Rethinking the Moral Significance of Micro-Inequities: The Case of Women in Philosophy

Chapter Author(s) Samantha Brennan
Book/Edited Volume TitleWomen in Philosophy: What Needs to Change?
Editor(s)Katrina Hutchison; Fiona Jenkins
Pages180-196
AbstractMicro-inequities are small, unjust inequalities often pointed to as part of the larger story about the unequal place of women in the workforce. This paper sets out to examine micro-inequities in the context of women’s careers in the academic discipline of philosophy. It also offers a philosophical analysis of micro-inequities, looks at some explanations about why moral philosophy has struggled with the problem of small harms, and argues that we need to rethink their moral significance. I argue that we should not treat acts and their results only on an individual basis. The existence of micro-inequities highlights a significant problem with doing so as cumulative effects are easily ignored when we do this. A final section offers some suggestions about solutions appropriate to the kind of wrongs that micro-inequities are.
KeywordsInequity, Inequality, micro-inequity, women, workforce, academia, moral philosophy, small harms, aggregation
Date Published 2013
PublisherOxford University Press
DOI10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199325603.003.0010
ISBN9780199325603
Google Scholar Linkhttps://scholar.google.ca/scholar?cluster=3170954245008426288&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5
Open Access?No

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