Is liberalism bad for women? Reclaiming susan okin’s democratic feminist thesis

Abstract

This article excavates a democratic feminist thesis from Susan Okin’s provocative essay, “Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?” by revealing, beneath a conspicuous and troubling “othering” language, an imperative to treat “culture” as a political—as opposed to private— matter and to privilege the voices of women within minority cultures. It thereby locates in Okin’s controversial essay a position against treating liberal principles as trumps over the voices of the most vulnerable, exposing her democratic—as opposed to liberal—leanings and urging contemporary political theorists in a direction that contrasts sharply with Linda Zerilli’s recent calls to outsider liberal judgment. Ultimately, this project invites contemporary political theorists to reconsider the extent to which certain brands of liberalism may be bad for women, and to align instead with 1980s women of color feminism in its emphasis on insider democratic dialogue as a necessary prerequisite to all forms of political judgment.