Ethics in the Public Sector: Listening to the Voices of Women Executives

A number of feminist writers argue that ethics has traditionally been conceptualised from a masculine standpoint, which has meant analysing ethics from a position of what counts as 'normal' male ethics. This has led to an emphasis on individualism, hierarchical relationships, bureaucratic rationality, and abstract moral principles that may be described as an impartialist conception of morality. Ethical behaviour has not been conceptualised as nurturing and caring or as a relational concept. This poses a dilemma for women because if they are to conceptualise ethics and ethical behaviour as nurturing and caring it means that they are likely to be seen as disruptive and obstructing the rational workings of the bureaucracy which has developed to support patriarchy.