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Feminism Dissertation Topics – Choose The Best Topic For Your Dissertation

Published by Owen Ingram at January 2nd, 2023 , Revised On August 15, 2023

Feminist dissertation topics focus on the people who believe that women should have equal chances and rights as men. Feminism is a historical, social, and political movement founded by women to achieve gender equality and remove injustice. Feminism is an important topic that has been frequently debated in a male-dominated society since the nineteenth century. However, in recent years, the feminist voice has become louder, and feminist issues have grown in popularity.

An excellent feminist research topic is all you need to write a feminist dissertation. Feminism, in general, is a broad subject that examines the challenges women confront, such as sexual harassment, oppression, repression, stereotyping, sexual objectification, and other types of political and social oppression.

As the subject is vast, selecting a feminist topic for a dissertation or research paper is a difficult challenge. So, to assist you, we have compiled a list of relevant feminist research paper topics for your perusal.

You can also visit these links to get the best dissertation ideas for extensive research about sexual harassment dissertation topics and human rights dissertation ideas .

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Topics on Feminist Issues

Examine how the internet has transformed Feminism into a public source of mockery and praise.
Investigate the theoretical conflict between gender and sex.
Investigate the history of the #MeToo movement and the feminism victim challenge.
Examine the views of several feminists who are still devout Muslims on Female Genital Mutilation.
To make the feminist message, emphasize the feminist technique and means.
According to five works of literature or important feminists/anti-feminists of your choosing, how does Feminism establish, dismantle, and reconstruct gender roles?
Examine how feminists deal with societal injustice and violence.
Investigate the employability of feminist women in the United States.
What is the feminist critic’s stance on worldwide gender inequality?
How modern beauty standards continue to limit what and who is considered beautiful online and offline.
How the concept of beauty is also a radical social and political prejudice that denies women some basic rights.
Examine gender disparity and equality in American politics.
Investigate gender imbalance and equality in the UK government.
Consider if religion, Feminism, and liberal morality can be reconciled.
Examine the difficulties women confront in the face of violence in nations such as India and Pakistan.
Examine feminist psychology about Middle Eastern women.
Analyze the changing feminist thought in the academic and in the actual world.
How governments use Feminism as a tool for social mobilization, resulting in the demise of their culture.
Modern beauty standards continue to limit what and who is considered beautiful online and offline.
The concept of beauty is also a radical social and political prejudice that denies women some basic rights.

Feminist Project Topics

The contrast between the gender roles of women and the Feminist role in society
Examining the benefits and drawbacks of identifying as a feminist
Compare the benefits of being a feminist in rich and developing countries.
Examine the future of Feminism in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Examine the motivating elements of Feminism throughout history
Highlight and explain how Feminism has contributed to increased rape education.
Feminism and government assistance: How government assistance may put an end to all vices against women
The careful examination of equity and equality in Feminism
The modern world’s perspective on Feminism has shifted: debate
Investigate the lives, times, and biographies of any male feminist.
Justify the role of Middle Eastern women in the struggle for gender equality.
Examine any European government’s activities in promoting feminist principles.
Examine any Southern American government’s role in preserving women’s rights.
Investigate the relationship between Feminism and lesbianism.
Examine the link between Feminism and the increase of single women in America. Determine the relevance of the emergence of liberal ideals over conservative beliefs in promoting Feminism.
Discuss how women in the United States military are still subjected to discrimination, sexual assault, and brutality.
Discuss the methods for eliminating sexual assault and discrimination in the military of two nations of your choice.
Analyze the role of women in your preferred UK election.
Investigate the issue of gender equality in modern Britain.
Provide an outline of the British monarchy and the restoration of female kings.
Rebuild the Women’s Trade Union League’s fundamental ideals and principles.

Feminist Research Topics

Give some instances of modern feminist manifestos and what they have contained in feminist thought.
What is Feminism’s detrimental impact on teens, and how has it created hatred towards men?
What is the public’s take on women’s influence over celebrities in the face of the law in the aftermath of R Kelly’s imprisonment?
Speak with a self-identified feminist and discuss their views on Feminism.
Discuss the contentious topics surrounding Feminism and provide solutions to unsolved problems.
Examine Mona Eataly’s writings and compare her feminist beliefs to those of other black feminists.
Investigate what bold Feminism entails.
Should unisex restrooms be permitted in pubs, restaurants, and hotels in a world fraught with sexual violence?
Examine the prejudices experienced by transgender women and how the feminist movement might be a sort of stereotyped freedom.
Investigate the wide varieties of Feminism and how hairstyles can also be used to make political statements.

Feminist Topic Ideas for Discussion

Is Feminism only a historical residue of a modern need?
Is it possible for a female president to arise in America or the United Kingdom because Taiwan’s president is female?
What are your opinions on female authorities serving in various roles worldwide?
What do you think about the absence of female political representation?
How does a lack of political representation for women influence women’s political participation?
Could religion be claimed to be a contributing element to women’s current plight?
The internet has been a driving factor in the pursuit of equality.
The feminist movement is just a platform for women to gain more power.
How have environmental and feminist issues influenced national policies?
Have other movements swallowed Feminism?

