Gender Construction and the Limits of Liberal Equality

The article suggests a possible answer to the puzzling question how it is that despite the explicit promise of equality for women present in each and every western liberal democracy, the reality is that sex discrimination persists and is often even legitimated and protected, especially when it is based on religious and cultural motivations. As a basis for its argument the article employs the psychological theories of Carol Gilligan and Nancy Chodorow that describe the gendered construction of the self in western liberal societies, as well as the historical unfolding of the myths of Eve and Lilith, and the patriarchal origins and structure of liberal theory. The article argues that the failure of liberalism to deliver on its promise of equality for women is due both to the gendered structure of liberal theory and society and to the gendered construction of the self in western liberal societies, which is both shaped by and shapes the structures of these societies and the theories supporting them

From Private Prejudice to Public Policy: How Religious Conservatives Use Liberalism to Control Women\u27s Bodies -- the United States and Israel in Comparative Perspective

The Article uses the feminist critique of the patriarchal nature of religion and liberalism, the feminist critique of flaws in political liberalism, and a socio-political analysis of the power of religious conservative groups in the United States and Israel to claim that religious conservatives use the patriarchal nature of liberalism, its inherent flaws, and conservative political power to turn private religious prejudice into public policy. Analyzing the constitutional and legal status of religion in the United States and the recent dramatic changes it has undergone, the Article shows that contrary to popular belief, and due to the aforementioned factors, the American model of separation between religion and the state cannot protect women’s rights against the religious conservative attack. The Article uses a comparative analysis of the religious conservative attack on women’s rights in Israel to show that despite the very different religion-state relations, the religious conservative attack in the two countries is similar in both method and success