Jews, gender and feminism

In this week's 20 Questions, American feminist Carol Gilligan asks: Are Jews gendered feminine?

By DEBORAH DANAN
20 questions 58 (photo credit: courtsey)
20 questions 58
(photo credit: courtsey)
This week 20 Questions hosts Professor Carol Gilligan, an Americanfeminist currently visiting Israel on behalf of the College ofManagement's Law School.
Gilligan is the author of numerous books in the field of gender studies, including In a Different Voice and most recently, Joining the Resistance.Gilligan asserts that gender studies are as imperative today as womenstudies were until now. One of the reasons for this is that gendercolors every aspect and issue in society.
According toGilligan, a gendered issue in American society would be the health carebill. Gendered feminine (as opposed to Wall Street or the militarywhich are by nature masculine), the bill is regarded as something thatshould not be the governments responsibility.
To loosely paraphrase Gilligan, men are more concerned with the ethicsof justice while women are judged on the ethics of responsibility. Withthat in mind, the question then arose of whether it is possible thatIsrael is being judged as feminine by the international community – andtherefore more critiqued when it neglects the ethics of care andresponsibility. 
Gilligan took this one stage further and posed the question: Are Jews gendered feminine?
To see the full interview click here, accessible to Premium Zone subscribers.
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