Women in Western Political Thought (Paper)

Why hasn't real equality between the sexes resulted from the formal enfranchisement of women? Susan Moller Okin finds an answer to this question in the existing tradition of political theory, which requires the subordination of women. An exploration of the functionalist view of women in Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau and John Stuart Mill, this work, originally published in 1979, is a feminist analysis of the major political philosophy of Western culture. Reissued here with a new afterword, it exposes deep-rooted assumptions about sex roles, family and society that continue to shape our lives.