ABSTRACT
Equality has served as the basis of the moral, social, and political order for which people have struggled and fought throughout the modern age. But any idea of equality that is located in the autonomous, free, and self-sufficient individual, who joins only with similarly situated others, does not easily recognize the dependency that has so occupied women’s lives. The attainment of equality can be made compatible with the inevitability of dependency. Perhaps a full theory of equality adequate to dependency concerns awaits not only further theoretical developments, but also a change in the practices of organizing dependency work. A connection-based equality is one concerned less with resources as such and more with capabilities and functionings. If equality is to become a reality in the face of dependency and the demands of dependency care, then it must be a connection-based equality, an equality that recognizes needs based on functioning through periods of dependency and caring for dependents.
