In a Different Voice

Overall, I found Carol Gilligan's books In a Different Voice to be extremely long-winded! I am going to chalk this up to the fact that I have an English degree and not one in Psychology. It was the long, drawn out explanations of interviews that killed me. I did, however, appreciate the subject matter. The psychology of women in a patriachal society has always interested me, but in a classroom setting I would hope to teach it with more of an emphasis on literary texts. There are so many amazing stories out there with so much to say! My favorites are The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper. Both deal with the psychological stress women undergo because their gender is subordinated in their current society. The fact that a female perspective through developmental stages does not exist in quite a number of major psychological theories is absurd with what we know today.
The fact that this text was written in 1982, and republished in 1993 does not surprise me, because it sounds a little out of date and behind the times. Truthfully, our society still contains gender inequality, but in my opinion women are becoming more comfortable with the position of power that success can bring. This goes directly against Gilligan's observation that women fear success and connect it with social rejection and a loss of femininity (15). More and more women are presenting themselves as publicly proud of their success, Hilary Clinton is the most common of examples here. Of course, we have yet to have a female lead this country so we do still have some way to go, but I believe we are on the right course. I believe it to be beneficial to students to be aware of the current social standing of gender equality, and to have them evaluate it and create opinions about it for themselves.
In the classroom, I believe I could use some of the information the Gilligan provides when considering the differences between male and female students. By being aware that each gender generally develops in a different manner I will be able to better understand why, for example, boys excel with logic problems and girls view them more abstract manner. Of course, these are general statements and in the end everyone is different. This affirms the need for a variety of teaching strategies. Some students will enjoy group work, and maybe this will be the girls in the class who are more network/relationship based and therefore like to work together. Other students will do better at solo projects and papers, and this may be the male students because their psychological development has led them to value individual hard work and success. The fact of the matter is that boys and girls simply are not going to fit neatly into these categories, but the multiple teaching styles will help to ensure that all students, regardless of gender, are given to opportunity to succeed in whichever way works best for them. It really does not matter, as long as everyone is making progress.