ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on gender justice and the health care system. It addresses utilitarianism. Utilitarianism can be described as a theory that proposes the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The book explores theorists who directly address the concept of gender justice and whom, either fully or partially, reject the formal equality/difference paradigm. Legal thinking on sex equality is rooted in our Aristotelian heritage: the sexes should receive similar treatment to the extent that they are similarly situated. With the rise of the women’s movement in the 1960s and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the legal doctrine and philosophy behind efforts to better women’s position in society came to be called “formal equality”. The book analyzes what such a theory of gender disadvantage might encompass. It presents similarities and differences between Rawls, utilitarianism, and feminist theorists.
