Note on a cross‐cultural test of Gilligan's ethic of care1

The authors are indebted to Professor Angela Biaggio, who co‐initiated the project and who died of cancer in 2003, and to Professor Eva Skoe for her great contributions to the handling of data.

Abstract

One hundred and twenty students from both Brazil and Norway were tested with Skoe's Ethic of Care Interview (ECI), which is a test of Gilligan's hypothesized gender‐related ethic of care. Subjects were also tested with Bem's Sex Role Inventory and Triandis's Test of Cultural Orientations. The ECI was shown to be related neither to gender nor to sex‐role concepts, and lower ECI scores from the Brazilian sample could be related to their higher collectivism scores on Triandis's test. The results suggest that Gilligan's ethic of care, as tested by the ECI, is not gender‐related and may be culture specific.

Notes

The authors are indebted to Professor Angela Biaggio, who co‐initiated the project and who died of cancer in 2003, and to Professor Eva Skoe for her great contributions to the handling of data.