In Justice, Gender, and the Family, Susan Moller Okin presents a critique of modern theories of justice. She claims that these theorists make fatal assumptions regarding justice in the family. For example, she claims that John Rawls assumes that a family is inherently just and fails to consider how gender fits into the original position and veil of ignorance. He neglects the difference of opportunity in the family and the way that gender has a role as the primary school for justice. Okin believes that women must be included to create a satisfactory theory of justice that remedies the modern inequalities that we still see in families today. I am going to extend Okin’s claims to the institution of arranged marriages, specifically in the Indian culture. It is important to understand arranged marriages because they perpetuate societal and gender injustices through it’s process.
Okin describes the asymmetrical aspect of power in the family and the vulnerabilities of marriage. She claims that women are susceptible to the vulnerability with the anticipation of marriage. “The cycle of women’s
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If we apply the veil of ignorance to this system taking into account gender, in theory each person would understand the injustices that are continuing and attempt stop them, because they may be in that situation. Arranged marriages would give each gender equal opportunity to voice their opinions in the matchmaking process. Families would understand that there should extra pressure to ensure that one gender know a specific set of tasks because they are expected to once they are married. Under the veil of ignorance, people can truly understand and attempt to remedy the injustices that may be overlooked. Susan Moller Okin is able to stress to us the necessity of considering gender when formulating theories of