Student Led Discussion: Developmental Theories of Gender

Review, Reflect, Respond
There is a nice quote in The Development of Gender Differentiation on page 97: "gender schemata are not
unitary construct, but are, instead, multifactorial and multidimensional".
Show how one idea that used to be considered unitary (such as a linear progression from male to female
attributes) has become seen as multidimensional (now gender is usually seen as two different aspects, so that
a person could be high on both male and female aspects of gender, high on one and low on the other, or low
on both). You can use the example I just provided, or select a different one. The important thing is to see how
one theory captured a certain way of looking at life (Kohlberg on morality, for example) that was later seen to
be more complex (Gilligan on morality).