THE WORLDS WE LIVE IN - GENDER SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

This paper explores two different traditions of gender difference research and theory. One tradition emphasizes similarities between the sexes, whereas the other emphasizes differences. Feminist psychologists who work within the similarities tradition focus on how women and men are alike in order to promote the full integration of women into the male-dominated public world. Feminist psychologists who work within the differences tradition focus on women's relational skills and women's greater valuing of connection and reciprocity in order to create a different world in which reciprocity is valued over hierarchy, connection over separation, and caring over power. The reasons for the tension between these two traditions is explored. I argue that rather than choose one of these two views, it is better to use the tension created to explore the dialectic between similarity and difference. To illustrate the usefulness of this tension, I explore the controversy around gender and moral reasoning. After examining the empirical and political concerns about linking an ethic of care to gender, I explore the interaction of care and justice with gender similarities and differences in developing moral theory.