Liberal feminism,cultural diversity and comparative education

For multiculturalists who favour a relativist approach, globalization and the increasing interconnectedness of societies pose a threat to cultural diversity. In this paper we show, through an exploration of the work of Martha Nussbaum, that a viable universalist feminism can accommodate a thin and so defensible version of multiculturalism. Nussbaum's treatment of culture in relation to women's education and the cultivation of capacities for world citizenship fosters inclusion of norms and traditions from different ways of life, while leaving room for a critical perspective on them. On these grounds, there is considerable scope for cooperation between comparative education and feminist philosophy's liberal theorists.