Martha Nussbaum is quite a unique figure in the field of development economics.Trained as a philosopher and classics scholar, she is an accomplished academic and writer, having written over a dozen books with a few more waiting to be published.She has won numerous awards for her scholarship, and has received honorary degrees from twenty-five universities throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.She has held professorships at Brown, Harvard, and now at the University of Chicago where she currently serves as the Ersnt Freund Distinguished Professor of Law and Ethics.She is a feminist, human rights advocate, philosopher, classicist, and much, much more. But instead of attempting to paint a picture of her whole career and body of work (which is immense), I will focus on one example of her written work and research – the role of women in Third World development and the theories she developed therein. 1
From 1986-1993, Nussbaum was a consultant at the World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki (at the United Nations University). She worked alongside Amartya Sen on a project aimed at showing “how debates in philosophy--about cultural relativism and anti-relativism, about utilitarianism and its strengths and weaknesses—were relevant to the work of policy makers as they attempt to find ways of measuring and comparing that elusive thing, ‘the quality of life’ of a nation.” 2 And though their work converged at this critical point, Nussbaum is oft to clarify that their theories began as separate works in their respective fields of research, and that key differences in the principles of their approaches. As explained by Nussbaum, “Sen has focused on the role of capabilities in demarcating the space within which quality of life assessments are made; I use the idea in a more exigent way, as a foundation of basic political principles that should underwrite constitutional guarantees.” 3 4
In her book that is most relevant to our economic development work here at CFED, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach, Nussbaum engages in a dialogue between her theories on sexual inequality in development and the ‘capabilities theorem.’ First she challenges the traditional economic development model for the way in which it neglects the needs of women, and is blind to the fact that economic development projects tend to benefit men more than they do women. She argues that “Women in much of the world lack support for fundamental functions of a human life. They are less well nourished than men, less healthy, more vulnerable to physical violence and sexual abuse. They are much less likely than men to be literate, and still less likely to have a pre-professional or technical education.” 5 Through empirical evidence she argues that there is a strong correlation between gender inequality and poverty, and states that when the two are combined, “the result is acute failure of central human capabilities.” 6 Therefore human (economic) development must be managed with a cognizance of the problems of gender inequality and the treatment of women as a means to others’ ends in many development programs. 7
Nussbaum furthers her human development argument by introducing the capabilities approach. Here is what she says about the capabilities approach: “The aim of the project as a whole is to provide the philosophical underpinning for an account of basic constitutional principles that should be respected and implemented by the governments of all nations, as a bare minimum of what respect for human dignity requires.” 8 What she considers as the principle problem with the treatment of women in development, namely, that they are treated as means to others’ rather than ends in and of themselves, 9 is also, according to Nussbaum, the critical problem with current development practices that affect change in the lives of both women and men. Meaningful human and economic development focuses on “…principle of each person’s capability, based on a principle of each person as end.” 10 The capabilities approach can be applied across cultures as Nussbaum argues because of the universality of certain values and capability needs across cultures. 11
The issues raised by Nussbaum about values in economic development are relevant not only to the work being done in developing countries, but to the work being done in the US and in Europe. At the root of her argument is the quest to improve the quality of life through providing people with capabilities, means to successfully meet their own ends, which is what economic development aims to do in both developed and underdeveloped countries. Her focus on women and development is also a neglected issue in economics research, teaching, thought, and practice in advanced industrial economies. Indeed, scholars in the emerging field of behavioral economics – a synthesis of psychology and economics – should pay attention to her studies, since their whole approach is to ground more empirically “economic man” – the assumed, deductive, mono-motivated, supremely rational person that only lives in econ textbooks.
In short, Nussbaum’s Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach is definitely worth the read: you will learn first-hand the struggles of women to advance their status and power in the Third World as well as pick up a few ideas for application in the United States. And as a major American public intellectual, professor Nussbaum’s other works on topics - such as the emotions, Stoicism, ancient Greek concepts of goodness and beauty, quality of life, ethics, the law and literature, patriotism, and feminism - are engaging intellectual adventures as well.