Whether Women Have Different Ethical Standards When Compared to Men - Assignment Example

Women’s Equality Women’s Equality Several ethical studies relating to the aspect of gender raise a number of questions on whether women are more ethical than men, or otherwise. These questions seek to determine whether women have different ethical standards when compared to men, which means that the existing gender differences, as well as the inequality existing between men and women have led to a gendered society. For this reason, it seems plausible to argue that the ethical reasoning between the two genders is presumably different. Gillan supports this argument by stating that the dissimilar ethical perspectives in relation to the aspect of gender follow different but comparable paths towards moral development (Gilligan, 1993). These paths lead people to make some of their ethical choices based on dissimilar ethical criteria. This paper looks at the feminist philosophical view in the determination of some discriminative concepts. According to Hutchings (2007), feminism is an ethical tradition that examines some of the gender relations of power, which are tied to societal moral codes. The moral codes exist in the feminist global ethic, which occur through the division of feminist thoughts into normative traditional that include care feminism, enlightenment feminism and post-colonial feminism. Despite the categorizations, it is possible to determine that feminists might differ in their understanding and interpretations of the manner in which women are oppressed in the society. However, the foundation of their arguments is based on women’s experience (Hutchings, 2007). For this reason, most of the feminists might argue that historically, not so many people consider a woman’s point of view. This means that men form the different communities, philosophies, religion, moral theory constructs and sciences for fellow men, as well as for the fulfillment of the male interests. In order to evaluate the nature of sexist ethics, the basic requirement would be to develop an understanding of the same. The basic understanding of the sexist ethics is that it is a moral theory that exhibits fundamental biases towards interests of a single gender. Most of the feminists believe that it is possible to consider the major moral theories as sexist since they exhibit biases towards the point of view of the male gender and their development seeks to fulfill male interests. However, an individual might argue that utilitarian and deontological theories are not sexist in nature, given their positions on the moral obligations of human beings. Utilitarianism, which is also known as the principle of utility, is a moral examination of the righteousness of some of the human actions, which are based on the amount of pleasure or pain that they produce. It is a “consequentialist” ethical theory that judges the righteousness or wrongful actions by the results that the action might produce. In this case, the utilitarian approach suggests that the moral questioning of an action depends on the consequence of the action on others (Stewart, 2009). This means that people should only act in ways that are likely to increase social or the personal well-being of other people, which means that people should only do some of the things that they would wish for other people. Utilitarianism as a theory has received a lot of praise from women and the reason for this is the fundamentals that stand by it. Many women believe that they do not have the ability to perform as well as men in many fields. However, this theory has led to many women changing this notion because it shows women from another perspective. According to the theory, ethics is the most important factor in any subject. The theory seeks to reveal that every action taken ought to have appropriate and standing ethics. Referring to this theory, many women have had to ask themselves why it is that they treat men with as much superiority as they do without any standing ethics. The groups that women have formed for their own development have their rubrics standing by various Unitarianism factors. Noting that men are not as powerful as they initially thought have had these women engaging in discussions that seek to show their power in society. Even though the moral theory of utilitarianism might seem to be the foundation of living a good and honorable life, feminist concerns indicate that the universal moral theories are not a reflection of the diverse nature of human beings as well as the varied interests that they possess. Particularly, feminists do not appreciate the fact that there are deep-seated differences between understanding as well as the evaluation of moral issues. Ethically, feminists believe that men tend to order, control and organize things to achieve moral superiority over women. They believe that natural law that men are naturally the dominant gender, and cannot determine particular situations that a woman may find herself in, which might essentially be oppressive. On the other hand, deontological ethics do not consider the consequences of an action, thereby arguing that people have a duty to act morally after a careful evaluation of the available choices (Stewart, 2009). Consequently, there is a possibility of determining that proponents of deontological ethics consider human autonomy as well as human rights as important concerns. This means that human beings are morally obligated to protect human rights, which are inclusive of ensuring women equality in society, despite the possibility of obtaining greater happiness by neglecting the rights. Consequently, it is vital for individuals to respect human autonomy, which is a significant contributing factor to some of the principles of informed consent. With this determination, feminists have the obligation to determine whether moral theories are sexist or otherwise. This includes the determination of whether gender is an important consideration when discussing moral issues (Stewart, 2009). If it would not be important, there is a chance that some of the unique interests and perspectives of women might not be glossy. This provision accounts for the major feminist assumption that the society is shaped by the male gender in accordance to