This theory is seen as a feminist theory by the West – a new approach to moral

development. It challenges traditional moral theories as male centric and problematic to the
extent they omit or downplay values and virtues usually culturally associated with women or with
roles that are often cast as ‘feminine’. However, this is not the case in with the East where
caring is viewed as a value in a society that promotes collectivism rather than individualism. The
best example of this can be seen in how care ethics differs from the two dominant normative
moral theories of the 18th and 19th centuries. The first is deontology, which is best associated
with Immanuel Kant. And the second utilitarianism, attributed to Jeremy Bentham and enhanced
by John Stuart Mill.