights.” Although social rights have been important in articulating demands by and for disabled persons, they also have fallen prey to a problem with “rights discourse” more generally, which is that they are thought of in terms of justice rather than freedom. Such a framing has led to inadequate implementation of the concept of rights to disabled persons and has unforeseen consequences, including the ways in which the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability rights have been conceived along terms of US “welfare reform” rather than those of civil rights.

Sex and Social Justice. By Martha C. Nussbaum. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 488p.

These two books by leading U.S. philosopher Martha Nussbaum take up the issue of womens inequality in a U.S. and international context. Both are hard-hitting, in Nussbaums characteristic take-no-prisoners style, setting out a clear case that women endure ignominious oppression in the name of culture and religion, and that feminists and liberals alike should tolerate it no longer.