Women Empowerment Topics

What role does the shift from cash to digital payrolls have in empowering women in poor countries?
Why is there such a disparity between corporate attempts to execute women’s empowerment?
Initiatives and corporate commitments to furthering equality?
Talk about what everyone can do to help women in their neighbourhood.
Why is workplace health such an important issue for women’s empowerment?
Examine the numerous advantages of women’s empowerment.
How has the UAE’s feminist movement empowered Arab women?
Women’s political representation, politics, and decision-making.
Discuss the role of feminists in promoting women’s empowerment.
Women’s empowerment in Asian countries has increased during the previous two decades.

Informative Feminism Dissertation Topics

Is it feasible to distinguish the three major waves of Feminism while defining a cohesive philosophy?
Why is the premise that ‘if you believe men and women are equal, you’re a feminist’ insufficient in the Feminist movement’s third wave?
Can Feminism forge a coherent movement amid the shattered environment of 21st-century Feminist thought?
An assessment of the third wave’s inadequacy as the final progression of Feminist thinking, as well as how the next wave will be characterized.
What are the difficulties that Intersectional Feminism has in disentangling oppressive systems from one another, and how can the movement negotiate this complication?
A feminist assessment of the relationship between police violence and patriarchal society.
Where is the boundary between defending an oppressed ecology and imposing oppressive ideals?
Investigating the relationship between authoritarian right anti-environmental and anti-feminist political thought.
Priority or Privilege? A critical examination of the Ecofeminist movement’s inability to address class problems and the consequences for its efficacy.
How does Feminist thought in emerging environments vary from Western Feminist philosophy?
A critical examination of how Western Feminism fails to meet the issues of global women.
Is it feasible for Western philosophy to accurately reflect women living in the aftermath of colonial domination in a postcolonial society?
Is promoting gender equality in emerging countries a moral obligation or an imperialist endeavour?
Investigate the gender difference in the pursuit of independence for any country.
A critical examination of the role of identity politics in social justice movements in the twenty-first century.

It is possible to contribute to an ever-growing and complicated field of study by writing a dissertation or capstone on feminist philosophy and critique. In view of the complexity of the underlying issue of ‘Feminism’, there are a number of feminist dissertation topics to consider. There has never been a more important time to research culturally relevant topics for your dissertation than in 2022.

Please contact us immediately if you need assistance writing your feminist dissertation. Our writers have years of experience researching, writing, proofreading, and editing dissertations on the greatest feminist research topics. Upon receiving your specifications, we will provide you with a high-quality, plagiarism-free research paper on time and within your budget.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How to find feminism dissertation topics.

To find feminism dissertation topics:

Study feminist literature and theories.
Analyze gender-related gaps or issues.
Explore intersectionality with race, class, etc.
Investigate historical and contemporary perspectives.
Consider media, politics, arts for feminist angles.
Choose a topic resonating with your passion and research goals.

205 Engaging Feminist Research Topics For Your Thesis

It’s not a new movement. Every active citizen of many liberal countries already knows about feminism. Women rally against the inequality that exists and request for gender equality. Men are dominant in many countries, while women are relegated to the background.

Uncovering female rights, emphasizing them, and promoting different feminist philosophies remains an essential part of academics. There is already feminist sociology, even feminist psychology, as groups of study in tertiary Institutions. That said, if you need feminism project ideas or feminism essay topics, you’ll find custom and unique ideas in this article.

What is the Feminist Thesis Statement?

It’s all about equality. Women deal with sexual harassment, repression, oppression, and other forms of social and political deprivation.

Feminism emerges as a historical, political, and social movement by women to pursue all-around equality and an end to all forms of discrimination. Feminist activists are on the rise, and their thesis statement is basically about:

Equality Preservation of woman dignity Women empowerment Women political participation

The feminism movement also engages the issue of patriarchy, sexual objectification of women, oppression, stereotyping, and other social, political, and historical challenges.

How To Write an Outline for a Feminism Research Paper

While racking your head for interesting research papers on feminism, you need to go through a few processes before outlining. They are:

Introduction This is the first stage for any academic work. This determines if your readers will keep reading or pick another book. Your introduction must be both engaging, informative, and intriguing. It must show readers that they’re amongst your target audience. Your introduction must also have your thesis statement where your points are clearly stated. Also, you should include the feminist methodology to be employed in your research and the encompassing feminist research questions.
Body This is where you examine each detail of what you’re writing about. The body includes the arguments and the available literature that supports such an argument. It shows all the evidence found during your research. You can examine counterarguments and give answers to them to enhance your academic reputation on the subject. Your professors know everything about what you need to write, so don’t sound dull while writing.
Conclusion This is the last section of your paper, and it includes the summary of all arguments and your ideas. This could be followed by a call to action to provoke your readers to take bold, instructive steps.

Feminist Research Questions

While looking for feminism topics to write about, you need to decide which questions to answer. Feminism paper topics aim to answer questions like:

What is the relevance of feminism today?
Has the movement helped or endangered women?
Is there a future for global Feminism?
What is the threat of the movement to society?
What is the anti-feminist movement, and why are people sensitive about it?

