Freedom, equity and fraternity. For women?

Authors

  • Marí­a Teresa Enríquez Gómez

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31207/colloquia.v5i0.59

Keywords:

French revolution, feminism, fraternity

Abstract

Women’s day, commemorative of a socialist convention (March 8, 1910), brings back the memory of the feminist ideal revolutionary root. This work examines the three ideals characteristic of the French Revolution: freedom, equality and fraternity, and proposes a re-reading of such ideals under the light of the historical results thereof during the last two centuries.

Historically, freedom and equality shaped the two main politic and economic blocks of the 20th Century: individualistic freedom and Capitalism, and equality as a superficial egalitarianism towards Socialism. ¿So, what happened to fraternity?

The good of women –and of society as a whole- needs the accomplishment of fraternity. But fraternity demands a change of paradigm: that freedom may be understood as commitment capability, and not just as decoupling; and that equality be added to the recognition of differences and, therefore, it may be open to complementarity. Freedom to commitment and complementarity between equals open the way for fraternity as mutual help.

Published

2019-01-18

Issue

Section

Articles