Looking at biographical and autobiographical works of women of different races and classes, we say a much more complicated picture than Chodorow portrays. The world is hierarchical and differentiated as Chodorow argues, but in more ways than simply gender. The main point is that gender must always be viewed within the context of other factors of identity, such as race and class. This means that we cannot assume that making a factor, such as race or class, a constant by studying only white men and women cancels out its effect. They can be a factor even in relations between people of the same race or class.
Similarity is just as crucial as difference.
Going back to Chodorow, Spelman makes one more point about how Chodorow portrays the differences between men and women. She disagrees with the depiction of women as relational and emotional in the private sphere and men as detached and disconnected in the public sphere. She points out that the public sphere clearly involves people in relation to one another and that denying connection and affectivity, but denying these characteristics does not mean they are absent. Spelman criticizes this depiction along with the claim that gender is separate from other elements of identity and says that together they give women an unwarranted sense of shared identity and shared community that history does not support. Finally, Spelman encourages us to be skeptical of any account of gender relations that does not consider race and class.