Women and equality: The capabilities approach - Human dignity, involving the idea of equal worth, is the starting point in Nussbaum's cross-cultural application of the capabilities approach to the question of equality. As a formulation of the objective it transcends the conventional criteria of preference satisfaction and resource allocation. Focusing on what fully human beings are able to be and to do, she suggests a set of distinct human functional capabilities to guide political planning. While each component helps to define the quality of life, the capability for practical reason and affiliation suffuse the others, for they help to define what it is to be truly human

In: International labour review, Volume 138, Issue 3, p. 227-246