Feminism and cosmopolitanism: some inevitable connections

• Author: Diana Elena Neaga
• Position: Assistant, Faculty of Social and Administrative Sciences, ?Nicolae Titulescu' University. Ph.D. candidate, National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (NSPSPA) University, Bucharest
• Pages: 323-331

Diana Elena Neaga

323

LESIJ NO. XVIII, VOL. 1/2011

FEMINISM AND COSMOPOLITANISM:

SOME INEVITABLE CONNECTIONS

Diana Elena NEAGA∗

Abstract

In this paper I will approach the issue of feminism and cosmopolitanism in order to give

arguments in sustaining the fact that, today, feminism and cosmopolitanism are inevitable

connected. In constructing my discourse I will begin by laying out the main ideas of

cosmopolitanism, followed by a presentation of the construction of the feminist movement over

time, inter-relating these two discourses at the end of the analysis. Connected with political ethics,

political theory and political philosophy, the theoretical framework selected for this paper is based

on the cosmopolitan theory developed by scholars like Martha Nussbaum, Fiona Robinson and

Kwame Anthony Appaih who, underlining universality, define cosmopolitism as a universal

concern with every human life and its well-being, but who are also giving value to the differences

(seen as cultural or/ and of identity) insofar as they are not harmful to people.

Keywords: Feminism, cosmopolitanism, differences, identity, ethics.

Introduction

What are the connections, if they are, between feminism and cosmopolitanism – this is the

main questions at which I try to give an answer in this paper. In order to achive my goal I divided

the paper in three parts. In the first one I present the way cosmopolitan discourse developed over

time, but in the same time I try to give some practical answers to some critics that put the

cosmopolite theory in difficulty, critics related to the problem of identity and diversity. The main

scholar the are guiding my arguments in this part are Martha Nussbaum, Fiona Robinson and

Anthony Appiah. In the second part of the paper will be focused on the presentation of the

successive stages that feminism went through in order to become the present movement, stressing

along this presentation, the common elements between the feminist and the cosmopolitan

construction. At the end of this paper I will underline how the cosmopolitan discourse which

revolves around a few principles regarded as being fundamental is highly convergent with that

promoted by the feminist movements. In order to do so I will answer to the questions: How did the

feminist movement evlove in time? What were the central and defining concepts of the three

waves? by using the main core of cosmopolitan principles - humanity, universality of the human

rights, acknowledging, understanding and valorizing differences – and the metaphor of concentric

ciercles developed by Martha Nussbaum.

The discourse of cosmopolitanism is revolves around some basic principles, among which:

humanity which is a distinctive feature to all humans, the universa lity of human rights resulting

from their very belonging to humanity, the awareness and understanding of the differences,

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∗ Assistant, Faculty of Social and Administrative Sciences, „Nicolae Titulescu” University. Ph.D. candidate,

National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (NSPSPA) University, Bucharest, beneficiary of the

project “Doctoral scholarships supporting research: Competitiveness, quality, and cooperation in the European

Higher Education Area”, co-funded by the European Union through the European Social Fund, Sectorial

Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013; (e-mail: diana_elena_neaga@yahoo.com).