Feminist Topics For Discussion

Different feminism essay topics are increasingly challenging in the world today. You can get on an in depth conversation from these feminist paper topics:

Examine the role of domestic violence in enhancing the feminist movement
What is the role of women in the contemporary world of entrepreneurship?
How has the rise of social media shaped feminism?
What are the ways feminism defines sex and gender differences?
How has the #MeToo movement fueled the adoption of feminism?
Does modern feminism equal men-hatred?
Are men a threat to feminism?
The mass media has affected the global understanding of feminism
Is feminism merely a relic of the history of a subject of contemporary need
Because the Taiwanese President is a female, does that mean that a female president can emerge in America or the UK?
How does feminism equate to human rights?
The perspective of feminism can change as long as every woman is empowered
How has feminism reconstructed gender roles
Would you say feminist critics (three of your choice) are suitable with any of their perspectives?
How can the world cope with the rise in feminist activism, agitation, and advocators
Sexism is unrelated to feminism
Examine the rise of domestic violence as a need promoting Feminism
Examine the reasons why men discrimination is on the high
Examine the relationship of feminism with sports
Is there a presence of feminism in sport and equal Empowerment?
How does feminism affect modern lifestyle and fashion?
What are your thoughts about female officials in different capacities of their world?
What are your thoughts are the lack of women political representation
How does the lack of women’s political representation affect women’s political participation?
Examine the possibility of a female president in America
How does feminism contribute to traditional ideologies of gender roles
How has feminism been used to promote Advocacy for equal rights
Is there a particular theory on feminism
Is feminism all about male dominance?
Does the lack of women’s rights affect universal politics?
What is the public response to feminism?
The attack of feminist activists show aggression against feminists
How have women also impeded feminist advocacy?
Could religion be said to be a contributing factor to the present sad state of women now?
The internet has been a driving force to achieve equality
The feminist movement is just a platform to increase women power
How have the environmental and feminist challenges affect national policies?
Have other movements absorbed feminism?
How has the feminist movement also fought for black lives matter?
Is feminism still all-encompassing or just about women?

Feminism Project Ideas

There are numerous feminist topics to write about. Some feminist research paper topics bordering issues contemporary feminists try to uncover includes:

The role of notable female figures who are either or not branded feminists and how they’ve shaped the world
The activities of three feminists in advocating for women’s right
How feminism has semblance with rebellion
The differences between sexual role and gender role in the society
The distinction between gender women role and the Feminist role in the society
Examining the advantages and disadvantages of identifying as a feminist
Assess the privileges of being a feminist in a developed country and an underdeveloped one
Examine the future of feminism in the Taliban controlled Afghanistan
Examine the motivating factors, across history, of feminism
Highlight and explain how feminism has helped increase education against rape
Feminism and government support: how government support can end all vices against women
The detailed consideration of equity and equality in feminism
The position of feminism in the modern world has shifted: discuss
Examine the life, times, and the biography of any male feminist of your choice
Examine the morality of feminism
What is the role of American women in the feminist movement?
What is the role of Asian women in the feminist movement?
Rationalize the activities of African women in pursuit of gender equality
Rationalize the role of Middle Eastern women in the call for support for gender equality
Examine the actions of any European government in the promotion of feminist ideas
Examine the part of any Southern American government in the preservation of women’s rights
Examine the connection between feminism and lesbianism
Examine the relationship between feminism and the rise of single women in America
Assess the significance of the rise of liberal ideas over conservatism in the promotion of feminism
Identify the future of feminism as hoodlums and violators
Give an overview of women in combat in both Taiwan and the U.S.
The recruitment of women in combat in Taiwan still embraces stereotypes, discuss
Discuss how women in the U.S. military still face discrimination, sexual assault, and violence
Discuss the means to eradicate sexual violence and discrimination in the military of any two countries of your choice
Analyze the role of women in any US election of your choice
Explore the topic of gender equality in Contemporary Britain
Give an overview of the British monarchy and the reconstruction to allow female monarchs
Examine the activities of women during the Civil Rights Movement
Explore the gender gap in the pursuit of any country’s independence
Examine the role of women in the Communist Revolution of Russia
Explore the history of women rights in Europe
Explore the work of women in the technology and automobile industries
What are the challenges of women during the Second World War?
Reestablish the goals and the founding beliefs of the Women’s Trade Union League
Examine the significance of women’s rights to own property and when it started

Feminist Issues to Write About

As earlier established, there are pressing feminism topics to discuss. In any society, these topics must be considered significant to achieving gender equality:

Examine how the internet has infused feminism into a public subject of both ridicule and pride
Explore the theoretical challenge between gender and sex
Examine the history of the #MeToo movement as well as the victim challenge about feminism
Examine the stance of different feminists who are still staunch believers on Islam about Female Genital Mutilation
Underscore the feminist methodology and means to drive home the point of feminism
How does feminism construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct gender roles according to five literature or notable feminists/anti-feminist of your choice?
Assess the ways through which feminists cope with societal discrimination and violence
Examine the employability of women who identify as feminists in the US
What is the feminist critics’ position in the face of global gender inequality?
What are the leading women’s rights violations in the world today?
Why is the feminist movement a threat to make dominance in the world today?
Assess the connection between criminality and feminism in the radical society
What are the means feminists employ to boycott men and other anti-feminists?
Examine the activities of radical feminists, black feminists, white feminists, and male feminists
How literature is used to undermine women
How contemporary beauty standards remain an impediment to what and who is considered beautiful online and offline
How the understanding of beauty is also a radical social and political stereotype depriving women of some inalienable rights
Examine the gender inequality and equality in the politics of America
Explore the gender inequality and equality in the UK government
Examine the gender equality in the Russian government
The benefits of men in gender discrimination
How do fitness clubs discriminate against women?
Rationalize clubs and drinking bars as an agent of sexually objectifying women
Rationalize the definition of ecofeminism and everything it entails
Examine the possibility of reconciling religion, feminism, and liberal morality
Analyze the challenges of women in the face of violence in countries like India and Pakistan
Analyze feminist psychology as it applies to Middle Eastern women
Analyze the evolving feminist philosophy in the world of the academy and the real world
How governments weaponize feminism as an agent of social mobilization leading to the death of their culture
Examine how terrorist organizations use women as a means to achieve political goals

