I used to tell women graduate students, half-seriously, that the role of slightly rebellious daughter was one of the better roles for women living in patriarchy.
Carol GilliganRead
While men represent powerful activity as assertion and aggression, women in contrast portray acts of nurturance as acts of strength.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the different ways men and women express strength, suggesting that nurturing can be a form of strength.
Carol Gilligan's quote emphasizes the contrasting ways in which men and women exhibit their strengths. It suggests that while men often demonstrate strength through aggression and assertiveness, women represent strength through nurturing and care. This perspective challenges traditional notions of power, indicating that both forms of strength are valid and essential in society.
Themes
StrengthNurturingGenderAssertionAggressionCare
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a women's rights seminar to highlight the value of nurturing behaviors.
More from Carol Gilligan
All quotes βThe women's movement is taking a different form right now, and it is because it has been so effective and so successful that there's a huge counter movement to try to stop it, to try to divide women from one another, to try to almost foment divisiveness.
Carol GilliganRead
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