Martha Nussbaum's 'Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach'

How can we combine the concepts of development, gender, peace and justice?

Review of Women and Human Development:The Capabilities Approach. Martha
Nussbaum. Cambridge University Press, New York (USA) and Cambridge (UK).
2000. 312pp.

Reviewed by Bipasha Baruah

There are a number of reasons why this book stands out in contemporary
feminist literature on gender and development. The author, Martha Nussbaum,
introduces and links the vital concept of justice with discussions about
development, equality and peace in a very convincing manner. She argues that
international political and economic thought must view gender difference and
oppression as a problem of justice. She bases this argument on the fact that
women in many societies are not treated as ends in their own right but
instead as mere instruments of the ends of others. Unequal social, economic
and political circumstances give women unequal capabilities towards leading
lives complete with a full menu of opportunities and liberties. With vivid
examples of poor working women in India, the author argues that these
circumstances affect not just their external options but also their inner
lives in terms of what they are able to hope for, what they love, what they
fear, as well as what they are able to achieve. Nussbaum stresses that
justice should take priority in social reflection and not be relegated to
something that, as some economists would have us believe, is mentioned as a
buffer when one has no rational arguments to make. With a view to shaping
political thought and public policy, the author builds upon the capabilities
approach first propounded in economics by Amartya Sen and extends it into
the
philosophical arena for a broad interdisciplinary audience.

The other distinguishing feature in Nussbaum's philosophy is her defense of
certain universal norms of human capability that transcend differences of
culture, class and context. She explains that not all universal approaches
are obtuse, simplistic or insensitive to cultural and regional specificity.
Indeed, universal norms are actually required if we are to protect
diversity,
pluralism and freedom, treating each human being as an active agent instead
of as a means to an end. She argues that the best way to hold all these
concerns together is to formulate universal norms as a set of capabilities
for fully human functioning, emphasizing the fact that capabilities protect,
and do not erode, different human freedoms. She identifies the following as
central human functional capabilities: life, bodily health and integrity,
being able to imagine, think and reason, being able to emote and have
attachments, practical reason, affiliation, recreation, and control over
one's political and material environment. The author proceeds to stress that
this list is comprised of separate components, which means that providing
larger amounts of another cannot satisfy the need for one. She argues that
while governments cannot hope to make all citizens healthy or emotionally
balanced, since some of the determinants of those positive states are
natural
or governed by luck, they could aim to deliver the social basis of these
capabilities. The author distinguishes between internal or innate
capabilities and combined capabilities. She defines the latter as internal
capabilities combined with suitable external conditions for the exercise of
the function. Nussbaum finds commonality between the capabilities approach
and the rights-based approach that has dominated recent development
discourse
by enunciating that the best way of thinking about rights is to see them as
combined capabilities. The right to political participation, the right to
religious free exercise, the right to free speech - these and others are all
best thought of as capacities to function.

The author follows up the discussion of human capabilities with an
exploration of the role of religion and the family in impeding or
facilitating the human capabilities of women. She presents the secular
feminist perspective that religion itself is irredeemably patriarchal, and a
powerful ally of women's oppression through the ages but emphasizes that no
religion consists simply of authority and unquestioning subservience. All
religions contain argument, diversity of beliefs and practices, and a
plurality of voices - including those of women, which have not always been
clearly heard. Nussbaum attempts to be more reconciliatory than secular
feminists in her approach but stands firm in the belief that deference
should
not be given to religion when its practices harm people in the areas covered
by the major capabilities. As in the case of religion, Nussbaum approaches
the concept of family by asking what it does for the capabilities of each of
its members. While acknowledging that love and care do exist in families,
the
author also explores the family as an active political unit, bargaining
ground, and frequently the major site of women's oppression. She challenges
the political approach that views women's propensity to give love and care
as
existing "by nature" by recognizing the role of custom, law and institutions
in shaping the emotions.

This is an extraordinarily well-written book that is as rich in its
narrative
examples as it is in its philosophical arguments. Although the author limits
herself to the detailed discussion of religion and family, she prepares the
ground for a discourse on other equally important topics, such as property
rights, land reform and education. While the book contains enough
theoretical structure to be appealing to a specialist philosopher, it will
also capture non-philosophers who are interested in gender and development
theory, policy and practice.