Empathy and Equality: Assessing Traditional Notions of Gender Identity
EMPATHY AND EQUALITY
Abstract
Carol Gilligan’s contention that male gender identity is threatened by intimacy while female identity is marginalized by separation has its basis in the generally accepted view that men approach morality from a justice perspective in contrast to women, who adopt a care-focused outlook. Gilligan’s view of this sociology of gender identity is quite plausible given her contention that care is a viable agent of moral development for women and that separation and individuation are profoundly rooted in complex, mother-child relationships. While Gilligan essentially concurs with Lawrence Kohlberg as to the universality of the male-justice/female-caring construct, she disagrees ...