patriarchal needs and for the fulfillment of patriarchal interests. Deontology as discussed is a theory that goes completely opposite to the fundamentals of utilitarianism. This theory, rather than focusing on the ethical values of a particular case, it focuses on the law or rather the rules. This means that rather than engaging in activities that revolve around the development of women, it is more traditional and goes about the rules that were initially set. In earlier years, women did not have any power at all as opposed to contemporary days. Women were suppressed too much and this is even seen from the manner in which they were treated by men (Gilligan, 1993). The women had the responsibility of taking care of the households and caring for the children while men went out in search of food that would last them. This factor saw many women respect the men and saw them as their superiors. These women got suppressed to a point that they did not have the opportunity to make important decisions in their lives. An example is the way that these women were not allowed to vote. Relating deontology to the issue of women’s equality, there is the fact that this theory does not support the concept of women independence and their struggle to receive fair treatment from men. The notion that women are supposed to be submissive to the men had existed for such a long time that it became a rule. The fact that it became a rule is a factor that led to it incorporated into deontology (Hutchings, 2007). Deontology has it that women ought to follow the rules and work for their men in their households and take care of the family as the man hustles. Many households and especially in third world countries follow this theory of deontology. The women have continued running under the influence of men and following everything that they are told by these men and the reason for this is the fact that they believe that these men are powerful than them which is a concept that is very traditional. However, first world countries have completely shunned this notion and the vast number of women leaders that exist shows this. Virtue ethics is independent from criticism because it focuses on a person from a private point of view as opposed to the other theories that are more societal. According to this theory, a person’s character is the most important factor to consider when understanding the ethical point of view. With regard to women and equality, many women have had the ability to stand on their own and retaliate in the case of men mistreating them. There are times, in the job environment, which men are offered more credit as compared to women for carrying out various tasks. There are women that have a motivated kind of character that do not let their bosses discriminate them out of gender. These women stand up to their superiors and demand equal treatment and go further to show the reasons why they are as suitable for the jobs as the men and move on to prove their bosses wrong (Gilligan, 1993).. However, there are women that do not have such a motivated attitude. The reason is the fact that the women believe that there is a reason why the men are chosen for the job over them. These women rarely succeed and many times, they remain in the particular job level for a long time that hinders any form of personal development. The difference in outcome and personal development between the motivated character and the subtle character is very impressive. It is thus important for women to bear a motivated attitude if they aim at acquiring equality to men. Relativism is well incorporated in the issues regarding equality of women. The fact that men are superior to women is just but a notion. Relativism receives neither commendation nor criticism from women. The reason is that it does not support any side for it states that a point of view is not important. According to the theory, women and men ought not to pay attention to the various issues that revolve around the equality of women. The theory has it that people should just let the issue go and let it play out according to nature. Letting it run freely is an issue that has made the theory important in the lives of many people and thus many people have conformed to it and taken up other issues. Despite the fact that it does not have any negative remarks, it is imperative to note that there are people that have tried to criticize it but have not succeeded as the theory in itself is subtle. Ethical egoism is another theory incorporated in the issue of women’s equality. According to this theory, it is imperative for actions taken to bear moral values for the purpose of self-interest. This means that for the woman in her struggle to become equal to a man, she ought to take ethically upright actions that are aimed at not only developing herself but the female community in general. There are times that women carry out demonstrations against the amount of discrimination that they go through from men. Such demonstrations are not supported by this theory and this is because they jeopardize the moral characteristics of these women. Emotivism is another theory that exists in the field of women and their struggle for equality. According to this theory, ethical statements do not actually show the emotions of the particular person offering them. This is well applied in the case of women for many are times that women are mistaken from the various statements that they offer with regard to equality. These women offer strong statements that are often mistaken for their emotional point of view. An example is when a woman is talking in a conference and offers a speech bearing a large magnitude of passion. Mostly men commonly mistake this for desperation, which is actually not the actual case. These women talk this way owing to their ambition and not their emotions. References Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and womens development. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Hutchings, K. (2007). Feminist Perspectives on a Planetary Ethic. In The Globalization of Ethics, ed. William M. Sullivan and Will Kymlicka. New York City: Cambridge University Press. 171-190. Stewart, N. (2009). Ethics: An introduction to moral philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Polity. Read More