Book
Women, Culture, and Development

A Study of Human Capabilities

Women, a majority of the world's population, receive only a small proportion of its opportunities and benefits. According to the 1993 UN Human Development Report, there is no country in the world in which women's quality of life is equal to that of men. This examination of women's quality of life thus addresses questions which have a particular urgency. It aims to describe the basic situation of all women and so develops a universal account that can answer the charges of 'Western imperialism' frequently made against such accounts. The contributors confront the issue of cultural relativism, criticizing the relativist approach which, in its desire to respect different cultural traditions, can result in indifference to injustice. An account of gender justice and women's equality is then proposed in various areas in which quality of life is measured. These issues are related throughout to the specific contexts of India, Bangladesh, China, Mexico, and Nigeria through a series of case studies. Disciplines represented include philosophy, economics, political science, anthropology, law, and sociology.

Like its predecessor, The Quality of Life, this volume encourages the reader to think critically about the central fundamental concepts used in development economics and suggests major criticisms of current economic approaches from that fundamental viewpoint.

Table of contents
  1. 1. Introduction
    Martha C. Nussbaum
  2. Part I: Women's Equality: A Case Study
    2. A Matter of Survival: Women's Right to Employment in India and Bangladesh
    Martha Chen
  3. Part II: Women's Equality: Methodology, Foundations
    3. Human Capabilities, Female Human Beings
    Martha C. Nussbaum
  4. Part II: Women's Equality: Methodology, Foundations
    4. Martha C. Nussbaum: Human Capabilities, Female Human Beings
    Susan Wolf
  5. Part II: Women's Equality: Methodology, Foundations
    5. The Research Programme of Development Ethics
    Jonathan Glover
  6. Part II: Women's Equality: Methodology, Foundations
    6. Justice, Capabilities and Vulnerabilities
    Onora O'Neill
  7. Part II: Women's Equality: Methodology, Foundations
    7. Functioning and Capability: The Foundations of Sen's and Nussbaum's Development Ethic, Part 2
    David A. Crocker
  8. Part II: Women's Equality: Methodology, Foundations
    8. Pragmatism and Moral Objectivity
    Hilary Putnam
  9. Part II: Women's Equality: Methodology, Foundations
    9. Democracy and Rationality: A Dialogue With Hilary Putnam
    Linda Alcoff
  10. Part II: Women's Equality: Methodology, Foundations
    10. Cultural Complexity, Moral Independence, and the Global Dialogical Community
    Seyla Benhabib
  11. Part III: Women's Equality: Justice, Law, and Reason
    11. Gender Inequality and Theories of Justice
    Amartya Sen
  12. Part III: Women's Equality: Justice, Law, and Reason
    12. Inequalities Between the Sexes in Different Cultural Contexts
    Susan Moller Okin
  13. Part III: Women's Equality: Justice, Law, and Reason
    13. Why Not a Feminist Theory of Justice?
    Ruth Anna Putnam
  14. Part III: Women's Equality: Justice, Law, and Reason
    14. Gender, Caste and Law
    Cass R. Sunstein
  15. Part III: Women's Equality: Justice, Law, and Reason
    15. Emotions and Women's Capabilities
    Martha C. Nussbaum
  16. Part III: Women's Equality: Justice, Law, and Reason
    16. Martha C. Nussbaum: Emotions and Women's Capabilities
    Catherine Lutz
  17. Part III: Women's Equality: Justice, Law, and Reason
    17. A Note on the Value of Gender-Identification
    Christine M. Korsgaard
  18. Part IV: Women's Equality: Regional Perspectives
    18. Gender Inequality in China and Cultural Relativism
    Xiaorong Li
  19. Part IV: Women's Equality: Regional Perspectives
    19. Inequality in Capabilities Between Men and Women in Mexico
    Margarita M. Valdés
  20. Part IV: Women's Equality: Regional Perspectives
    20. Femininity, Equality and Personhood
    Roop Rekha Verma
  21. Part IV: Women's Equality: Regional Perspectives
    21. Recovering Igbo Traditions: A Case for Indigenous Women's Organizations in Development
    Nkiru Nzegwu
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Endorsements

'The essays in Nussbaum and Glover's anthology project a powerful and timely critique of cultural relativism in assessing the quality of life ... This anthology presents the viewpoints of the essentialists ... I felt deeply reassured by the cogent arguments of third-world women, who share my apprehension, in this multidimensional Nussbaum-Glover anthology. The combination of philosophical discourse, feminist insights and thorough economic analysis makes the book highly unusual ... refreshingly readable with writing that is witty and displays deep empathy with human values.' - Times Higher Education Supplement