ABSTRACT
Developmental psychologists BELENKY et al. argue that Gilligan’s “different voice” is systematically buried by methods of education that ignore the ways of knowing that women have cultivated and learned to value. They identify five nonstagelike epistemological perspectives common to women, conceptions of knowledge and truth that are often devalued both at school and in home life. The five are silence (mindless and voiceless), received knowledge (from higher authorities), subjective knowledge (personal, private, and intuitive), procedural knowledge (ways of acquiring and communicating), and constructed knowledge (contextual and narrative, both subjective and objective). Family systems that are built on narrative structures of empowerment and disempowerment, and educational systems that privilege epistemologies devised by men and intended for men, leave women feeling voiceless and “stupid”. What is needed are educational methods that help women develop their own authentic voices by emphasizing connection over separation and competition.
