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Gender and Moral Values

Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan were two famous Harvard University professors that helped define the moral differences between men and women. Gilligan assisted Lawrence Kohlberg when he began his study on moral behavior during the 1960s. When the study was completed, Kohlberg concluded that women were morally inferior to men; Gilligan disagreed with his findings. She conducted her own research on this issue, realizing that each gender is different and neither gender is morally superior to the other.

  1. Rules, Justice and Rights

    • Kohlberg's research revealed that men have a tendency to base their morality on principles, such as rules, justice and rights. Males are not as concerned with relationships or people's feelings but are more concerned with the violation of standards. Kohlberg and Gilligan considered how boys are raised within society and the expectations that are imposed on them. Traits, such as self-reliance, bravery, strength and being able to provide, are desirable qualities that American culture demands of men, and these qualities are focused more on self and not others. Most men's morality is influenced by these particular traits that are associated with the masculine gender.

    Gilligan's Findings

    • Gilligan's results revealed the fact that females typically make their moral decisions based on the preservation of relationships. Society expects females to care for others, to be mindful of other people's feelings and expectations. Women do not consider rules and standards to be absolute, and they are more adaptive in their behavior when it comes to making moral decisions. Many women also make their moral decisions based on of their feelings and emotions, instead of logic and reasoning, at any given moment in time.

    Feminism and Morality

    • Feminism promotes the advancement and opportunities for women within a male-dominated society. Areas of social, political and economic rights are expressed through this movement. Feminist ideology also plays a role in defining gender morality for many women. Societal institutions have been established on men's morality, and feminists have worked to transform these institutions to reflect their moral perspective. Even if a woman does not claim to be a feminist, many of them have been influenced by this ideology in one way or another. Feminists are women that are guided by traditional female characteristics, such as nurturing and care, and use these traits to reorder their position within society. Feminism not only has changed women's values and ethics within broader society; it has affected the morality of men as well.

    Considerations

    • Many outside factors help shape a person's morality, regardless of gender, including capitalism, religious upbringing, economics, education, status, cultural identification, political ideology and occupation. Since American women live in a capitalist society where wealth and money are important, it's considered a moral virtue for them to desire men who can provide them with these societal attributes. Beautiful women are also highly valued within American society. Men who desire a good-looking female over a less attractive one are not necessarily morally wrong for displaying this behavior. Gilligan's conclusion on gender morality adequately sums up this dilemma by claiming that men and women behave differently because they are different.

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