Women, culture, and development : a study of human capabilities / edited by Martha C. Nussbaum and Jonathan Glover.

"Prepared for the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) of the United Nations University.".

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Women's equality : a case study. A matter of survival : women's right to employment in India and Bangladesh / Martha Chen -- Women's equality : methodology, foundations. Human capabilities, female human beings / Martha C. Nussbaum -- The research programme of development ethics / Jonathan Glover -- Justice, capabilities, and vulnerabilities / Onora O'Neill -- Functioning and capability : the foundations of Sen's and Nussbaum's development ethic, part 2 / David A. Crocker --

Pragmatism and moral objectivity / Hilary Putnam -- Democracy and rationality : a dialogue with Hilary Putnam / Linda Alcoff -- Cultural complexity, moral interdependence, and the global dialogical community / Seyla Benhabib -- Women's equality : justice, law, and reason. Gender inequality and theories of justice / Amartya Sen -- Inequalities between the sexes in different cultural contexts / Susan Moller Okin -- Why not a feminist theory of justice? / Ruth Anna Putnam --

Gender, caste, and law / Cass R. Sunstein -- Emotions and women's capabilities / Martha C. Nussbaum -- A note on the value of gender-identification / Christine M. Korsgaard -- Women's equality : regional perspectives. Gender inequality in China and cultural relativism / Xiaorong Li -- Inequality in capabilities between men and women in Mexico / Margarita M. Valdés -- Femininity, equality, and personhood / Roop Rekha Verma -- Recovering Igbo traditions : a case for indigenous women's organizations in development / Nkiru Nzegwu.

Prepared for the World Institute for Development Economics Research.

Women, a majority of the world's population, receive only a small proportion of its opportunities and benefits. According to the 1993 UN Human Development Report, there is no country in the world in which women's quality of life is equal to that of men.

This examination of women's quality of life thus addresses questions which have a particular urgency. It aims to describe the basic situation of all women and so develops a universal account that can answer the charges of 'Western imperialism' frequently made against such accounts. The contributors confront the issue of cultural relativism, criticizing the relativist approach which, in its desire to respect different cultural traditions, can result in indifference to injustice. An account of gender justice and women's equality is then proposed in various areas in which quality of life is measured. These issues are related throughout to the specific contexts of India, Bangladesh, China, Mexico, and Nigeria through a series of case studies. Disciplines represented include philosophy, economics, political science, anthropology, law, and sociology.

Like its predecessor, The Quality of Life, this volume encourages the reader to think critically about the central fundamental concepts used in development economics and suggests major criticisms of current economic approaches from that fundamental viewpoint.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.