PHIL 418 Ethics

In this discussion do a brief analysis of Sheryl Sandberg's interview with Eric Schmidt using the Ethic of Care. Specifically point out a few of her examples and apply Gilligan's principles. This section does not have to be long, but please don't generalize. After a minimum half page analysis, reflect on your own experiences of what Sandberg is claiming and give your own thoughts. This discussion is less formal than some of the others so in the second half use it as you like.

In the present generation, where women have participated in every quest of man by providing equal shoulders, many critics still sit back and question on the leadership skills of women. The world has still been a patriarchal place where a man’s work, when done by women, raises same questions of their efficiency even when the women have done it in a better way. It all lies in the perspectives of people who grow up instilling this discrimination in mind. As per Gilligan’s work, it is true that a woman perceives and performs a work with a different set of views and beliefs than that of the man but that does not necessarily pull her into criticism in criticizing her ways of works (Skoe, 2014). The leadership skills of women are more collaborative unlike that of the men which are more individualistic. Rather than looking at the working procedures of the two gender, people should more be interested in the achievement of the bigger goals that is whether the women leadership has successfully helped to accomplish the work or not. The interview of Sheryl Sandberg with her ex-boss of Google namely Eric Schmidt shows how she has supported Gilligan’s principles. Gilligan’s, who was the follower of Kohlberg, turned against his theory of moral reasoning because it considered the male’s point of view of moral reasoning. She got against it, producing three stages of women’ s moral reasoning called pre-conventional stage, conventional stage and post conventional stage. These explanations disclosed that women are equally capable of performing a man’s task although their way of executing the tasks, ways of thinking and ways of handling problems and challenges are different (Broughton, 2016). I have also been severely misjudged by my male collage at my workplace as they think my working styles to be more sophisticated, non violent, timid and full of self sacrifices. However, I always excite them by exhibiting how my female characteristics also help me to accomplish the tasks as successfully as their male ways of working things out.

References:

Broughton, J. M. (2016). A Critique of Gender Dualism in Gilligan's Theory of Moral Development. An Ethic of Care: Feminist and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 112.

Skoe, E. E. (2014). Measuring care-based moral development: The Ethic of Care Interview. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 19(3), 95.