ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to demonstrate how political decisions ought to be ethical decisions. Many feminists respond by being active in community politics, while smaller numbers seek electoral representation to formal politics. All feminist politics attend to the differences of women. Feminist visions to include women as full citizens require:
open dialogue and inclusive political judgement
attention to diverse identities and group difference
electoral representation of women’s specific and general needs.
Much of politics concerns the allocation of resources. This chapter seeks to show how interpreting needs from a feminist perspective is an attempt to:translate justifiable needs claims into social rights claims
provide the rights to participate as equal citizens
show that justice and care provide the enabling conditions to fulfil human capabilities.
The chapter concludes with suggestions for how feminists might work in coalition across intense differences of political belief, religion, ethnicity, class.