Feminism Research Paper Topics

If you’re interested in examining custom feminist research topics for your dissertation or long essay, consider these:

How are feminism and fashion interwoven?
What does cyber feminism imply, and how has it boxed feminism into a social space?
How do feminist groups achieve financial security to educate the public?
Critically analyze the activities of any Feminist NGO of your choice
What is understood by the Bitch Manifesto, and what has been its significance?
Give examples of the modern feminist manifesto, and what have they included in the feminist ideology?
How is the feminist idea reflected in five literary texts of your choice
Examine the distinct evolution of pro-feminists and anti-feminist movements
What are the effects of feminism on teenagers, and how has it enhanced radicalism?
What is the negative influence of feminism on teenagers, and how has it promoted hatred for men?
Give a step by step guide on how to adopt feminism
Base your writings on a satire about how to become a feminist
Examine the role of celebrities in the feminist movement
Would you say feminism is out for the blood of men?
Following the imprisonment of R Kelly, what is the public stance on women’s power against celebrities in the face of the law?
Speak to a self-branded feminist and engage their ideas of feminism
Examine the controversial issues of feminism and give answers to questions that remain unanswered
Analyze the books or Mona Elhatawy and exhaust her ideas of feminism in comparison with any black Feminist’s books
Would you say black feminism is another movement?
Examine how women from different countries in the world have carved up their understanding of feminism
Examine how being a gentleman could be insulting to feminists
What are the stereotypes against feminism I’m Islamic countries?
What are the excesses of three feminist NGOs in educating people in underdeveloped areas about women’s rights?
What are the challenges of radical feminism?
Distinguish the responsibilities of radical feminists, anarchists, and liberal feminists
Does been anti-racist equals being a feminist?
Does feminism instill a matriarchal society?
Examine Ghana feminism; a country where high regard to paid to the matriarch before further western civilization
Examine the theories of Chimamanda Adichie’s “We Should All be Feminists” and the possibilities of men being Feminists
Drawing from empirical evidence, rationalize if matriarchal societies would be better than patriarchal societies
Drawing from any literary text of your choice, compare and contrast the methods used in equipping women with feminist ideologies
Examine what provocative feminism means
Should unisex bathrooms in bars, restaurants, and hotels be advisable in a rife world with sexual violence?
Examine the prejudice transgender women are faced with and how the feminist movement can be a form of stereotypical liberation
Explore the distinct types of feminism and how hairstyles are also a form of political statements.

Controversial Feminist Topics

The very nature of feminism should not be controversial, but it is. To examine a few advanced feminism topics for your essay or research paper, consider:

An examination of Black Feminism
The education of men and women into feminism
The philosophy of men and women duties in the traditional society
The history of feminism in Europe
The gender gap in African politics
The gender gap in American politics
The gender gap under the Trump administration
The sexism prevalent in Asian countries
The challenges of men fighting for the feminist ideology
The cognitive significance of gender equality
The Examination of misogyny and how it affects the promotion of feminist literature and exposures
The role of bullying in limiting female and girl self-belief
An exploration of the distribution of toys as a means of achieving teenage sex education
The subject of raising boys and girls differently
Why should there be all-boys schools and all-girls schools?
How some women oppress other women with feminist ideologies
How can make feminism help in achieving total equality
Is the feminist fight a women’s fight or a global fight?
Is the feminist movement a fight against patriarchy or a war against men?
The anarchists are extreme and may also be branded terrorists, although they’re on the theoretical level now: discuss
Examine women’s suffrage as a significant and fundamental part of feminism
Examine why there are limited women in both politics and business
The controversy on “what a man can do, a woman can do better” has raised the suggestion of women being guards and bouncers; what has been the response to this?
What are the differences between the waves of feminism as well as the results produced by each stage?
Is feminism needed the most in an aspect of society than another?
How does feminism preach the incorporation of men’s traditional responsibilities into women’s?
Examine the activities of feminists in advocating against harassment and male-work domination in America
Is total global gender equality possible in two generations to come?
Examine the possibility of splitting up the society through feminism
Why should everyone adopt feminism?

