Introduction
Introducing the feminine voice means to draw attention to women’s special strengths, and to correct the systematic devaluation by our male-dominated society. In the book of In a Different Voice, with the intention to help women, identify more positively with their own distinctive style of reasoning about ethics, instead of feeling that there is something wrong with them because they do not think like men (unlike Kohlberg’s and Freud’s theories). One group of feminists (Noddings, Baier) tried to articulate further the feminine voice in moral reasoning. Others (McMillan, Rich, Ruddick, Harstock) agree that women have distinct virtues, and argue that these need not be self-victimizing.
The Moral Development Theory
As human beings grow, we somehow develop the ability to assess what is right or wrong, called Stages of the Ethics of Care. To clarify that, we develop morality and individual behavior used to evaluate situations and behavior as good or bad. Gilligan found that morality develops by looking at much more than justice.
Gilligan was the first to consider gender differences in her research with the mental processes of males and females in their moral development. In general, she noted differences between girls and boys in their feelings towards caring, relationships, and connections with other people. To specify that,
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In essence, being selfish to being responsible. At level two, we see, that goodness is equated with self-sacrifice. After all, at this point, a woman adopts societal values and social membership. For this reason, she refers to the second transition from level two to level three, as the transition from goodness to truth. Here, the needs of the self must be deliberately uncovered, as they are uncovered the woman begins to consider the consequences of the self and
The overriding right to bodily autonomy is considered characteristically male by many feminists. Females in contrasts seem to be assumed to be
Margaret Wente’s Globe and Mail article on what women could learn from men presents itself as dogmatic and controversial. Wente’s intent is to persuade their readers into believing that men have become a scapegoat for society yet women could learn lessons from men. Although Wente does have a clear purpose in explaining what women could learn from men, her argument is weakened by her lack of substantial evidence and her appeal to emotions being manipulative.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's voices, feminist visions: classic and contemporary readings. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
Knowing this you would think women would portray themselves more seriously, but the exact opposite is happening. These continuous loops of failure have severely weakened women’s physical presence, and because of this, are continuously singled out in world discussions on topics such as war or threats to national security, and are constantly burdened with tasks regarding health and family life. In my research I read many books from the nineteenth-century onwards, such as, Stuart Mill’s book ‘The Subjection of Women’ (1869) to Butler’s ‘Gender Troubles’ (1990), both of these and many more books has helped in my quest to conjure up a personal concept of women, but out of all of them I found Berger’s ‘Ways of seeing’ the most fruitful in terms of a literal explanation of women.
In the past there were many biases against women and their lack of abilities compared to men. Although the male perspective has changed over the past few centuries, there are many feminists who still fight for ...
Women have been an important role in society whether or not it is not remarked to the public eye. Oppression against women is never-ending along with violent acts constantly being pursued on them for over a century which is not only crucial but it is lessening their value worldwide. The suggestion of women’s emotions being a barrier for them to be equal to men is falsified, there is not one predicament that prevent a woman from being equal than a
... three critical areas of moral development and responsibility. The point of this statement was to remind women that they have a voice and they are being cut short of all they can do by laws telling them they are not good enough just because they are women.
In the debate between Christine and Reason, Christine represents the misogynistic notions that are embedded in each citizen’s mind. For instance, a commonly accepted misconception of the time was that “women are by nature fearful creatures, having weak, frail bodies and lacking in physical strength” (De Pizan 33). Reason refutes Christine’s widely accepted viewpoint by arguing that “it doesn’t necessarily follow that a fine, strong body makes for a courageous heart” (De Pizan 34). Such a didactic exchange allows De Pizan to directly communicate with the women reading her book. Subsequently, as Reason gradually disproves the sexist arguments of Christine, the prejudice that exists in the readers’ minds is also logically deconstructed. The ultimate purpose of the didactic dialects is to encourage readers to initiate an acceptance for the novel feminist doctrine that De Pizan is presenting in the creation of the City of Ladies because it is not based on passion nor emotions alone, but logic and
She discusses what I feel are some of the most important aspect to women in ethics. She believes that many traits that would be called a women’s trait are looked at as deficiency and this is why these values are given no credit by men. Many of early ethical writings have focused on women in the domestic role or private sphere. This type of thinking has made it impossible for many women to be taken seriously when discussing ethics that focus outside the home. Because women moved outside of the home for work it opened up much discussion about their role in ethics and about the role masculine traits has played in shaping the
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Contemporary feminists have a big problem with traditional ethical theories because of their basis that women can never be fully moral. Traditional ethical theories suggest that an excess of emotion indicates a deficiency of reason. This could not be farther from the truth for lack of emotion is not a requirement for rational reasoning. Traditional ethical theories do not accept the morality of reasoning. For example, the Kantian categorical imperative asks us to reject reason and be completely impartial while calculating morality. In conclusion contemporary feminists have made much progress in transforming the gender hierarchy of traditional ethical theories a...
Kohlberg’s theory of the stages of moral development has gained some popularity despite being controversial. The claim that the levels form a “ladder,” the bottom being the immature child with a pre-conventional level and the top being a post conventional ethical individual. The sequence is unvarying and the subject must begin at the bottom with aspirations to reach the top, possibly doing so. (7) Research confirms that individuals from different cultures actually progress according to Kohlbergs theory, at least to the conventional level. Kohlberg’s stages of moral development continue to provide a foundation for psychology studies of moral reasoning. (6)
Throughout history society has been controlled by men, and because of this women were exposed to some very demanding expectations. A woman was expected to be a wife, a mother, a cook, a maid, and sexually obedient to men. As a form of patriarchal silencing, any woman who deviated from these expectations was often a victim of physical, emotional, and social beatings. Creativity and individuality are dirty, sinful and very inappropriate for a respectful woman. By taking away women’s voices, men were able to remove any power that they might have had.
Arianna Stassinopoulos wrote in the 1973 book The Female Woman: "It would be futile to attempt to fit women into a masculine pattern of attitudes, skills and abilities and disastrous to force them to suppress their specifically female characteristics and abilities by keeping up the pretense that there are no differences between the sexes" (Microsoft Bookshelf). In her statement we see a cultural feminist response to the dominant liberal feminism of the 1970s.
Kohlberg, L. (1984). The psychology of moral development: the nature and validity of moral stages. San Francisco: Harper & Row.