What Is Justice? Gendering Visions of Equality and Justice

Equality is key to justice. Debates on gender relations have challenged simple concepts of equality. Going beyond the static notions of equality as either equal opportunities or as equal valuation of different contributions, emergent concepts of equality depend upon visions of transformed gender relations.  The paper critically engages with the limitations of Fraser’s account of the cunning of history, to produce an analysis of the varieties of gender regimes, not only domestic but also public, not only neoliberal but also social democratic, not only in the economy, but also in violence, polity, and civil society.  The paper goes beyond the limited Sociological engagement with violence, drawing on Gramsci to offer a stronger basis for analysis.  It engages with the debates on democracy, in the tensions between statist and horizontal conceptions, offering resolutions drawn from feminist politics. The paper offers a gender lens to develop debates on justice from Harvey and Wallerstein to Esping-Andersen and Sen.