7 Feminist Care Ethics
Hunter Aiken
Table of Contents
Introduction
Feminism, as a social movement, has championed the slogan that ‘the personal is political,’ meaning that our personal lives are intricately bound up in politics, normativity, and ethical decisions that impact not only ourselves but others as well. What is personal to someone is influenced by the choices that political organizations and institutions make because it will contribute to their greater well-being, or worsen it, and advance human rights or stifle them.
Take for example the issue of consent. In Kelly Oliver’s article, ‘Fifty Shades of Consent,’ she walks us through the troubling and provoking world of sexual consent. She argues that the current model of sexual consent is contractual in that it assumes everyone involved agrees (i.e., consents) to the sexual activity. But Oliver points out that consent is not so clear cut:
- Can a person consent when they are drunk?
- What about rape and rape culture? Does that not undermine any idea of contractual consent?
- What about the types of ‘consensual and non-consensual’ sexual fantasies that pervade sexual culture?
- There is also the problem of consenting to sexual activity, but not desiring it. (Oliver 2017)
These are both personal and political questions. Underpinning this contract model of consent is the idea that it is individual’s who do or do not consent. But does this individualistic account of consent really tell the whole story from the perspective of feminist ethics? Carol Gilligan does not seem to think so.
Carol Gilligan argues that we need to account for how we always have a relationship with someone, including ourselves. According to her view, we need to assess how our actions, behaviours, and choices impact those relationships. She believes that the idea of all of us as individuals making decisions according to some higher principle that does not impact others or ourselves is a narrow way to view morality and ethics. With this in mind, Gilligan asks us to consider our real life situations and how we make choices (Big Think 2012).
Making choices and being moral is messy. Sometimes, there is no good answer to a dilemma. But we cannot forget that being moral does not always mean being selfless. Sometimes, it is okay to look out for yourself.
Links to the Material
- “Carol Gilligan on Women and Moral Development | Big Think” by Big Think (2012)
- “Fifty Shades of Consent: Rape Culture Versus Feminism” by Kelly Oliver (2017)
Discussion Questions
- Do you agree with Carol Gilligan that thinking about relationships is important for morality?
- What kind of moral obligations do we have to those we are in relationships with?
- How far do you think our moral obligations extend to others who we might have relationships with — family? co-workers? neighbours? those who live in the same town, country, or globe?
- How do you think you can balance moral obligations to others without self-sacrificing too much? Does this place some moral constraints on us?
- Kelly Oliver raises important questions about the nature of consent. What are some circumstances that problematize the idea that any consent is valid consent?
Thought Experiments
- The Caretaker
- You are a caretaker for an elderly parent who requires constant attention. You have missed several promotions and other high paying jobs in your field and have had to put your personal needs on hold because of these caregiving responsibilities. You have the option to place your parent in a care facility, which would allow you to pursue your own goals. How should you decide what to do?
- Invisible Labour
- Imagine a society where a significant portion of its population performs ‘invisible labour,’ which is vital to its growth and success. These people are not paid or compensated for their contributions, even though if they were to stop working altogether, society would grind to a halt and collapse. Other people who do not work in this sector are paid, and while their jobs may be important to sustaining society, their work is not nearly as vital to society’s overall well-being. The population performing invisible labour is never thanked for their work. They are just expected to perform these jobs.
- The Innocent Bystander
- Suppose there is a person whose parents and society have rigid norms and behaviours that they expect from this person. Also, suppose this person decides not to follow these norms and behaviours, instead deciding to go against them. Do you think it is morally justifiable to do so?
Further Reading
- Caring: A Relational Approach to Ethics and Moral Education by Nel Noddings (2013) (via the TRU Library)
- The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global by Virginia Held (2006) (via the TRU Library)
- “Colonialism and Its Others: Considerations on Rights and Care Discourses” by Uma Narayan (1995) (via the TRU Library)
- Chapter 7 “Reconstructing Black Masculinity” in Black Looks: Race and Representation by Bell Hooks (1992) (via the TRU Library)
- “Feminism and Feminist Ethics” by Kathryn MacKay (2019)
Bibliography
Big Think. 2012. “Carol Gilligan on Women and Moral Development | Big Think.” YouTube. April 23, 2012. Video, 6:30. https://youtu.be/2W_9MozRoKE?si=Q6dGXH98FVuiw-iL/
Held, Virgina. 2006. The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hooks, Bell. 1992. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Toronto: Between The Lines.
Oliver, Kelly. 2017. “Fifty Shades of Consent: Rape Culture Versus Feminism.” The Feminist Wire. https://thefeministwire.com/2017/05/fifty-shades-consent-rape-culture-versus-feminism/.
Narayan, Uma. 1995. “Colonialism and Its Others: Considerations on Rights and Care Discourses.” Hypatia 10, no. 2 (Spring): 133–40. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3810285.
Noddings, Nel. 2013. Caring: A Relational Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. Accessed July 27, 2024. ProQuest Ebook Central.
How to Cite This Page
Aiken, Hunter. 2024. “Feminist Care Ethics.” In Introduction to Ethics, edited by Jenna Woodrow, Hunter Aiken, and Calum McCracken. Kamloops, BC: TRU Open Press. https://introductiontoethics.pressbooks.tru.ca/chapter/feminist-care-ethics/.
