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Feminist Ethics

Feminist Ethics. By:Scott Kocos Shannon Biesenthal. What is it?. The goal of gender-equal, not gender-neutral ethics An ethical theory which promotes non-sexist principles, policies, and practices . What Is It? (Continued). Feminist ethics is an attempt to:

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Feminist Ethics

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  1. Feminist Ethics By:ScottKocos Shannon Biesenthal

  2. What is it? • The goal of gender-equal, not gender-neutral ethics • An ethical theory which promotes non-sexist principles, policies, and practices

  3. What Is It? (Continued) Feminist ethics is an attempt to: • Highlight differences between how males and females interpret situations • Help humans deal with rising dilemmas in private and public • Deconstruct any ethic that systematically subordinates women

  4. Differences in Men’s Moral Voices and Women’s Moral Voices Men • Justice • Rights • Treating everyone fairly and the same • Apply rules impartially to everyone • Responsibility toward abstract codes of conduct

  5. Differences in Moral Voices (Continued) Women • Care • Responsibility • Caring about other’s suffering • Preserve emotional connectedness • Responsibility toward real individuals

  6. Why Must We Do This? Western ethics failed women in five inter related ways: • It showed less concern for women’s rights than men’s • It dismissed ethically uninteresting problems arising in the “private world,” • It implies women are not as ethically developed as men

  7. Why Must We Do This? (Continued) • It prizes masculine traits and exhibits little regard for feminine traits • It favors culturally masculine approaches to ethical reasoning

  8. When Did This Start?? • The first push for Feminism was in the late 1700’s • The late 1800’s saw the start of women voting

  9. Who Contributed?? • Mary Wollstonecraft (April 27, 1759 – September 10, 1797) • concluded that moral virtue is unitary • denied women are doomed to be less virtuous • Women having strong sexual desires was degrading and immoral

  10. Wollstonecraft (Continued) • Called the mother of feminism • Honored women’s natural talents • Insisted that women not be measured by men’s standards • Helped achieve a better life for everyone

  11. John Stuart Mill • Believed in equal education for women • Women are educated to serve the interests of men • First considered radical, now seen as classic statement of liberal feminism

  12. Criticisms of Feminism • Care is a less important moral virtue than justice When care and justice conflict: • Impartiality has to trump partiality • No person is more or less important than any other

  13. Criticisms (Continued) • If women care better than men, it’s wrong to relate women with value of care • It makes care more important than anything else

  14. Current Ethical Dilemma • Stay-at-home moms vs. stay-at-home dads • Stay-at-home dads are seen as working from the home • Stay-at-home moms are seen as caregivers for the kids

  15. Some Questions • What other current day situations have to do with Feminism? • Why do some individuals recognize a higher moral law, while others simply are content to obey the rules without question? • Do teachers, judges, elected officials, doctors, and others make decisions based off of care vs. justice?

  16. Thanks For Listening!!!!

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