Thoughts on Nussbaum

Martín Buenahora Bonilla

This was a very interesting reading. Something that I really like was the approach Nussbaum
had. Her approach to particular cases and the place where she centered her analyses, India, is
something very helpful to really understand the issues. I think that centering only on western
problems has had a negative impact on the image of feminism, as some of the issues seem rather
trivial compared to what other women in the rest of the world have to endure. I am not saying that
those problems are not important , but rather that the problems in other places are more urgent, an
that if we are going to center on political action we should rather focus on them.
The other things that I found interesting was that idea of centering on politics. I have a
personal bias in this topic, as I believe that politics gets far more attention that it should. I know
Nussbaum has an aristotelean background, and that probably shapes the way she see's the issue (and
the sphere of influence of politics), but from the reading alone I found the approach problematic.
Early on Nussbaum states that India's constitution is pretty good in terms of equality, but that this is
not reflected in practice. I do not see how political rather than social (or better yet ethical) reform
would be of much help, at least not without giving the State far more power than it is sensible. And
even then, I doubt they would care. Rather, initiatives like SEWA are great things, and can help a lot
of women materially and socially. I think this has the great advantage of bringing change from the
ground up, which, although is far slower, it is also more realistic.