Katherine Jenkins

Bennett Brady

PHI/WGS 297

October 18, 2016

Jenkins

            For a long time, feminists have tried to develop the concept of woman, but have struggled with this task because there is nothing that every single woman has in common. Sally Haslanger developed a concept of woman with the goal to avoid the inclusion problem. Haslanger’s definition stated that women should be defined as someone who is socially subordinated on the basis of their presumed female sex, and the concept of man is someone who is socially privileged bases on their presumed male sex. Haslanger stated that this concept avoids the inclusion problem because all woman who face oppression are included. Jenkins argued that Haslanger’s concept didn’t solve the inclusion problem because according to her definition trans people were not considered woman, and were not included in this concept. Jenkins came up with four scenarios for trans woman and found that in only one scenario trans people would be considered a woman under Haslanger’s definition. Jenkins found this very troubling because trans woman are a very oppressed group and very crucial to the feminist movement and felt that the definition needed to be adjusted so that they were included. Jenkins however thought that an ameliorative project which Haslanger used is a very useful tool for feminists seeking a definition of woman avoiding the inclusion problem. Jenkins carried out her own ameliorative inquiry that includes trans people, and respects their gender identity. To include trans people Jenkins found that the definition of an ameliorative inquiry had to be adjusted to yield two gender concepts as opposed to just one. Jenkins came to the conclusion that there were two senses of gender. Using Haslanger’s findings she said that one aspect of gender is “gender as a class,” and the other is “gender as an identity.” Jenkins defined gender as an identity as a response to social norms that are associated with the social positions of a gender class.

            Some may argue that Haslanger’s definition was sufficient enough, and avoided the inclusion problem. However, I think that Jenkins two senses of gender was a necessary improvement. Even though Haslanger said all woman who faced oppression were included in her concept she was wrong. Her definition of woman didn’t include transgender people which is a group that faces a huge amount of oppression. Not including transgender people in her definition was disrespectful to peoples gender identity, and hurt the feminist movement because trans people have contributed a lot to it like Jenkins pointed out in the reading. Jenkins addition of gender identity avoided the inclusion problem unlike Haslangers gender concept which left out almost all trans woman.