I'm Michelle Moody Adams I'm a josef
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strauß professor of political philosophy
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and legal theory at Columbia I've been a
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cumbia for just under five years and
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I've taught it for other universities
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during my career of 31 years almost I'm
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a specialist in moral and political
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philosophy I also do work in a
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philosophy of law and in the history of
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philosophy especially the empiricists
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a defined feminist theory first by
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saying what I think feminism is and for
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me it's the commitment to the belief
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that women are equally worthy as men of
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respect for their capacities to lead
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rationally worthwhile lives but also for
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concern for their vulnerability as human
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beings so that equal respect and concern
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is central to me for feminism and
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feminist theory is really a way of
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talking about how to help realize
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equality what things need to change in
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order for equality to exist what people
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need to do individually and how they
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should be shaped their institutions and
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what failures we might have experienced
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in the history of sort of particularly
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philosophical thought that have made it
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hard to understand how to articulate and
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defend women's equality so my own
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interests in feminism are really quite
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distinctive sometimes they are a
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function of the extent to which the
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failure to respect women's equality has
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actually limited their ability to make
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an impact in the world sometimes it's a
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function of the way it damages families
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given that women are often
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responsibilities responsible for the
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greatest amount of care both of young
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people but also of older people when
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they're sick and infirm and also that I
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think thirdly for me
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my interest in feminism reflects my
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sense that something's missing from the
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from the record of human achievement
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when one very large group of the species
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isn't given the kind of respect and
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concerned that there are in fact do
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well I will say that I found myself
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managing to bring lots of the interests
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together in part because as a as a
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political philosopher I'm already
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interested in institutions and in how
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people are affected by institutions and
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in how oppression and discrimination can
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be prolonged unless we think about how
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to reform institutions I also think
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about the to use a common word now the
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intersection of worries about racial
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oppression and racial discrimination
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with concern for the oppression and
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discrimination against women and so some
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of my writings and some of the work that
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I've done reflect that sense of the
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intersection of the problems and the
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ways in which certain kinds of ways of
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talking about women's equality may
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ignore the challenges for for instance
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for women of color who may be affected
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by various kinds of discriminations and
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it influences their lives in ways that
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don't look like the influence it has on
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women who are not who are not in
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underrepresented groups
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so I want to say a little bit about the
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piece called reclaiming the idea of
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equality it was a response really to a
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set of concerns that I have had over
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about a decade and a half about
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criticisms of so-called victim feminism
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that were coming from many places that
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wouldn't have seemed as though they had
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much in common so there was a kind of
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conservative criticism that claimed that
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feminism was all about victimization but
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then there was a kind of liberal
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feminism or even radical feminist
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critique that looked at the tendency of
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certain kinds of liberal feminists to
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assume that women in particularly
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traditional societies or in positions of
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socio-economic disadvantage might be
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more subject to victimization than other
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women and so the focus on victimization
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seemed to me potentially to distract us
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from some of the things we ought to be
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saying about what women's equality
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consists in and I worried very much
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about the tendency to separate respect
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for our capacities to lead worthwhile
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lives from concern for our vulnerability
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as human beings the two things respect
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and concern for my mind need to go
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together and there'd been a failure in
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the culture at large as I said both the
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conservative critics of feminism and
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then certain critics of liberal feminism
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to understand how to bring the two
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issues back together respect and concern
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well the conflict that has sometimes
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ensued between liberalism and certain
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forms of feminism is partly a function
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of what capacities the theory in
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question is focusing on and what kinds
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of wrongs it claims to need to write in
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the world and I think there's a worry on
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the part of some liberal thinkers that
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if you focus entirely on the extent to
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which women can be subject in fact
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subject to victimization sometimes
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sexual violence sexual harassment
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unequal access to employment unequal pay
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and so forth that you might be limited
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to thinking about the remedy for
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inequality in ways that ignore the
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larger goal of empowering women to lead
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worthwhile lives and so I don't want to
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deny that victimization happens that in
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fact it does happen I think in some ways
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more frequently to women than to men but
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I want to challenge the idea that we
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ought to define women is fundamentally
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subject to victimization and think of
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the response to inequality as needing to
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focus on that whether it's focusing on
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that primarily at social policy in the
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way we structure employment in the kinds
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of redress we make available to people
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for grievances they suffer if we only
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focus on their liability to
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victimization we may be both limiting
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the possibility of empowering them but
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also a kind of essentialism creeps in
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where we end up then we invigorating a
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stereotype of women as weak and fragile
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that in the end will not be politically
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the most constructive result so that's
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that's one of the things that I'm really
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worried about by the way of the conflict
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so thinking about some of the central
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concepts at stake in this debate about
