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Women's Ways Of Knowing: The Development Of Self, Voice, And Mind 10th Anniversary Edition

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Building on the work of previous psychologists interested in the study of the female mind, Mary Belenky and her colleagues have conducted interviews with a sample of 135 women enrolled in various teaching institutions (whether it be a university, community college, or some other institution such as a clinic to aid parents). The authors looked for patterns in the responses they received, and were able to draw together a concept of how women deal with knowledge.

The small size of the sample of women interviewed may be looked upon by some as a weak point of the study, but there are some strong motives behind this conscious choice the authors made. Belenky and her colleagues wished to get to know each woman personally, and to conduct a full, comprehensive interview with each one so that they could provide examples to accompany their theories, rather than simply quizzing an overwhelmingly large study group and giving their supporting evidence only in the form of numbers and statistics.

The authors have identified five different "ways of knowing" that women utilize. The first one addressed is given the name of silence. By "silence" the authors do not mean an absence of speech, but rather a state of being intellectually voiceless. They do not see themselves as beings capable of receiving or retaining knowledge, and are therefore subject to the control of those around them.

The second way of knowing discussed is termed "received knowledge." Received knowers believe themselves able to learn from others, and even to pass on what they have learned, but they do not see themselves as capable of independent, original thought. The authors identify both silent women and received knowers as dualists. They see things in terms of black and white, right and wrong, and one of the two is always seen as superior to the other.

"Subjective knowers" do realize that they have the ability to formulate knowledge for themselves, and rely on a strong inner voice with which they develop their thoughts. They believe all knowledge to be subjective, and every person's opinion to be equally valid, though applicable only to that person. In this sense, subjective knowers are multiplists rather than dualists. They recognize that there are shades of grey and that one answer to a problem may not be better than another.

"Procedural knowers," which might also be called objective knowers, base their development of knowledge solely on objective, scientific procedures. They distrust as fallible any sort of "gut instinct" that the subjective knowers rely so heavily on. Procedural knowers are also multiplists, however, in that they recognize that there may be more than one "right" answer in a particular situation. This way of knowing is identified as more masculine, and that which tends to be advocated in traditional educational institutions.

The last way of knowing is referred to as "constructed knowing." These women see all knowledge as contextual, and rely on both subjective and objective methods to arrive at "truth."

I would like to point out that, while one can get the impression from the text that these five ways of knowing are a sequence that one progresses through in the order they are discussed, this is not always the case. Any given woman may shift between any particular ways of knowing in any order, and over any period of time, and they may not ever experience every single one of them. In fact, I would venture to say that most women do not experience each one. A woman may also fall between two different ways of knowing, or may, at any given point in her life, utilize one way of knowing in one aspect of her life, and a different one in another. For example, a woman may be silent in her home environment, but act procedurally in her workplace.

Belenky and her co-authors go on to look at how these ways of knowing appear within family structures, and what the consequences of each on both parents and children are. They conclude by evaluating modern academic institutions and proposing a method of education that would be more suited to women.

The authors do not compare and contrast male and female ways of knowing in this study - male ways of knowing really aren't looked at at all, except to point out the influence traditional male thought has had on women. Neither do the authors hold one or the other up as being superior. They simply recognize that men and women tend to approach knowledge differently, and that ways of knowing that work for men may not work for women. This is certainly not any sort of final word in female psychology, and even the authors make note of the fact that others may interpret the results of their study differently, but it is a very worthwhile and thought-provoking read and I would highly recommend it.

"Women's Ways of Knowing" is an outstanding book based on experiential studies and interviews of 130+ women in varying fields, roles, and capacities. It explores the different "voices" or lack thereof that women hide and/or exhibit. This book not only looks at how women "learn" in formal and informal settings yet it looks at the challenges that women face in a masculine-structured society and educational settings. I found this book to elicit varying emotions from anger to happiness to loneliness. I recommend this book for any woman who is trying to discover who she is, what she's about, and how she got there. I also recommend this book for men to, at the very least, contemplate from a factual standpoint the challenges and ambiguous positions that women face today and tomorrow.

Starting from the awareness that much of the way education (both formal and informal) is carried out in society is very male-dominated and the voice and experience of women is largely absent, Belenky and her co-authors make a case for examining ways of knowing and learning that is unique to women. The authors recognise early differences in studies that have included women as a primary or central focus, such as those of Carol Gilligan. One strong tendency of women's ways of knowing in these early studies is the presence of responsibility and connectedness that significantly exceeds those of men. After exploring different aspects of knowledge and how women come to acquire, use, produce, and disseminate this knowledge, the authors work to put these insights in context for the family and academia. The authors work largely in the area of developing for women a means of gaining a greater sense of self (also see Howard Gardner's section on personal intelligence in his book, Frames of Mind). This sense of self enables women to construct meaning for themselves, and find their own voices for both teaching and learning.

Perhaps one criticism I would hold is that, while this work looks at women's experience, it still seems to remain very Euro-centric. I am reminded of the arguments of black women against feminist theological processes, which led to the development of womanist theological discourse.

