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92 The Praeger Handbook of Education and Psychology
the most important historical events of the next 50 years” (para. 3). She observes that there
are already signs, for example, there are more women in the U.S. Congress than 20 years ago,
women are marrying other women and having children, and gay men are marrying other men
and adopting children. The educational system, Gilligan reasons, will be at the center of this
“historic transformation,” especially gender studies programs because these programs provide
the knowledge that can foster human freedom and possibilities.
Carol Gilligan and her life work embody the essence of a postformal thinker. As Joe Kincheloe
and Shirley Steinberg (1999) explain, postformal thinkers are metacognitively aware and understand
the way that power affects their own lives and the lives of others; therefore, they apply
postformal analysis to the deep structures in order to expose insidious assumptions. As Carol
Gilligan’s groundbreaking research clearly demonstrates, when postformal analysis is applied
to education and psychology, the implications are boundless. Gilligan’s research has had major
repercussions, and it has inspired a wealth of research and scholarship not only in education and
psychology but also in ethics and law. Her work has led to a wide range of educational and cultural
projects designed to encourage girls’ voices and build on their psychological strengths. Primary
and secondary schools across America have developed girl-friendly curriculums and teaching
methods in order to resist the principles of femininity that were psychologically and intellectually
damaging to girls for reasons that required them to be nice, to be silent, and to suppress vital
part of themselves. Furthermore, her work motivated colleges to incorporate women’s studies
programs, women’s campus centers, and sexual harassment policies as well as speech codes of
conduct. Many popular psychology books such as Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth (1991), Mary
Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia (1994), and John Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
(1998) resulted from Gilligan’s studies. It also was the impetus for the 1991 American Association
of University Women’s report “Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America.” Moreover,
Gilligan’s research was one of the driving forces behind the 1994 Gender Equity Act in Education
(Wylie and Simon, 2003).
In addition, postformal theorists use feminist theory in order to unify logic and emotion, unlike
formalists who insist upon a separation of logic and emotion. Postformal thinkers recognize that
emotions develop into “powerful thinking mechanisms that, when combined with logic, create a
cognitive process that extends our ability to make sense of the universe” (Kincheloe and Steinberg,
1999, p. 76). This idea is at the heart of Gilligan’s research, and accurately describes Gilligan’s
theory of moral development. Finally, postformal scholars know that history is not complete and
democracy cannot survive without the inclusion of all voices, specifically the voices of people
who have been outside the mainstream of the conversation. Carol Gilligan actively opens the
conversation to “different voices” because she knows that the inclusion of all voices is an act
of social justice that adds to the richness and depth of the story and promotes creativity and
understanding for all because the world looks and sounds very different after suddenly seeing
and hearing something that you’ve never seen or heard before.
REFERENCES
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. 1st ed.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
———. (1993). In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development, 2nd ed. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
———. (1998, June 1). Remembering Larry. Journal of Moral Education, 27(2). Retrieved on December
12, 2005, from http://sas.epnet.com/citation.asp?
Gilligan, C. (2001, October 1). From White Rats to Robots the Future of Human Development. Ed. The
Magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved on December 10, 2005, from
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/gilligan10012001.html.