Martha Nussbaum, "Women and Cultural Universals"

Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she has appointments in the Philosophy Department, the Law School, the Divinity School, and the Classics Department. A philosopher, a critic, an activist, and a feminist, Nussbaum is equally at home discussing ancient Greek philosophy and contemporary moral and political philosophy. She has written at length about the connections between philosophy and literature, arguing that literature is the best means we have for exploring the consequences of moral choices. She has testified about homosexuality in Ancient Greece before the Supreme Court when it was deliberating a Colorado law that forbade extending civil rights to gays and lesbians. And, as a research adviser for the United Nations' World Institute for Development Economics Research for many years, she has committed herself to improving the status of women in the politics of international development.

Although Nussbaum has long had an interest in liberal education, it has been her work with the United Nations group researching the problems women face in developing countries that has most profoundly shaped her current thoughts about what education is for and what it takes to actually help people from other cultures. As she describes it, after joining this project, "I realized all of a sudden that my own education had not acquainted me at all with the fundamentals. . . . I knew nothing about Hinduism, nothing about Islam, nothing about Buddhism, nothing about the history of Africa or of India, so in short I was just very ill equipped to play the role that I was playing."

In learning more about these other cultures, traditions, and histories, Nussbaum came to see the needs of women in developing countries in a different light. While Nussbaum sees American academic feminists as largely satisfied by playing games with language, she believes that international feminists must be committed to establishing the basic conditions for self-determination discussed in "Women and Cultural Universals." In order to act ethically in the global economy, Nussbaum argues, it is not sufficient just to learn some facts about other exotic cultures; it is necessary to cultivate "the ability to imagine what it might be like to be in the shoes of someone who's different from yourself." As Nussbaum sees it, her role as a teacher, scholar, and activist is to help foster such acts of critical imagination. 

Nussbaum, Martha. "Women and Cultural Universals." Sex and Social Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 29-54.
Biographical information from Martha Nussbaum's home page at the University of Chicago Law School.
Quotations from Martha Nussbaum, interview by Barry Clark for ABC's radio series, "Globally Speaking: The Politics of Globalization," on global citizenship.

Links to Explore:

Global Citizenship: An Interview with Martha Nussbaum: a discussion about how education must change in the United States if the school system is to help produce citizens who are prepared to act responsibly in the global marketplace.

"Shameless Acts" Revisited: Some Questions for Martha Nussbaum:" article written by Princeton political scientist Robert George seeking to rebut Nussbaum's testimony before the Supreme Court in Evans v. Romer.

Women's Caucus for Gender Justice: includes links to A Primer on the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal, Women's Human Right's Initiatives around the world, and a discussion of gender provisions in the statutes for the International Criminal Court.

Khalsa Human Rights home page: independent human rights organization established in 1992 to "highlight the human rights violations which were being perpetrated in Punjab" and that "now monitors abuses in the whole of India, and campaigns to eradicate them."

Questions for Learning:

• In Global Citizenship, Nussbaum defends liberal arts education and provides a fairly detailed description of what college students should be learning while they're in school. What is her plan and what do you think of it? Have you ever had any learning experiences like the one she describes? Shoud schools requires students to see the world through another's eyes?
  
  
• In "Shameless Acts" Revisited," Robert George provides an exhaustive account of the arguments that were made before the Supreme Court in the case of Evans v. Romer. In many ways, this is a classic example of academic engagement: George challenges Nussbaum's reading of Greek philosophy and her characterizations of scholars who disagree with her reading of how homosexuality was perceived in Ancient Greece, offering textual evidence to support his position. Why does it matter what the Ancient Greeks thought about homosexuality? Why did the Supreme Court need instruction on these matters? And why has George devoted such time and energy to discrediting Nussbaum? What is at stake now that the case has been heard and settled? Why, in other words, does it matter whether Nussbaum's view of the past is accurate or not?
  
  
• The Women's Caucus for Gender Justice includes a link to a section called, "Clarification of the Term Gender." What is the difference between "sex" and "gender"? What is the difference between "sexual violence" and "gender violence"? Are the distinctions made her in keeping with the argument that Nussbaum makes in "Women and Cultural Universals"? Is the Women's Caucus working to advance goals that Nussbaum would support or are they embracing the kind of relativism she abhors?
  
  
• In "Women and Cultural Universals," Nussbaum argues for assessing governments by asking the question, "How well have the people of the country been enabled to perform the central human functions?" She returns repeatedly to the complex political landscape in India to illustrate the value of posing the question in this way. The Khalsa Human Rights organization's position paper, "Women's Rights in India," provides an assessment of how women are fairing in India currently. What would Nussbaum make of this report? Are the members of KHR concerned with "capabilities" or with some other essential rights or conditions?

Questions for Connecting:

• In "Honor and Shame," Lila Abu-Lughod describes how education has changed the expectations of a young Bedouin woman named Kamla. Based on Abu-Lughod's account, can we say with certainty whether Kamla was given access to what Nussbaum terms the "central human functional capabilities" prior to her marriage? Would she have access to all of the capabilities after her marriage? How would Nussbaum recommend that we respond to Kamla's transition? Would she share Abu-Lughod's ambivalence about Kamla's move to the city?

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