EIRP Proceedings, Vol 7 (2012)

Abstract

Two types of feminist approaches bring their contribution in the debate on deliberative democracy. The first type, which highlights women’s greater capacity to provide care, change and expandes the deliberation by providing images and models of practice from the experience of women. In this view, women's socialization and role in childrearing, among other causes, makes them especially concerned to transform "I" into "we" and to seek solutions to conflict that accommodate diverse and often suppressed desires. In our society women are usually brought up to identify their own good with that of others, especially their children and husbands. More than men, women build their identities through relationships with friends. Feminist critiques of deliberative democracy have focused on the abstraction, impartiality and rationality of mainstream accounts of deliberation. Feminist writers propose this capacity for broader self-definition as a model for democratic politics.