Feminist Argumentative Essay Topics

Feminist argumentative essays go back and forth at reasonable lengths. You can also consider these arguments for your debate:

Feminism is another politics
Women’s suffrage didn’t liberate women
Girls and boys should be taught sex education differently
The feminist movement also fuels women ego
Girls and boys should be raised differently
Modern men have no work fighting for women’s right
Men can be isolated in empowerment education
Sexism doesn’t contribute to gender discrimination
Feminism is a fight against men, not patriarchy
Feminism should also be a fight against women brainwashed by the patriarchy
Domestic violence is a terror on the feminist movement
Feminism enhance women hatred for men
Mixed schools can also promote feminism
It’s the teachers’ role to enhance feminism, not parents
NGOs have limited control over feminist education
Feminist critics are apologetics
Feminism is mere psychology
Religion is right; liberal morality is wrong
Religion is an excuse for women violence
Female Genital Mutilation is nothing but a culture
Men’s domination was a myth until the feminist movement fueled it
Society’s definition of beauty should define women
Should women still be subject to men after achieving gender equality?
Should women still obey their husbands in their marriages?
Marriage is the limitation to women rights

Is Your Feminist Thesis Giving You Trouble?

With these topics revealed, you can create a proper and interesting paper on feminism. If, after reading this, you say words like “help with my dissertation,” there are exceptional writers who can help with researching, proofreading, and editing.

With a rise in writing experts online, you’ll find highly intellectual writers on our team to help with your college or university essays to bag your degree easily. Through our trustworthy experts, you can be assured of fast and exceptional writing. Our professionals boast incredible research on your PhD feminism thesis or essays that leave your professors delighted.

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334 Feminism Essay Topics & Examples

If you’re looking for original feminist topics to write about, you’re in luck! Our experts have collected this list of ideas for you to explore.

📝 Key Points to Use to Write an Outstanding Feminism Essay

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You may find yourself confused by various theories, movements, and even opinions when writing a feminism essay, regardless of your topic. Thus, producing an excellent paper becomes a matter of more than merely knowing your facts.

You should be able to explain difficult concepts while coincidentally touching upon fundamental points of feminist theory. Here are some starter examples of crucial essay-writing points, which can make your work better:

Research and create a bibliography before beginning to write. There are various book and journal titles available both online and in libraries, and using them defines your essay’s credibility. You may use both books published long ago, such as “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir, and modern-day publications. Referencing reliable sources throughout your work will help you convince your readers that your approach is factual and in line with the main trends of the academic community.
Writing a feminism essay outline beforehand will save you precious time. Not only because it is a tool to get your thoughts in order before beginning to write but also because it allows you to judge whether you have covered the subject thoroughly. Furthermore, structuring beforehand enables you to understand possible drawbacks of your previous research, which you can promptly correct.
Explain the history behind your problem. Doing so allows you to set the scene for your essay and quickly introduce it to an audience, who may not be as well versed in feminism essay topics as you. Furthermore, you can use your historical introduction later as a prerequisite to explaining its possible future effects.
Be aware of the correct terminology and use it appropriately. This action demonstrates a profound knowledge of your assigned issue to your readers. From women’s empowerment and discrimination to androcentrism and gynocriticism, track the terms you may need to implement throughout your work.
Do not overlook your title as a tool to gain your readers’ attention. Your papers should interest people from the beginning and making them want to read more of your work. Writing good feminism essay titles is a great start to both catching their attention and explaining what your central theme is.
Read available feminism essay examples to understand the dos and don’ts that will help you write your own paper. Plagiarism and inspiration are different concepts, and you can get great ideas from others’ work, so long as you do not copy them!

After you have done your research, drafted an outline, and read some sample works, you are ready to begin writing. When doing so, you should not avoid opposing opinions on topics regarding feminism, and use them to your advantage by refuting them.

Utilizing feminist criticism will allow you to sway even those with different perspectives to see some aspects worthy of contemplation within your essay. Furthermore, it is a mark of good academism, to be able to defend your points with well-rounded counterarguments!

Remember to remain respectful throughout your essay and only include trusted, credible information in your work. This action ensures that your work is purely academic, rather than dabbling in a tabloid-like approach.

While doing the latter may entertain your readers for longer, the former will help you build a better demonstration of your subject, furthering good academic practices and contributing to the existing body of literature.

Find more points and essays at IvyPanda!

