Justice, Gender, and the Family

A feminist critique of contemporary theories of justice, which Okin argues have largely ignored the family even though it is where children first learn, or fail to learn, a sense of justice. She examines libertarian, communitarian and liberal theorists in turn, including Alasdair MacIntyre, Robert Nozick, Michael Walzer and John Rawls, and argues that each either takes the gendered family for granted or leaves it outside the scope of justice. Her treatment of Rawls is the most sympathetic: if the parties in the original position did not know their sex, she argues, the theory would condemn gender-structured marriage. A central chapter, 'Vulnerability by Marriage', traces how the expectation that women do most unpaid domestic work leaves them economically dependent and worse off after divorce. Okin ends with proposals for a society without gender, including support for working parents and an equal legal entitlement of both partners to household earnings. Critics have questioned her focus on heterosexual married couples and her reliance on liberal theory.

It shows why justice inside the household matters for justice outside it, and remains a central text for anyone thinking about care work, divorce and equality.