Running Head: M2 DEVELOPMENTAL JOURNEY

Identifying My Developmental Journey Through

Gilligans Model of Womens Moral Development
Amanda D. Seals
Georgia Southern University

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For the purpose of this assignment, I have selected Gilligans Model of Womens Moral
Development as my theory to compare my own developmental journey through my
undergraduate years of college. In the textbook for this semester, How College Affects Students,
Carol Gilligan is quoted as saying, womens perceptions of self are tenaciously embedded in
relationships with others, and womens judgments of what is moral are insistently contextual
(Pascarella, 2005, p. 43). Through focusing on ones self to focusing on others as a way to gain
acceptance to finding balance as one matures, reflecting upon my college career and comparing
it to Gilligans various development stages was not a difficult task. My college years always
were a tug-o-war between what I wanted to do and what others wanted me to do and finding the
balance between the two.
Level I
Gilligans model is comprised of three levels of development that are interlaced with
transition periods in-between. In her first level, Orientation to Individual Survival, there are
varying factors that a woman goes through in order to focus on herself. When I reflect upon my
first year at college, I am reminded of how awkward it was in the beginning. Being the first in
my family to finish any level of postsecondary education, my single mother and I settled upon a
small, private, liberal arts, two-year college as my destination after high school. If I only earned
my associates degree, she would have been more than thrilled. During my time there, I struggled
through life classified under Gilligans Level I by learning to live away from home; to share my
room with another person, which is not an easy task for an only child; to make the decision to
study or to play; and to experiment with extracurricular activities such as the college newspaper,
and to join a sorority. As Gilligan states, this level is all about focusing on the self and her own
desires or needs (Pascarella, 2005, p. 44). Through my experiences, I am fortunate that I did not

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flunk out after my first year as balancing what was attractive versus what was reality was quite
the challenge.
With each new experience, I moved into Gilligans theory regarding the first transition
period from selfishness to responsibility through every choice I made (Pascarella, 2005, p.
44). My roommate became more than someone I battled for first dibs on the bathroom in the
morning, but someone I truly cared about so much so that we got into a short rift our
sophomore year when I did not invite her to a party during finals because she still had one more
to take in her most challenging course, while I was finished. I remember telling her that she
needed to stay behind and study. After her final was over and her grade improved, she
apologized for being angry and we both learned a lesson in responsibility that quarter.
Level II
As Gilligan develops her theory, she illustrates that as a woman matures during college,
her thought process takes on nurturing and caring characteristics as compared to her fellow male
students, and labels the second level goodness as self-sacrifice (Pascarella, 2005, p. 44).
Women move from thinking solely about their own needs to taking on a more nurturing role to
include others. However, Gilligan points out that some of the womans actions are interpreted as
subordination rather than focusing on her individual needs, particularly as the transitional
phase for this level, from goodness to truth, is embraced (Pascarella, 2005, p. 44).
While sketching my collegiate timeline, I cannot escape the fact that the man I started
dating my senior year of high school was my steady throughout my college experience. As I
transferred to a university for my junior year, I thought less and less of myself and focused more
on spending time with him outside of school. As engaged in as I was in extracurricular activities
my first two years of school, it was non-existent my junior year as I focused on either heading

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home to visit my boyfriend or having him travel to spend the weekend with me in my college
town. My schoolwork improved tremendously as I matured into a studying routine and learned
how to handle the rigor, however, I sacrificed the other rites of passage that college bring such as
meeting new people and experiencing campus life due to my committed relationship.
Level III
As I completed my undergraduate degree, I can reflect upon how I evolved full circle into
level three of Gilligans theory finding the true balance between selfishness and nurturing
others. Gilligan describes how women learn how to weigh morals, principles and responsibility
as they mature. She dubs level three as The Morality of Nonviolence, and discusses the
differences between the morality of rights and the morality of responsibility, between concepts
of autonomy and separation and concepts of connectedness and relationships (Pascarella, 2005,
p. 44). As a senior in college, I made the decision to transfer to an institution close to home and
attend my final quarters of undergraduate work there due to a tragic death in the family. I
needed to be home as a source of strength for them while also fulfilling my needs of successfully
completing my bachelors degree. What could have been a difficult decision if I had been a
freshman in school was an easy choice to make, as it was the right thing to do for both my family
and me. It is a decision that I do not regret, unlike so many others during my years in
undergraduate school.
Conclusion
Gilligan separates the development of men from women through her theory and breaks
each stage into three levels. As a female student, it is not difficult to relate to her various points
of development in self and maturity. From a selfish freshman, to a self-sacrificing sophomore
and junior, to a well-rounded senior, her three levels still define me today.

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5
References

Kilgore, W. A. (2002). Female-nontraditional undergraduate students: An alternative persistence

model.
Pascarella, E., & Terenzini, P. (2005). How College Affects Students: A Third Decade of
Research (2nd ed., Vol. 2). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.