This article discusses the contribution of Carole Pateman for the democratic political theory. The criticism of the liberal instrument “contract”, which is frequent since her early works, allows us to understand how relations of subordination, which reduce the possibility of autonomy for the agents, pass as voluntary and consensual. This leads Pateman to analyze how the subordination of women organizes a liberal political order that seeks to present itself as neutral in relation to gender. An analysis of Pateman’s confrontations with her critics permits us to observe the limits of her theoretical work, and also the radical nature of her democratic project.
Democratic theory; Feminism; Contract; Consent; Carole Pateman