Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

250 STEPHEN T. REHRAUER
Gender Differences in the Definition of Justice and Injustice
The difficulties that Paul faced in the early Christian
community with respect to the proper relationship between and
equal and unequal treatment of men and women is particularly
interesting in light of the wealth of current psychological
research highlighting gender differences in the use of these
concepts of equality, equity, and human social membership.
Unless one has been asleep or locked in an ivory tower during
the past 30 years, we can presume a familiarity with the debate
raging in cognitive moral psychology between two differing
theories of moral development which has come to be known as
the debate between an ethic of justice as opposed to an ethic of
care. 48 In itself this characterization is a misrepresentation of the
real issues involved, falsely implying that either one or both of
the main positions is advancing the suggestion that care and
justice could be two diametrically opposed concepts. While the
works of Gilligan and Kohlberg are the best known illustrations
of gender differences, they are not the only ones to discover
gender differences in the way human beings formulate their
judgments concerning what constitutes a just or an unjust
action. 49 Though the discussion often revolves primarily around
48
For a comprehensive treatment of the major issues involved in this
debate, see M. J. LARRABEE, ed., An Ethic of Care: Feminist and
Interdisciplinary Perspectives (New York: Routledge, 1993). The primary
work of Carol Gilligan which began the debate is well worth consulting, not
only to understand the nature of the controversy, but also for the
information provided and the importance of the issues raised. See C.
GILLIGAN, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982).
49
Hoffman, for example, found that females of all ages score higher
than males on tests of empathic ability. See M. HOFFMAN, “Sex differences in
Moral Internalization and Values,” Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 32 (1975), pp. 720-729; M. HOFFMAN, “Sex Differences in Empathy
and Related Behaviors,” Psychological Bulletin 84 (1977), pp. 712-722. For a
more comprehensive survey of the research supporting the existence of
gender differences, see A. KAHN and W. GAEDDERT, “From Theories of Equity
to Theories of Justice: The Liberating Consequences of Studying Women,” in
V. O’LEARY, R. UNGER, and B. WALLSTON, eds., Women, Gender and Social
Psychology (Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1985), pp. 129-148; and B. MAJOR