Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: What We Choose: An Adult Program on Ethics for Unitarian Universalists

Activity 3: In a Different Voice

Part of What We Choose

Activity time: 20 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Read Handout 1, Carol Gilligan and a Different Voice, and copy for all participants.

Description of Activity

Distribute Handout 1 and invite participants to read it. Say:

Gilligan argued that there are different ways of framing moral issues and that her contemporaries were leaving out or undervaluing the moral perspectives of women.

Lead a discussion with these questions:

  • To what extent is Gilligan's critique still valid?
  • How do people prioritize relationship in ethical decision making?
  • What does someone's gender have to do with the way they prioritize relationship? Is there a difference in how we perceive the ethical priorities and perspectives of males and females?
  • What differences in perspectives arise when we break the binary of gender in order to include transgender people and others who are gender variant?
  • Do you perceive generational and/or cultural/racial/ethnic differences of perspective on these questions?

Including All Participants

Create a large-print handout that includes the discussion questions, to assist those who are visually impaired.