Recipient: Nancy J. Hirschmann, University of Pennsylvania

Book: Subject of Liberty: Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom (Princeton University Press)

Citation: In her wonderfully titled book, The Subject of Liberty, Nancy Hirschmann asks what freedom means for women and how they can achieve it. To address these ambitious questions, she examines the work of an impressive range of political and feminist theorists. However Hirschmann does not confine herself to a philosophical analysis but explores the nature of freedom in some of the most important and difficult contexts that feminists have confronted, namely battering, welfare and veiling.

When the subject of freedom is female, Hirschmann argues, freedom is not the universal concept it is thought to be. She takes as her point of departure Isaiah Berlin's distinction between negative and positive liberty. She argues that a full account of freedom must include both negative liberty's emphasis on the necessity for individuals to decide what they want for themselves with positive liberty's emphasis on the provision of enabling conditions, including the material conditions for choice. In the case of women this entails an appreciation of the interaction and mutual constitution of the external structures of patriarchy and the inner selves of women. Thus women's act of choosing is a necessary but not sufficient condition for freedom.

Hirschmann's trenchant critique of the constraints that surround women's exercise of freedom provides the basis for her thoughtful reflections on how women can attain meaningful power in creating contexts in which they can formulate choices. She emphasizes the links between equality and freedom and the value of selective forms of state intervention. She calls for feminists' continual critical engagement with the very meaning of desire and choice. She supports a feminism which is deeply tolerant of women who make choices that may be antithetical to feminism, whether this is a battered woman who decides to return to an abusive partner or a veiled woman who defends the practice of veiling. Such tolerance for Hirschmann is founded on a compassionate recognition of oppression which constrains women's choices and on an openness and humility in appreciating the complex reasoning that surrounds the choices women make. It is a global vision that encourages challenging but respectful dialogue across many lines of difference. We are proud to honor a scholar with the energy, compassion and erudition of Nancy Hirschman.