Reconstructing Sexual Equality

Feminist theorists have critiqued both legal equality doctrine and society's power structure as "phallocentric"-that is, reflecting solely the perspective of men. These critiques have fostered two conflicting visions of sexual equality: the "equal treatment" or "symmetrical" model, and the "special treatment" or "asymmetrical" model. After surveying the spectrum of current equality theory, Professor Littleton proposes her own model of sexual equality, called "equality as acceptance," which she identifies as essentially asymmetrical. She then demonstrates how her "acceptance" model responds to the feminist critiques of equality and power. Professor Littleton argues that women's biological and cultural differences from men, regardless of whether they are "natural" or constructed, are real and significant. Women's inequality, she contends, results when society devalues women because they differ from the male norm. "Acceptance" would reduce inequality not by eliminating women's differences, but by reassessing the value society accords to traditionally "female" occupations and lifestyles, and revaluing so as to render such value no less than that accorded to equivalent "male" activities.