GENDER AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN JOHN LOCKE: RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL PERSPECTIVES

Résumé

John Locke, the father of British Empiricism and the wheel behind the 1688 revolution in England, is one of the finest minds in the catalogue of modern philosophers. His contribution to the development of political philosophy is immense, and has continued to be the starting point of a retinue of modern political theorizing. In this piece, the researcher focuses on the interaction of the idea of gender inequality and good governance in John Locke. Contrary to the current of his time, Locke saw the need for marital equality and fidelity and draws out their political implications. Locke argues that marital equality is indispensable to social and political equalities among men and women in a given society. And that a tyrannical head of a family can never be a good candidate for democratic political leader. Thus, this piece brings out Locke‟s concept of good governance, which presents the private and the political life as spheres that cannot be treated in isolation in any sincere pursuit of good governance.