The Capability Approach and Gender Discrimination

Adel S Z Abadeer

Chapter Chapter 4 in Norms and Gender Discrimination in the Arab World, 2015, pp 71-83 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The capability approach, pioneered by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, argues that practices and policies should be evaluated based not on the means (e.g., wealth, income, social institutions) that individuals own or have access to, but on the freedom they have to utilize these means (Comim et al. 2008; Drèze and Sen 2002; Sen 1985a, b, 1992, 1999, 2002; Nussbaum 1988, 2000, 2011; Qizilbash 2009). What ultimately matters to people is their freedom. It is the freedom people have to choose from the set of valuable choices that comprises their ability to live according to what they value (Sen 1999). Functionings represent the achieved capabilities: the subset of capabilities that people actually achieve and value the most. Every person should have the freedom or capability to practice a religion, but if the person chooses to be religious, agnostic, or atheist, he/she should not fear actual or potential harm or retribution, individually or collectively. Similarly, a person should have the capability to participate in political activities, regardless of his/her preference to be politically active or not.

Keywords: Political Participation; Capability Approach; Gender Discrimination; Arab World; Basic Capability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-39528-3_4

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137395283_4

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