While some feminists have criticized care-based ethics for reinforcing traditional stereotypes of a "good woman"[10] others have embraced parts of this paradigm under the theoretical concept of care-focused feminism.[11]
Care-focused feminism, alternatively called gender feminism,[12] is a branch of feminist thought informed primarily by ethics of care as developed by Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings.[11] This body of theory is critical of how caring is socially engendered, being assigned to women and consequently devalued. "Care-focused feminists regard women's capacity for care as a human strength"[11] which can and should be taught to and expected of men as well as women. Noddings proposes that ethical caring has the potential to be a more concrete evaluative model of moral dilemma, than an ethic of justice.[13] Noddings' care-focused feminism requires practical application of relational ethics, predicated on an ethic of care.[14]
Ethics of care is also a basis for care-focused feminist theorizing on maternal ethics. These theories recognize caring as an ethically relevant issue.[15] Critical of how society engenders caring labor, theorists Sara Ruddick, Virginia Held, and Eva Feder Kittay suggest caring should be performed and care givers valued in both public and private spheres.[16] This proposed paradigm shift in ethics encourages the view that an ethic of caring be the social responsibility of both men and women.
Joan Tronto argues that the definition of the term "ethic of care" is ambiguous due in part to the lack of a central role it plays in moral theory.[17] She argues that considering moral philosophy is engaged with human goodness, then care would appear to assume a significant role in this type of philosophy.[17] However, this is not the case and Tronto further stresses the association between care and "naturalness". The latter term refers to the socially and culturally constructed gender roles where care is mainly assumed to be the role of the woman.[17] As such, care loses the power to take a central role in moral theory.
Tronto states there are four ethical qualities of care:
- Attentiveness
Attentiveness is crucial to the ethics of care because care requires a recognition of others' needs in order to respond to them.[17] The question which arises is the distinction between ignorance and inattentiveness.[17] Tronto poses this question as such, "But when is ignorance simply ignorance, and when is it inattentiveness"?[17] - Responsibility
In order to care, we must take it upon ourselves, thus responsibility. The problem associated with this second ethical element of responsibility is the question of obligation. Obligation is often, if not already, tied to pre-established societal and cultural norms and roles. Tronto makes the effort to differentiate the terms "responsibility" and "obligation" with regards to the ethic of care. Responsibility is ambiguous, whereas obligation refers to situations where action or reaction is due, such as the case of a legal contract.[17] This ambiguity allows for ebb and flow in and between class structures and gender roles, and to other socially constructed roles that would bind responsibility to those only befitting of those roles. - Competence
To provide care also means competency. One cannot simply acknowledge the need to care, accept the responsibility, but not follow through with enough adequacy - as such action would result in the need of care not being met.[17] - Responsiveness
This refers to the "responsiveness of the care receiver to the care".[17] Tronto states, "Responsiveness signals an important moral problem within care: by its nature, care is concerned with conditions of vulnerability and inequality".[17] She further argues responsiveness does not equal reciprocity.[17] Rather, it is another method to understand vulnerability and inequality by understanding what has been expressed by those in the vulnerable position, as opposed to re-imagining oneself in a similar situation.[17]
In 2013, Tronto added a fifth ethical quality:
- Plurality, communication, trust and respect; solidarity caring with
Together, these are the qualities necessary for people to come together in order to take collective responsibility, to understand their citizenship as always imbricated in relations of care, and to take seriously the nature of caring needs in society.[18]