Read the short scenario below and answer the following questions: What was Gilligan’s main argument about moral development? How might you apply Gilligan’s theory to this case? Isabelle is married to a man who works as a roofer and is presently unemployed. She works full-time as a nurse in order to support her husband and one year old child. She is also Catholic, has a spinal disorder and has just become pregnant with her second child. At her first prenatal appointment, her doctor tells Isabelle that if she continues with the pregnancy it will result in her spinal disorder becoming significantly worse, potentially to the point that she will not be able to work or care for her children.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Gilligan’s work paved the way for current trends that expand on a range of moral concerns, e.g., centering diverse cultural and ethnic groups and examining other key orientations such as virtue or purity. Gilligan argues that the female voice has been subdued to the point that it often cannot express a truly female perspective in a male-dominated society. When it comes to this woman in the scenario deciding whether to have an abortion or not, she should not simply appeal to male-generated theologies, principles or moral rules—in fact, to do so would be inauthentic for her as a woman. The wife in this example has to weigh the impact of her decision on herself (something often ignored), her one-year old child, husband, as well as extended family, friends, the church, etc. It does not mean she should have an abortion—since there is no absolute, abstract ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ about abortion—nor does it mean she should not have an abortion. Gilligan’s idea is that Isabelle must wrestle with her decision, thinking about those in her relational ‘care’ network. In this sense she expresses her authentic, female moral voice.