Justice and Gender in Plato's Utopia: a review of Plato's view on women

Plato’s commentators have had different interpretations of his view on women; because they have faced with the inconsistent, complexed and fragmented pieces in dealing with Plato’s works on the issue. On the one hand, Plato held a few social rights for women and marginalized them. On the other hand, when elaborating his utopia, he accorded important social roles to women and, therefore, considered them equal to men, in terms of nature and talent. What we seek in this paper, is to understand Plato’s motive and purpose for discussing on the issue, especially because he has adopted a monistic view in his ethics and politics, which is dependent on his metaphysical views. Thus, we will try to examine Plato’s philosophical views of women and their different interpretations till our times, with a look at the socio-historical world of ancient Greece. Finally, we conclude that Plato has regarded the happiness of society as a justice which has the one form in all human beings, without considering their gender and their abilities. Therefore, his concern has not been increasing the women’s rights.