The selections below are very typical and come from the more common
Introductory Psychology and Developmental Psychology texts. The best one is
probably the last.
Please note two things:
1) These selections represent the field, not my own opinion :)
2) Gilligan herself has modified her original position based on the data
described below
>From Baron
Was Gilligan correct? Does Kohlberg's theory underestimate the moral
maturity of females? Most studies undertaken to test this assertion do not
support it. On both hypothetical and everyday moral problems females score
as high as males in Kohlberg’s terms, (Walker & DeVries, 1985). Indeed, if
anything, females tend to score higher in moral reasoning than males.
Moreover, when asked to recall personal moral conflicts they have actually
experienced, males and females of various ages do not differ as to whether
they describe these in terms of concerns for impersonal rights or in terms of
caring for others and personal relationships (Walker, 1988). Thus, there is
little evidence for the view that two sexes focus on different aspects of
dilemmas.
>From Weiten
According to Carol Gilligan (1982), Kohlberg equates morality with
justice, a view that reflects males' typical socialization. She maintains
that females are socialized to equate with caring for others and
self-sacrifice. She has hypothesized that Kohlberg's approach may
underestimate the moral development of female subjects. This assertion has
not been supported by subsequent research, which has failed to find
significant gender differences in age-related progress through Kohlberg's
stages (Thomas, 1986; Walker, 1991).
>From Rice:
...For example, Lawrence Walker (Walker et al., 1987) scored children's
answers to moral dilemmas using both Kohlberg's fairness scheme and
Gilligan's criteria for a care orientation. He found no sex difference for
either hypothetical dilemmas like the Heinz dilemma or the real-life dilemmas
suggested by the children themselves.
Gilligan's arguments have often been quoted in the popular press as if
they were already proven, when in fact the empirical base is really quite
weak. Gilligan herself has done no systematic studies of children's (or
adults') care reasoning. ... we typically find no differences between boys
and girls in their tendencies to use care versus justice orientations ...
>From Papalia and Olds
A large scale analysis comparing results from many studies found NO
significant difference in men’s and women’s responses to Kohlberg’s dilemmas
across the lifespan (Walker, 1984). In the few studies in which men scored
slightly higher, the findings were not clearly gender-related since the men
generally were better educated and had better jobs than the women. A more
recent study of male and female college and university students found no
evidence that men’s thinking is more principled and women’s more
relationship-oriented (Orr & Luszcz, 1994). Thus the weight of the evidence
does not appear to back up either of Gilligan’s original contentions: male
bias in Kohlberg’s theory or a distinctly female perspective on morality.
Gilligan has since modified her position on gender differences in moral
judgments, suggesting that moral development in both sexes involves an
evolution from more abstract principles to compassion and care and the
ability to see gray areas (Gilligan, Murphy, & Tappan, 1990).
My personal opinion? The neuropsychological and ethological research
points to the presence of differences between the average members of each
sex in a number of areas. Further, the brand of feminism I was earlier
exposed to argued that men and women have different ways of approaching and
processing certain situations but
the female methods have been undervalued or punished by a patriarchical
society. Depending on the context, I agree. After all of the politics are
taken out of it (if ever), I think we will find that there are gender
differences inherent in our species that actually complement each other
quite nicely, if channeled appropriately. It is our task as a culture to
document, understand and value those differences, rather than avoid and
punish them.
RJ
Some References:
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice; Psychological Theory and
women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gilligan, C., Murphy, J. M. & Tappan, M. B. (1990). Moral development
beyond adolescence. In C. N. Alexander 7 E. J. Langer (Eds.), Higher stages
of human development (pp. 208-228). New York: Oxford University Press.
Orr, R., & Luszcz, M. (1994). Rethinking women’s ways: Gender
commonalities and intersections with postformal thought. Journal of Adult
Development, 1, 225-234.
Walker, L. J. (1988). The development of moral reasoning: A critical
review. Annals of Child Development, 55, 677-691.
Walker, L. J., de Vries, B. & Trevethan, S. D. (1987). Moral stages and
moral orientations in real-life and hypothetical dilemmas. Child
Development, 58, 842-858.
Walker, L. J. (1984). Sex differences in the development of moral
reasoning: A critical review. Child Development, 55, 677-283.