21st Century Patriarchy.
Third Wave Feminism.
Men in the Movement.
Gender Roles in Sports.
Femininity in Media.
The History of Feminist Slogans.
Must-Read Feminist Books.
Feminist Perspective in Politics.
Gender Equality in Patriarchal Society.
Feminism & Contemporary Art.
Feminism: Benefits over Disadvantages They believe that feminists make the importance of family less critical than it used to be, which affects children’s lives and their psychological state.
Feminism in “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen Nora is referred by her husband as a songbird, a lark, a squirrel, names that suggest how insignificant she is to her.
Third-World Feminism Analysis Although the primary aim of western feminists is centered on the issues women face, the beliefs of the third world consist of various tenets compared to western feminist interpretations.
The Great Gatsby: Analysis and Feminist Critique The feminist critique is an aspect that seeks to explore the topic of men domination in the social, economic, and political sectors.
Feminist Perspective: “My Last Duchess”, “To His Coy Mistress”, and “The Secretary Chant” He thinks such behavior is offensive to his position and his power, this is why this woman is in the past, and the other one is waiting for him downstairs to enlarge Duke’s collection of […]
Feminist Approach to Health In general feminist recognize gender as an important aspect and believe that gender inequality essentially exist.
Top Themes About Feminism It’s a movement that is mainly concerned with fighting for women’s rights in terms of gender equality and equity in the distribution of resources and opportunities in society.
Feminist Criticism in Literature: Character of Women in Books Wright The unimportance of women in the play is a critical factor for the women should follow all the things that their men counterparts impose on them.
Feminism in “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood Religion in Gilead is the similar to that of the current American society especially, the aspect of ambiguity which has been predominant with regard to the rightful application of religious beliefs and principles.
Feminism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft expressly makes her stand known in advocating for the rights of the women in her novel, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but her daughter is a bit reluctant to curve a […]
Female Characters in Shakespeare’s “Othello”: A Feminist Critique This shows that Desdemona has completely accepted and respected her role as a woman in the society; she is an obedient wife to Othello.
“We Should All Be Feminists” Adichie’s TED Talk For Adichie, the only thing necessary to qualify as a feminist is recognizing the problem with gender and aspiring to fix it, regardless of whether a person in question is a man or woman. This […]
Character Analysis in Pride and Prejudice From the Feminist Perspective Darcy is a character who is able to evolve over the span of the story, and eventually, he recognizes his mistakes.Mr.
Metropolis’ Women: Analysis of the Movie’s Feminism & Examples This film is an endeavor to examine the image of the female depicted, the oppression that they have to endure before they are liberated, as well as the expectations of men with regard to the […]
Hedda Gabler: Feminist Ideas and Themes Central to the female world was the woman with knowledge.”Think of the sort of life she was accustomed to in her father’s time.
Feminism in Advertisements of the 1950s and Today In the paper, the author discussed how the whole process of advertising and feminism is depicted in print advertisements. The common characteristic is the advertisements’ illustration of feminism in the media.
Race, Class and Gender: Feminism – A Transformational Politic The social construction of difference in America has its historical roots in the days of slavery, the civil war, the civil rights movement, and the various shades of affirmative action that have still not managed […]
Feminism in the “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath This piece of writing reveals the concept of gender in general and “the role of female protagonists in a largely patriarchal world” in particular. In Plath’s novel, the bell jar is a metaphor used to […]
Feminism in The Yellow Wallpaper In an attempt to free her, she rips apart the wallpaper and locks herself in the bedroom. The husband locks her wife in a room because of his beliefs that she needed a rest break.
Feminist Theory of Delinquency by Chesney-Lind One of the core ideas expressed by Chesney-Lind is that girls are highly susceptible to abuse and violent treatment. At the same time, scholars note that girls do not view delinquency as the “rejection of […]
Yves Klein’s Works From a Feminist Perspective The images were painted in the 20th century in the backdrop of the rising pressure in many parts of the globe for the government to embrace gender equality.
Feminist View of Red Riding Hood Adaptations The Brothers Grimm modified the ending of the story, in their version the girl and her grandmother were saved by a hunter who came to the house when he heard the wolf snoring.
A Feminist Life Lesson in “Sula” by Toni Morrison This essay is going to review gender and love and sexuality as the key themes that intertwined with Nel and Sula’s friendship, while also explaining how these influenced each of the two main characters. On […]
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Raunch Culture and Feminism The biological make-up of women and the cultural perception by the society has contributed to this position of women in the society.
The Picture of Arabic Feminist Najir’s father’s taking of her sexually excludes her from chances at a marriage of her own, because she is deprived of her virginity, and exposes the young woman to the risk of a pregnancy which […]
Feminism in “Heart of Darkness” and “Apocalypse Now” However, one realizes that she is voiceless in the novel, which highlights the insignificance of role of women in Heart of Darkness.
Gender Issues: Education and Feminism These experiences in many times strongly affects the individual’s understanding, reasoning, action about the particular issue in contention In this work two issues of great influence and relevance to our societies are discussed.
Kate Chopin’s Feminist Short Stories and Novels Two short stories were written by Chopin, A Story of One Hour and The Storm well as her brilliant novel Awakening should be regarded as one of the best examples of the feminist literature of […]
Willa Cather and Feminism Ability to work and/or supervise oneself as a woman is also quietly depicted through the girl who is able to work in the absence of her father. Cather depicts most of the women in her […]
Mary Rowlandson’s Feminism and View on Women’s Role The sort of power developed by Rowlandson was such that it set her apart from the traditional roles of the Puritan women in her time and within her culture.
Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics It seems that this approach to this problem is important for discussing the origins of social inequalities existing in the community. This is one of the main points that can be made.
