feminist interventions in the history of philosophy and ethical theory.

In week 5 we have some materials concerning feminist critiques of traditionally dominant perspectives in philosophy, particularly assumptions which have excluded sexual and gender difference.  That such assumptions have been prevalent in both ancient philosophy (Plato, Aristotle, etc.) but also in the works of social contract theorists and embedded in certain modern epistemological assumptions is not altogether surprising.  The field of philosophy had largely excluded female voices until very recently, with few marginal exceptions.  
Here are a few links which add some perspective to the feminist critiques, and also to critiques of certain traditionally feminist assumptions.
In The Second Sex (1949), Simone de Beauvoir "explored the historic situation of women and concluded they have been prevented from taking active control of their own lives.  Woman has been unfree throughout history; she was subjected to man who, partly with woman's consent, made her merely an extension of himself.  Men and women have never shared an equal relationship, and it would be advantageous to all if this situation were to change."
-Vintges, Karen.  Philosophy as Passion: The Thinking of Simone de Beauvoir.  (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996), 21.
Here is a link to the opening section of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex:
The Second Sex

Feminists working in philosophy began to question the dominant assumptions taken for granted as "objective" discourse.  Here is an excerpt from Tina Chanter's book entitled Gender concerning "feminist epistemology":
"Differences between individuals, the interplay between subjects and their communities, must be factored into philosophical investigation, rather than eliminated as contingent and therefore irrelevant.  Once the social and political positioning of individuals within and vis-a-vis their communities is no longer seen merely as information from which philosophical enquiry must abstract, but as constitutive of how knowledge is legitimated as knowledge, then the ideal neutrality, impartiality, and universality of philosophical knowledge must also be questioned....  Feminists have isolated several different concerns surrounding the relationship of gender to objectivity..."
-Chanter, Tina.  Gender: Key Concepts in Philosophy.  (New York, NY: Continuum, 2006), 74. 
While working at times within feminist philosophical perspectives, Judith Butler has also critiqued certain assumptions in mainstream feminism, including the essentialism often presumed regarding gender identities.  Her book Gender Trouble (1990) is a very influential work that challenges and expands our notions of gender and sexual identification.  Here is a link which discusses Butler's work.
Modules on Judith Butler on gender and sex