2008 EPS Papers (Cowan)

Abstract: In a recent article, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis argues that the complementarian distinction that woman is equal in value with man yet subordinate role is logically incoherent. While acknowledging that a merely functional subordination would allow for personal equality, she argues that woman’s subordination is not merely functional but is grounded in her essential being as female, and thus necessarily entails her inferiority in value to man. In this paper, I argue, first, that Groothuis fails to show that woman’s subordination is essential rather than merely functional, and second, that even if it were essential if would not entail woman’s inferiority in value.