The Importance Of Feminist Ethics

Feminist ethics is a necessary theory to consider because traditional (male) ethics fail to acknowledge virtues that are beyond the focus of culturally masculine ones. By focusing on values of a patriarchal society, traditional ethics not only ignores females as moral beings but also narrows the ways of approaching ethical issues for all. By aiming attention at female values such as “interdependence, community, connection, sharing, emotion, body, trust, absence of hierarchy, nature, immanence, process, joy, peace, and life” instead of solely masculine ones such as “independence, autonomy, intellect, will, wariness, hierarchy, domination, culture, transcendence, product, asceticism, war and death”, an ethical view can be applied for real world …show more content…
Feminist ethicists see that men and women typically have different moral views, neither one inferior nor superior to the other, just different. Men tend to favour a justice perspective while women put greater value in a care perspective (Gilligan 1982). The morals of men have an emphasis on autonomy and impartiality as exemplified in the traditional ethical theory of deontology where moral agents are autonomous and rational beings who act on principles that can be universalized. In contrast to this, women’s morals focus on relationships to others and the emotions that those involved have. Feminist ethics does not subscribe to the concept of universalizing as traditional ethics does. Feminist ethics recognizes that in order to make moral …show more content…
While many women do value similar virtues, this is not to say that all do. Women come from a wide variety of experiences that cause them to put emphasis on different moral traits. It is possible for women to have a justice perspective as much as it is for men to have a care perspective. By attributing the aspect of care to women, it voids men of a responsibility for it. This can cause care to become problematic and place a burden on women that are expected to carry it out. Women can then be pressured to continue caring because of their emotional attachments even in situations that bring harm to them. Take, for instance, a situation where a daughter feels a moral obligation to care for her sick parent even when by doing so she is neglecting her own health and wellbeing. With the introduction of emotions, traditional moral codes can be pushed to the side. A person can act in an immoral way but be doing so out of care. Consider an instance where someone steals medicine which they cannot afford for their child who will die without it. Most can agree that stealing is wrong but is that counteracted by the fact that it is done out of