Confucian Feminism : A Practical Ethic for Life

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.

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).

Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach is Professor of Philosophy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands and the current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of World Philosophies.

Leah Kalmanson is Associate Professor and Bhagwan Adinath Professor of Jain Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Texas, USA.

Nader El-Bizri is Professor of Civilization Studies & Philosophy at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

James Madaio is Head of the Department of South Asia at the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, Czech Republic, and a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, UK.