Two aspects of the relation between sexual difference and democracy are discussed: (i) the construction in classic contract theory of the ‘natural’ difference between the sexes as a relation of superiority and subordination; (ii) the peculiarities and paradoxes of women's standing as citizens as the ‘different’ sex. This is illustrated by the examples of motherhood ‐ women have been seen as having a distinctive political duty as mothers, but motherhood is also seen as the antithesis of citizenship ‐ by the difficulties surrounding women and consent, and by the questions raised by contemporary feminists about the meaning of (‘n