Obituary: Susan Moller Okin

Political philosopher. Died aged 57.

New Zealand-born philosopher Susan Moller Okin has died at her home in Massachusetts.

Okin, professor of ethics in society, joined Stanford University in California in 1990. At the time of her death, she was on a one-year fellowship at Harvard University.

"She was perhaps the best feminist political philosopher in the world," said Debra Satz, associate professor of philosophy at Stanford. "She was very bold in her approach to the field and she was not afraid to take on the established view."

Okin's work focused on the exclusion of women from most Western political thought, past and present.

Her book Women in Western Political Thought is considered a cornerstone of research on women in politics. She also wrote two other books, Justice, Gender and the Family and Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?.

In recent years, Okin turned her attention to the plight of women in the least developed countries. She became a staunch supporter of the Global Fund for Women, a foundation supporting women's human rights.

Okin was born in 1946 and grew up in Remuera. After leaving Epsom Girls Grammar School, she studied history at Auckland University and won a scholarship to Oxford where she gained her master's degree.

A doctorate at Harvard was followed by a period of teaching history at Auckland University before joining Stanford.

Okin received many awards, including the American Political Science Association's Victoria Schuck Prize for the best book on women and politics in 1989.

She is survived by a daughter, Laura, and son, Justin.