Feminist Ethics

Feminist ethics is concerned with how people should act and what kind of persons they should be, considering the goal of ending women’s oppression. Feminist moral philosophers have criticized traditional moral theory for making blatantly sexist assumptions about women; for grounding moral theory on certain assumptions, including ones about the self, that will sustain women’s oppression; and for ignoring issues that affect women primarily and detrimentally. This chapter explores these critiques and the feminist responses to them. The feminist response proposes a much richer view of morality and of the ideal moral person than that espoused by traditional moral theory.