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| Published: September 30, 2021
Gender Differences in Moral Development: Kohlberg-Gilligan Debate
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, Delhi, India Google Scholar More about the auther
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Mata Sundri College for Women, University of Delhi, Delhi, India Google Scholar More about the auther
DIP: 18.01.183.20210903
DOI: 10.25215/0903.183
ABSTRACT
Morality is an important cornerstone for smooth functioning societies. It has been a burning issue for intellectuals and academics since times immemorial. Kohlberg-Gilligan debate is a recent addition to this long-standing historical issue. The present study attempts to understand gender differences in moral development using Kohlberg’s theoretical framework. Purposive and convenience sampling was used to select 84 college students (42 males, 42 females; 18-24 years). Content analysis was used to assess the responses given by the participants on five hypothetical moral dilemmas. The data was analysed using frequency, percentage, and chi-square test. Although there were no significant gender differences on each dilemma, overall responses given by the total sample indicated that females had a higher level of moral development compared to males. 39% of the total sample fell in the post-conventional level. The nature of the dilemma influenced the participant’s placement on the stage. The findings have consequences for Indian young adults’ moral reasoning as well as the steady shift in male and female societal roles.
This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2021, Gupta V. & Jaggi P.
Received: July 15, 2021; Revision Received: September 18, 2021; Accepted: September 30, 2021
Article Overview
ISSN 2348-5396
ISSN 2349-3429
18.01.183.20210903
10.25215/0903.183
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Published in Volume 09, Issue 3, July- September, 2021