Note on a cross‐cultural test of Gilligan's ethic of care1

Abstract

One hundred and twenty students from both Brazil and Norway were tested with Skoe's Ethic of Care Interview (ECI), which is a test of Gilligan's hypothesized gender‐related ethic of care. Subjects were also tested with Bem's Sex Role Inventory and Triandis's Test of Cultural Orientations. The ECI was shown to be related neither to gender nor to sex‐role concepts, and lower ECI scores from the Brazilian sample could be related to their higher collectivism scores on Triandis's test. The results suggest that Gilligan's ethic of care, as tested by the ECI, is not gender‐related and may be culture specific.