Return to Main

Carol Gilligan

How She Empowers Others

Psychologist, professor, and novelist, Carol Gilligan was named by Time Magazine as one of 25 most influential Americans. Harvard University Press describes her 1982 book, In a Different Voice, as "the little book that started a revolution." Her first novel Kyra published in January 2008 was reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "a rare thing: an engrossing, deeply emotional, thinking person's love story." Her 1992 co-authored book, Meeting at the Crossroads, was a New York Times Notable book of the year. In 2002, The Birth of Pleasure was praised by the Times Literary Supplement as a "thrilling new paradigm" and characterized by National Public Radio as the work of a psychologist who writes like a novelist.

As a member of the Harvard faculty, she held the university's first chair in gender studies. She received a Senior Research Scholar Award from the Spencer Foundation, a Grawemeyer Award for her contributions to education, and a Heinz Award for her contributions to understanding the human condition. Her recent work includes a critically acclaimed play, coauthored with her son Jonathan and inspired by The Scarlet Letter. Her latest book, co-authored with NYU law professor, David Richards titled, The Deepening Darkness: patriarchy, resistance, and democracy's future was published in 2009 by Cambridge University Press. She is currently a University Professor at New York University.