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equality people have focused as I said
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on women's vulnerability in a way that
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treats it as an explicable entirely in
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terms of their vulnerability to being
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victims and I'm going to suggest first
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of all every human being is vulnerable
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to victimization and we do need to focus
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on that as a source of moral concern but
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the danger for me is defining women even
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their vulnerability is fundamentally
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about being victims because if that's
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how you understand what it is to be a
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woman in the world I think the
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temptation is whenever woman says she's
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not a victim somehow that doesn't count
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and then the danger is to think that
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being a victim also means being silenced
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and we are tempted to assume that if
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you're a victim
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you can't ever speak up for yourself and
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I want to resist that way of
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understanding human vulnerability don't
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want to do not deny that women are in
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fact victim so I mean a it's fairly
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clear as we think about problems for
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instance of sexual assault on campus or
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sexual harassment in the workplace and
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you know even in 2014 we notice how it's
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still very much a problem that afflicts
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women in the workplace
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I want to deny that it is essential to
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treat women as fundamentally victims
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even as a way of respecting their
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vulnerability or being concerned about
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their vulnerability
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so thinking about rational agency and
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culture is a complex process in this
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context I don't want to it suggests that
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somehow women are just rational agents I
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never wanted to make that claim but I do
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want to suggest that one tendency that
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certain liberal feminists have had when
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they look at women from so-called
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traditional cultures where there may be
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acceptance of ways of treating women in
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the culture that wouldn't be accepted in
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a liberal setting we look at them and we
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say oh you couldn't really understand
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what your culture is doing to you we
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need to show you how it's limiting you
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in some way
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you couldn't possibly choose for
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instance to wear covering of your head
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and your body you know that prevents you
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from walking around physically freely in
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the world or you couldn't somehow be a
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rational agent if you were willing to
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accept a religious conception that
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required you to sit on a different side
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of a room from men and I'm not murdering
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myself to say those are ways of leading
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a life that I would sign on to but I
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want to leave room for the idea that the
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way to treat women in such cultures with
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respect is to engage them in a
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conversation about what it means for
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them to lead their lives that way
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doesn't mean we have to stop being
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critical if we in fact think that
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there's some traditional practice that's
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limiting women in a way that even the
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women themselves don't see but I think
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it fails to show the proper concern for
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the a the agency of the other if we
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always walk in to a conversation with
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the other thinking that the Western wave
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in particular is always the better way
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and I again I don't want to give up the
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importance of engaging women in a debate
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but I think we have a duty as feminists
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to look at the choices that other women
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may be making as in fact choices when
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they are and if they look not to be
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choices you know trying to encourage
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them to consider whether or not they are
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or aren't but it's it's the effort to
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engage women even when they are the
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other in some sense in a conversation
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that respects their ability to
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critically reflect on their cultures
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to think about whether they want to
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prolong them or whether they might want
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to revise them in line with some new way
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of doing things
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the most important point I would like
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them to take away from the article is
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that equality matters and there may be
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different ways of thinking about how to
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realize it but if we are genuinely
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committed to women's equality as
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feminist thinkers we need to be open to
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the possibility that we might hear
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something from another culture from
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women in another culture that we didn't
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expect
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could be instructive about how to
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realize equality for women generally
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so my advice to the next generation of
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feminist scholars in philosophy you know
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feminist scholars generally is to
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understand that even if the problems
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haven't changed some of the vocabulary
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in which you might need to articulate
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the problems and think about solutions
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has changed and if you want to convince
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people you have to start where they are
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and you have to start with the sense
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that some people will say well heaven we
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actually solve those problems already
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and you know that we haven't but they
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are thinking about the social
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organization that they encounter in a
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way that makes it appear that we've
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solved the problems when we haven't and
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I think you know it's again it's time to
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think about new ways of arguing and new
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ways of being sensitive to the
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resistance to the claim that feminism
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still has a role to play so as I think
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about the advice I want to give to black
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women who are who want to do feminist
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work in philosophy I think they need to
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be ready to accept that in addition to
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new ways of framing arguments being
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crucial that they need to be attentive
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to the ways in which challenges that
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surround racial discrimination racial
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oppression intersect with oppression of
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women in unexpected ways in unexpected
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places and I don't think it's as easy as
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just saying that there's a kind of
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doubling of the problem or
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intensification that's another way of
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talking but then it's it's complicated
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it will also be complicated by class and
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we should assume that in addition to
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talking in new ways and new kinds of
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language about the problem that we need
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to be aware of the intersection and the
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ways in which there is both an
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intensification but also a difference in
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the kinds of inequality that the women
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of color will face