THE WORLDS WE LIVE IN - GENDER SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

This paper explores two different traditions of gender difference rese arch and theory. One tradition emphasizes similarities between the sex es, whereas the other emphasizes differences. Feminist psychologists w ho work within the similarities tradition focus on how women and men a re alike in order to promote the full integration of women into the ma le-dominated public world. Feminist psychologists who work within the differences tradition focus on women's relational skills and women's g reater valuing of connection and reciprocity in order to create a diff erent world in which reciprocity is valued over hierarchy, connection over separation, and caring over power. The reasons for the tension be tween these two traditions is explored. I argue that rather than choos e one of these two views, it is better to use the tension created to e xplore the dialectic between similarity and difference. To illustrate the usefulness of this tension, I explore the controversy around gende r and moral reasoning. After examining the empirical and political con cerns about linking an ethic of care to gender, I explore the interact ion of care and justice with gender similarities and differences in de veloping moral theory.