The Triple Day Thesis: Theorising Motherhood as a Capability and a Capability Suppressor Within Martha Nussbaum’s Feminist Philosophical Capability Theory

Elaine Tontoh

Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 2022, vol. 23, issue 4, 593-610

Abstract: The theorising of motherhood as a capability and a capability suppressor is critical to emancipatory discourse and practice within human development and to addressing through public policy, social injustice against women due to their role as mothers. I conceptualise motherhood as a combined reproductive capability that gives women the capability to function as mothers. Generally, by capability suppression, I mean features of a person’s present capability that are likely to limit other current or potential capabilities of that person to function – suppressive functioning – while those same features simultaneously play a fertile role in promoting the capabilities or functionings of others – fertile functioning. Maternal capability suppression is therefore the limitation of a mother’s capabilities to function due to the instrumental role of childrearing. A mother’s lack of freedom to engage in the triple day of self-reproduction due to maternal capability suppression explains the triple day problem. To address the triple day problem, the paper draws on Martha Nussbaum’s capability theory of social justice to develop and explain the specific tragic conflict of capability suppression inherent in motherhood. The paper further proposes motherhood compensation as a complement to Nussbaum’s fair-bargain approach of promoting childcare and economic options.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2021.2014425

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