Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

Men tended to take jobs that focused on the marketplace, the
courtroom, or the legislature, where the ruling principle is justice.
In these contexts, rules are put in place to guarantee that exchanges
can be counted on. The standard relationship between people in this
masculine picture of human reality is based on the idea of a contract.
A contract must be undertaken willingly by both parties. When a
contract is made, the result is that each party must do something
for the other, and this exchange is agreed upon as fair. When
the parties execute their agreed-upon duties, they are freed from
the contract. If one party fails to carry out his or her end of the
bargain, the other can bring in the authorities.
Aside from these expectations, there is nothing else binding
the two parties. Once both parties have done what they said
longer a relationship between them. Acting frees you from a
contractual relationship.
But, Gilligan argued, women tend to have different relationships
based on the expectations shaped by traditional gender roles.
Women tended to be secretaries, nurses, teachers, and mothers and
wives. The relationships in these roles are not based on contracts
but on caring.
Entering a care-based relationship is quite different from
entering a contractual relationship. In a contract, there is an
explicit period of negotiation to make clear what is expected
is not agreed to; the relationship is not brought into existence.
In a care-based relationship, however, there are no explicit
party but to get to know that person’s needs and to foster his or
person, not because you have promised to, but because you are
legitimately concerned about the other’s well-being.
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