JOHN RAWLS’ LIBERALISM WITH REFERENCE TO THE SUBORDINATION PROBLEM
In this essay, I will describe John Rawls’ version of Liberalism and argue against it, with
reference to the Subordination Problem.
John’s Rawls version of Liberalism aims to have a fair society by creating a balance between
the different values, ideologies, religions, etcetera.
On the one hand, he makes a difference between the public and private sphere; this fairness
should only govern the public sphere involving democracy, work laws and public services.
Therefore, the private sphere would not be part of the government’s duties; so that personal
relationships, religious or ethical practices would not be affected by fairness.
On the other hand, Rawls introduces “The Original Position”. This method consists of choosing
those principles of justice that will govern the public sphere, and must be decided by being
rational, self-interested and under a veil of ignorance. In more detail, an individual should
rationally decide those principles taking into account his own interest but being unaware of his
social status, talents, future and conception of the good.
Taking into consideration what The Original Position requires, Rawls believes that we all would
choose the following principles. Firstly, equal liberty for every citizen; secondly, equality of
opportunity, both of them to protect people with rights. Thirdly, the Maximin Principle based on
distributing the money raised by taxes amongst the population.
The first objection to this theory has to do with the private sphere. Rawls’ Liberalism focuses on
freedom and equality in the public sphere, but there is a gap in the private sphere that affects
women. Regarding the public sphere, laws would control democracy, working regulations and
public services.
Nevertheless, in the private sphere, there is a legal loophole concerning women. There are no
laws protecting women from subordination from man. In this way, women would be publicly
free and equal but privately downtrodden; this means everything would be appearance. For
instance, there are religious and ethical values that make a woman submissive because of
traditions and habits. In the.worst-case scenario, a man could abuse a woman and she will not
be protected as there would not be any law to deal with such action.
In response to this objection, however, we can point out that every social construct is firstly
“imposed” in the public sphere, and then learned, acquired and put into practice in the private
sphere. Therefore, if freedom and equality of public life have an impact on people’s attitudes
