 Govier, McLeod, and Benson introduce new tools for thinking about the hard cases described in §2. Agents in oppressive circumstances may have excellent skills of critical reflection, yet in these circumstances they are subject to others’ attitudes according to which they are suited only for subservient roles, that they are of inferior worth, that they are not capable of being full participants in society or in a decision-making process, and so forth. These attitudes have the effect of eroding their self-trust, self-confidence, and sense of self-worth. For example, although the reasoning skills of the Deferential Wife may be intact—she may have reflected on her wish to always cater to her husband, and endorsed it—she may nevertheless have a diminished sense of self-worth as a result of the subtle effects of gender oppression. If she does not treat herself as worthy of being the “author of her own conduct”, she will lack autonomy (Benson 1994, 659).