Feminist ethics are based on the belief that contemporary theorizing undervalues women’s moral experience. Therefore female ethics have a characteristic of dissatisfaction with traditional ethics. Feminist ethics perceive the conventional social order as oppressive to women hence marginalizing them. The women’s roles and responsibilities in society were suppressed, and they were treated like slaves. Feminist ethics introduce essentialism to build on women’s identity in society through attributes. The feminist ethics also criticize the gender binary of distinct biological formation between men and women. The advocacy of women’s right to promote gender equality by overlooking the biological aspects of gender. Therefore, the female ethics outlook on traditional theory is parochialism to maintain a narrow focus. Feminist ethics criticize conventional perceptions of women and gender binary.
Feminist ethics can either be supportive or amenable to the traditional theories. Consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics are the three theories of conventional ethics. Consequentialism and deontology are amenable to feminist ethics. First, consequentialists disregard the Kantian principle of treating people with respect to moral status. Women have always maintained a lower moral position as compared to men. Traditional consequentialism, therefore, can be used to undervalue and underappreciate women in society. Feminist ethics can improve consequentialism by promoting equal treatment of people across various moral statuses. Finally, deontological ethics emphasize the relationship between duty and morality of human actions. Women’s responsibility and morality in the traditional society were perceived as less vital than that of men. Feminist ethics deny all forms of impartiality since they are based on care and relationship. In deontology, love and care can be given equally using the feminist ethics approach.