Gender Differences In Carol Gilligan's In A Different Voice

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Introduction
Feminists now seek to articulate the feminine voice, to draw attention to women’s special strengths, and to correct the systematic devaluation of these by our male-dominated society. The book of In a Different Voice, was especially important to the emergence of this strain of feminist thought. 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 (as Kohlberg’s and Freud’s theories would imply). One group of feminists (Noddings, Baier, and the contributors to Women and Moral Theory) tried to articulate further the feminine voice in moral reasoning. Others (McMillan, Rich, …show more content…

In general, Gilligan noted differences between girls and boys in their feelings towards caring, relationships, and connections with other people. More specifically Gilligan noted that girls are more concerned with care, relationships, and connections with other people than boys (Lefton, 2000). Thus, Gilligan hypothesized that as younger children girls are more inclined towards caring, and boys are more inclined towards justice (Lefton, 2000). Gilligan suggests this difference is due to gender and the child’s relationship with the mother (Lefton, …show more content…

The first transition that takes place is from being selfish to being responsible. At level two the main concern is that goodness is equated with self-sacrifice (Belknap, 2000). This level is where a woman adopts societal values and social membership. Gilligan refers to the second transition from level two to level three as the transition from goodness to truth (Belknap, 2000). 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 other (Belknap,

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