ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to lay out and develop feminist critiques of libertarianism. As I move through the key libertarian value commitments, however, I highlight points of overlap in which some libertarian views and some feminist views converge on some key principles and policy recommendations; for it is not the case that libertarianism is completely bereft when it comes to generating feminist insights or principles. I argue that even if libertarian principles can ground feminist criticisms of gender inequality, the view, as a whole, falls short of generating a substantive critique of some of the most troubling forms of gender inequality and fails to provide grounds for laws and policies central to gender justice. In order to lay out the grounds of feminist criticism of libertarian views, I will focus on five key concepts: self-ownership, the public vs. private distinction, freedom as non-interference, formal equality, and, finally, libertarian views of power. In the following sections, I will outline how each of these concepts, as deployed in prominent strands of libertarian philosophy, falls short when it comes to theorizing and diagnosing gender inequality, and show how, in some cases, a more expansive interpretation of the key concept is needed.