Feminist Approach: Virginia Woolf In “A room of ones own” Virginia Woolf speaks about the problems of women, gender roles, and the low social position of women writers in society.
The Adoption of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism Basics in Feminist Cultural Theory On the contrary, post structuralism is opposite to such an assumption and uses the concept of deconstruction in order to explain the relations and the position of women in the society.
The Fraternal Social Contract on Feminism and Community Formation The contract was signed by men to bring to an end the conditions of the state of nature. Life was anarchic and short lived which forced men to sign a social contract that could bring […]
Feminism in ‘Telephone Video’ To demonstrate how feminist theory in communication is relevant to music, the paper will analyze the depiction of females, the vocal arrangements, representation of female roles and their visual appearance in Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” music […]
Feminism: “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir According to post-structural feminism structures in society still hold the woman back.de Beauvoir states that this is because structures still exist in the minds of people as to the place of women in society.
Feminism in the Story “Lord of the Rings” The movie, in its turn, instead of focusing on the evolution of the female leads, seemed to be concerned with the relationships between the male characters as well as the growth of the latter.
Feminism in “The Introduction” and “A Nocturnal Reverie” by Finch One of Anne Finch’s poems, “The Introduction,” talks about female writers of her time in the first twenty lines of her text.
Feminist Accountability Approach Therefore, the feminist accountability approach involves the collective responsibility to fight social injustices regardless of gender and race. Therefore, integrating the global approach to social injustice promotes the aspect of universality and unity in promoting […]
The Feminist and Gender Theory Influence on Nursing That is, gender and feminist theories are still relevant in the modern world. This is explained by the fact that women are struggling to demonstrate their professionalism in order to receive the same recognition and […]
The Incorporation of Feminism in Literature By focusing on the character, the book portrays the demand for feminism in society to allow females to have the ability and potential to undertake some responsibilities persevered by their male counterparts. The belief in […]
The Feminist Theory, Prostitution, and Universal Access to Justice In the essay, it is concluded that the theory is a key component of the reforms needed in the criminal justice system with respect to prostitution. In this essay, the subject of prostitution is discussed […]
Feminist Film Strategy: The Watermelon Women These techniques have the capabilities of shifting meaning away from the narrative as the source of meaning to the audience’s background knowledge in making meaning.
“Feminism and Religion: The Introduction” by R. Gross Gross critically in order to see the essence of the book and the competence of the author in the current issue.
“Feminism and Modern Friendship” by Marilyn Friedman Individualism denies that the identity and nature of human beings as individuals is a product of the roles of communities as well as social relationships.
Judith Butler’s Feminist Theory From a phenomenological point of view, gender is a stable identity that is realized through the repetition of certain acts. Butler’s article is dedicated to the role of gender, its relation to a body and […]
Shifting the Centre: Race, Class, and Feminist Theorizing About Motherhood The author is very categorical in that it is necessary to put the role of the woman of color in the same position as that of the white one since this ensures that cultural identity […]
Women’s Health and Feminism Theory For a woman to be in charge of her reproductive health, she has to know some of the stages and conditions in her life.
Feminist Literature: “The Revolt of Mother” by Mary E. Wilkins The woman in her story goes against the tradition of the time and triumphs by challenging it and gaining a new self-identity. The author uses this story to address the issue of women oppression that […]
Feminist Research Methods The study of methods and methodology shows that the unique differences are found in the motives of the research, the knowledge that the research seeks to expound, and the concerns of the researchers and the […]
World Politics: Realist, Liberals, and Feminists Theories The development of the League of Nations to protect the interest of the allies, the partnership of France, Britain and USA to form the allies and the struggle for Germany to control Eastern Europe clearly […]
Elena Poniatowska and Her Feminism Thus, the primary objective of her journalism and fiction was to break the indifference of the society and to open people’s eyes to the problems of those who are silently excluded from public life.
Feminism in Laura Esquivel’s “Like Water for Chocolate” At the center of this story is Tita, a young woman who is the last born in her family. This is a very unique way of championing the right of women.
Seven Variations of Cinderella as the Portrayal of an Anti-Feminist Character: a Counterargument Against the Statement of Cinderella’s Passiveness It is rather peculiar that, instead of simply providing Cinderella with the dress, the crystal slippers and the carriage to get to the palace in, the fairy godmother turns the process of helping Cinderella into […]
Feminist Challenge to Mainstream International Relations Theory Feminist international relations approaches in the past used to be part of the major debate that ensued between the post-positivists and their counterparts, the positivists.
Feminist Connotations in Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” It is a call to reexamine the value of women in a patriarchal society; through their central role in the drama, the female characters challenge traditional notions about women’s perspective and value.
Feminist Analysis of Gender in American Television The analysis is guided by the hypothesis that the media plays a role in the propagation of antagonistic sexual and gender-based stereotypes.
Feminist Critique of Jean Racine’s “Phedre” Racine view Phedre as in a trap by the anger of gods and her destiny due to the unlawful and jealous passion that resulted into the deaths of Hippolytus and Oenone.
Feminist Approach in Literary Criticism The reason for this is simple this particular plot’s development suggests that, just as it happened to be the case with the functioning of a male psyche, the working of a female psyche implies that […]
Feminism in the Past and Nowadays The definition of liberal feminism is the following: “a particular approach to achieving equality between men and women that emphasizes the power of an individual person to alter discriminatory practices against women”.
Historical Development of Feminism and Patriarchy This gain was highly attributed to the undying efforts of women movements, which for the purpose of the discussions of this paper, are considered as belonging to the umbrella that advocates of feminism.