Recently I received an email from a friend with a link to an on-line quiz, which was attempting in a Turing-machine sort of way to be able to determine one's gender from the answers given to a set of questions. As I was taking the test, I thought about it in the context of women's ways of knowing and learning, and realised that this test was very objective, non-connected, largely non-feeling, and very masculine in approach. Certainly this test did not have the kind of objectivity called for in the text. 'Objectivity in connected teaching, as in connected knowing, means seeing the other, the student, in the student's own terms.' (p. 224) This test was seeing everyone in terms of a standard model, a model derived from male-dominant considerations.

For the sake of liturgy and learning, which is my particular field of study, and the purpose behind reading this book, the kinds of issues raised here are important. The authors begin with the idea of silence. This is not a silence like monastic silence or the silence between prayers, hymns and readings, but rather a silence of voices from the shaping and practice of the community. Too often liturgy is viewed, by laity and clergy, as something handed to them from 'authority' with little or no room for adaptation or adjustment to context. When liturgical practice becomes this rigid or this 'unlistening', it can cease to have any many or validity for the community of worshippers.

The authors also develop ideas of received, subjective and procedural knowledge, all of which can be used in liturgical practice. There can be, particularly in my prayer-book-heavy tradition, a tendency to emphasise received knowledge and some aspects of procedural knowledge, while confining other types of knowledge to secondary or tertiary roles in the liturgy. Dialogue sermons and opening up the participation to others can enhance the service, broadening it to other forms of learning styles.

Applying the principles of connected teaching to liturgy can have important results. 'Connected teachers try to discern the truth inside the students.' (p. 223) Perhaps this same kind of constructed style of shaping the liturgy to be more inclusive, more sensitive to the voices of the members of the community while still paying respect to the overall shape and intention of the community, can lead to greater connectivity of the community amongst itself, and of the community members to the experience of the liturgy.

Overall, this book can yield insights into many types of practices, learning, and knowledge. While it does not constitute the final word on intelligence by any means, it is a valuable conversation partner.

The authors conducted 135 interviews to investigate the way women acquire and convey their knowledge of the world. They identify five epistemological categories, or "ways of knowing," intimately connected to women's experiences of authority. Generally, but not exclusively, they found, as did other researchers they cite, that women approach life from a position of relationship and connection to those around them, while men tend to operate from a position of separation and autonomy. This is a very important addition to the body of work on gender differences which demonstrate that women are finding their way in a world tailored to the masculine way of being.

As a grad student exploring women and adult education, this book provided a great jumping off point!It does not compare and contrast male and female learning, which would suggest one is superior. Rather, it thoroughly explores different styles in which women acquire knowledge, and the value they place on learning. It also gives adult educators of women many ideas for enhancing the learning environment, whether single or mixed gender.I recommend Hayes & Flannery's Women as Learners as follow-up reading!

Introduced during a Women's Studies class (University of Wyoming), I return to this "researched" book again and again. My copy's heavily underlined and starred. Here goes a typical quote: (about learning) "Much time has been wasted (on women's) being good...." (209) A woman's route to knowledge begins with "silence," goes to passively receiving knowledge from authorities (usually men), then to "intuiting" knowledge (explanation of angel and crystals phase?), and to the final (or ultimate) of "integrating knowledge." Integrating means combining the intuitive with academic investigation. Along this route, many of us (women) are stuck, pre-distined by our familial backgrounds, or bumping through the educational system. This books gives us more and pre-dates REVIVING OPHELIA--more to measure where we are in our own learning

This book is must-reading for all women who think they cannot think--who believe they are intellectually inadequate--based largely on the intellectual and social climate in which they were raised rather than the reality of what they know and the capabilities of their mind. In addition to grouping women's approaches to knowing into five major epistemological categories and questioning why and when women shift from one mode of knowing to another, Women's Ways of Knowing encourages the reader to discover and use her own voice

this is by far the best book on epistemology -- how people decide what knowledge is, and how they go about getting it -- that i have ever encountered. when i was in graduate school, i started studying epistemology by accident. i'd planned to research how people learned physics, but i ended up baffled by many of my students. how *did* those people think?? this book clarified that for me, by extensively documenting a variety of ways in which people thought about knowledge, and presenting their classifications with excellent documentation and a wholesome level of respect.

don't be too torn up about the "women's" in the title -- that simply reflects the fact that the researchers chose to use women as the subjects of their study. the older (and in my opinion mostly poorer) literature on the subject used mainly men, and for that matter often only say harvard undergraduates, without comment on any biases thus introduced. but despite their selection of women only, belenky et. al. use a widely socially varied group of subjects, and thus their findings are quite broadly applicable. and at least they are careful to let the reader know who their subjects were -- an epistemological feature not to be lightly dismissed.

The four authors present five epistemologies compiled from a detailed analysis of interviews conducted with 135 women over the course of several years. The interview subjects varied in their educational experience, age, ethnicity, and economic background. The authors present their findings in succinct chapters with numerous subheadings for easy reading. Citations include works by Jean Piaget, Carol Gilligan, William Perry, L. Kohlberg and many other well-known names in educational research.

I bought this book because this is part of my course reading. Its interesting, but because it was written in the 1970s, I had some difficulty understanding the language. In addition, the style is quite long drawn, and I don't understand some parts of what the authors were trying to get at. Having said that, the book is quite thought provoking in a certain way, although I couldn't help but wonder if the research is still relevant totally, since the research is only on women. What about men? Don't they think in similar fashion? Or how about the evolution of technology that has profound impact on the way communication and thinking are done today? Makes for thoughtful read nevertheless.