Gender Equality in Iris Marion Young's Theory of Differentiated Citizenship

Women’s issues are among basic issues of contemporary society which have been offered different solutions. While the first- wave feminists would insist on the gender equality, the second wave would emphasize that women differ from men. The third wave tried to hold on to both sides of the conundrum: equality and difference. Iris Marion Young is one of the theorists of the third wave of feminism who presented the theory of Differentiated Citizenship. Through Consultative Democracy theory of Habermas and Foucault’s theory of Marginalized and Oppressed Groups she tried to plan a type of communicative-participatory democracy in order for women and other oppressed and deprived groups to fully and equally participate with others while maintaining their differences in public areas. On this very basis, the present research analyses Young’s Theory of Differentiated Citizenship to show the extent of success of the theory in offering an alternative solution to the issues of women and deprived social groups.