Women and the Rawlsian Social Contract

In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls considers neither the position of women nor the organization of the family in the just society. My paper discusses the extent to which his social contract can be extended to include justice to women in spite of this omission. Feminists have accused Rawls of creating a theory of justice for white middle class males. I argue that this is not a logical consequence of the basic elements of his theory, namely his definition of the original situation and of the veil of ignorance. The limitations of Rawls's theory arise because he deliberately constrains the social contract to the rights and duties of citizens in relation to the government while he also defines the family as being outside the sphere of citizenship and government. If this constraint is removed, the social contract must of necessity be extended to the family. I also argue that unless organization of the care and nurture of children are included in the social contract, the position of women in society is not resolved.