“And Ain't I a Woman?” Toward a Multicultural Approach to Gender and Morality

Abstract

This article addresses research issues relevant to studying the moral dimensions of women's and girls' physical activity experience. Morality and gender are introduced as social constructs, and a critical analysis of how scholars have conceived of these constructs is presented. A brief historical account of psychologists' theoretical and empirical study of gender and morality in the United States includes selected academic milestones that have influenced research on females in physical activity. This chronology provides a backdrop for a theoretical analysis of how psychologists conceive of the still-evolving constructs of gender and morality. The analysis is framed by a typology developed along social and cognitive axes; illustrations of research in physical activity contexts are provided where possible. The final section offers reflections on four major issues that are of particular importance to future investigations involving the moral aspects of women's and girls' physical activity experience.