Confucian Feminism: A Practical Ethic for Life - Hardcover

by Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee (Author), Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach (Editor), Leah Kalmanson (Editor)

In Confucian Feminism Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee expands the theoretical horizons of feminism by using characteristic Confucian terms, methods, and concerns to interrogate the issue of gender oppression and liberation.

With its theoretical roots in the Confucian textual tradition, this is the first re-imagining of Confucianism that enriches, and is enriched by, feminism.

Incorporating distinctive Confucian conceptual tools such as ren (benevolent governance), xiao (filial care), you (friendship), li (ritual), and datong (great community), Rosenlee creates an ethic of care that is feminist and Confucian. At the same time she confronts the issue of gender inequity in Confucian thought. Her hybrid feminist theory not only broadens the range of feminist understandings of the roots of gender oppression, but opens up what we believe constitutes gender liberation for women transnationally and transculturally.

Here is a practical ethic that uses Confucianism to navigate the contours of inequality in everyday life.

Author Biography

Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawai'i - West O'ahu, USA. She is the author of Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation (2006). Her entry of "Gender in Confucian Philosophy" is published in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (2023).