The Differing Moralities of Men and Women

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, in "In How Good People Make Tough Choices", Rushworth M. Kidder argues that men and women have differing moralities based on three specific differences. It shows how men focus on ethics of justice, while women focus on ethics of care; how men focus more on equality, while women focus on ensuring nobody gets hurt; and finally, how women focus more on networks of lateral relationships, while men focus more on hierarchical structures. By researching each of these three specific factor,s it shows that men and women do have different moralities, while also showing the basic differences in the genders that account for these differing moralities.

From the Paper:

"The first difference is that men focus on ethics of justice while women focus on ethics of care. Ethics of justice refers to a focus on rights, while ethics of care refers to a focus on responsibilities. The main difference between the two approaches is that the ethics of justice makes the decision black and white. When looking at a situation based on justice, a person can determine clearly and definitely whether a decision is right or wrong. In contrast, the ethics of care makes the decision much less certain. When considering responsibilities, the decision becomes gray with it difficult to justify the decision being made. A person making a decision based on ethics of care is likely to say that they did what felt right."

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