In order for women to develop themselves, their voice and their mind, they must first look deep into them and analyze the way they assimilate information. When a woman knows this, she may then try to improve herself. A study about women was conducted and some women were interviewed by researchers, showed that women have different ways of knowing or acquiring knowledge. These ways of knowing are centered on how women perceived themselves as individuals.



The first way of knowing is silence. This is defined as a total dependence on figures of authority for facts and truths. The women are virtually incapable or unwilling to stretch their minds and think for themselves. They have been pre-programmed by either their families or men in their lives that they cannot live without them. Therefore, even the thought of these women are governed by these authority figures. The women who fall in this category are very dependent on the figures of authority for opinions and ideas. Some of the women here are not even aware of the development of self, voice and mind.

Another way of knowing is received knowledge. Here, women are susceptible to the voices and ideas of other people. They are easily swayed and tend to be convinced when confronted with a strong personality. They also worry that forming their own opinion or voice may hurt other people. Women in this way of knowing believe that their friends and peers all share the same view regarding knowledge. This view is that facts and truths come from figures of authority and that these facts or truths should not be doubted or questioned. They easily retain the facts and figures they hear and may also say them without really understanding them. Understand this is all notions delivered by philosophers that have very few concrete facts to support such claims.

The third way of knowing is subjective knowledge. Logic, analysis and language are mistrusted by women who think this way. They believe that logic, analysis and language are tools often used by the male species therefore not for them. These women are almost always non-confrontational when supporting their opinions because they would hate to alienate people whom they know. They are usually very passive and they do not care if their advice is taken or not. They have a sense of confidence but they lack the follow through needed to support their opinions. These women often lack grounding in themselves and they need a secure, integrated and long lasting self-concept.

Procedural knowledge has two versions, connected and separated. These describe the way women relate to each other during discussion and forums. In the connected version of procedural knowledge, women are connected by their sense of empathy and they relate to each other well. There are no violent of hostile reactions to opinions and ideas, which may arise during discussions. The women here are sharing what is in their minds and their feelings, in such a way that they bond among themselves. In the separated version of procedural knowledge, the women are very eager to prove each other wrong. This kind of attitude often results to heated argument and debate. They are conditioned to think that they must doubt the ideas of others and shoo them down.

The last way of knowing is constructed knowledge. These women have learned to integrate objectivity and subjectivity into their minds and they have found a balance. They usually have high tolerance of being contradicted and ambiguity. They have also managed to use their minds to construct and deconstruct information to suit them and to present a viable idea. These women are very good at analyzing and putting their ideas into perspective. They have also come into terms with the others who are more volatile and passive than they are.