Equal Society: Antebellum Feminism, Temperance, and Abolition It is characterized by the emergence of a women’s rights movement that was spearheaded by activists who sought to secure the rights of women to vote, own property, and participate in education and the public […]
Feminism in the “Lorraine Hansberry” Film Her activism aligns with the fundamental tenets of women of color feminism, which emphasizes the intersecting nature of oppression and the importance of centering the experiences of marginalized groups in social justice movements.
Gloria Steinem: Political Activist and Feminist Leader Thesis: Gloria Steinem’s direct, bold, argumentative, and explicit style of conveying her ideas and values is the result of her political activism, feminist leadership, and her grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem.
The Myntra Logo from a Feminist Perspective The first feature of the Myntra logo that comes under the scrutiny of transnational feminism is the commercialization of female sexuality.
Feminist Geography and Women Suppression Tim Cresswell’s feminist geography explores how the patriarchal structures of our society have silenced women’s voices and experiences in the field of geography for centuries and how recent changes in the field have allowed for […]
Feminism from a Historical Perspective Accordingly, the discontent facilitated the development of reform-minded activist organizations across Europe and the United States and the subsequent rise of the Modern or New Women’s Movement.
“Othello” Through the Lens of Feminist Theory It depicts female characters in a state of submission and obedience and shows the disbalance in the distribution of power between men and women.
The Feminist Theory in Modern Realities The theory and culture of feminism in modern philosophy and the development of society play a significant role in cultural and social development.
Alice Walker’s Statement “Womanist Is to Feminist…” In her short tale “Perspectives Past and Present,” author and poet Alice Walker famously uses the statement “Womanist Is to Feminist as Purple Is to Lavender,” meaning that womanist is a larger ideological framework within […]
Feminist Perspective on Family Counselling The author of the article considers the study and the data obtained as a result of it as information reporting not only about the specifics of homosexual relationships but also about their perception in American […]
Modern Feminism and Its Major Directions Radical feminism views patriarchy as the reason men have more rights than women and attempts to fight against it. Liberal, intersectional, and radical feminism differ in many ways as they have various perspectives on women’s […]
Feminist Theory and Its Application Alice Walker advocated for the rights of women of color at the end of the 20th century, creating a feminist branch named womanism. The feminist theory is one of the most known and popular theories […]
The Feminist Theory in Nursing Since nursing has traditionally been a women’s profession, it is important to understand the oppression of women to gain insight into some of the most pressing issues in nursing.
Discussion of Feminist Movements The feminist movements have been behind a sequence of political and social movements that champion the equal rights of women in all aspects of life.
Feminists on the Women’s Role in the Bible The author of the article uses the term intertextuality, which plays a significant role in the text analysis, including from the feminist aspect.
Feminist Contribution to International Relations Moreover, it will be shown that the concept of gender is important as it helps to shed light on the power dynamics in the sphere of international relations and explain female exclusion from politics.
Feminist Therapy: Gwen’s Case Study The application of a feminist perspective in Gwen’s case is different from other theoretical frameworks as the approach highlights the impact of gender and associated stressors on the client’s life.
Emotional Revival in Feminist Writers’ Short Stories This paper aims to discuss the emotional revival of heroines in the short stories of Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.”The Story of an Hour” is a very short story that describes a woman’s experience […]
Emotion and Freedom in 20th-Century Feminist Literature The author notes that the second layer of the story can be found in the antagonism between the “narrator, author, and the unreliable protagonist”.
The Cyborg Term in the Context of Feminist Studies In other words, during the transition of identity from the individual to the collective level, people, especially women, may encounter inequalities manifested in the collective space.
Feminist and Traditional Ethics The feminist ethics also criticize the gender binary of distinct biological formation between men and women. Consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics are the three theories of conventional ethics.
Feminism: A Road Map to Overcoming COVID-19 and Climate Change By exposing how individuals relate to one another as humans, institutions, and organizations, feminism aids in the identification of these frequent dimensions of suffering.
White Privilege in Conflict and Feminist Theories They see how the privilege of whiteness and denial of non-whiteness are connected to the social and political meaning of race and ethnicity.
Women’s Role in Society From Feminist Perspective Also, in Hartsock’s opinion, that the whole society would benefit if women were allowed to have a role equal with men in a community.
The Feminist Theory and IR Practice Focusing on how international relations theorists explained some concepts, such as security, state, and superiority that led to gender bias, feminists felt the need to develop and transform the international relations practice and theory.
Intersectionality and Feminist Activism Therefore, I hope to study the academic literature to discuss the existing tendencies and difficulties to contribute to the understanding of the identified topic in terms of gender and female studies.
Feminism: Reflection of Cultural Feminism If they found that the gases were harmful and may lead to complications in their body, they would approve the employer’s right to prohibit women from working in the company.
Feminist Theoretical Perspectives on Rape There is a number of theoretical perspectives aimed at explaining what stands behind rape, that is, how rape is reinforced by, why it is more widespread in specific concepts, and what a rapist’s motivations for […]
A Feminist Reading of “Wild Nights” and “Death Be Not Proud” From the feminist perspective, the key feature of the speaker’s stance in “Death Be Not Proud” that sets it apart from “Wild Nights” is the speaker’s persona, which is openly and unequivocally male.
Body: Social Constructionist & Feminist Approaches The idea of the gendered body was based on the focus on the concept of gender, which sees masculinity and femininity as social roles and the need for the representatives of genders to maintain within […]
Feminist Film Theory Overview The presence of women on the screen is commonly accomplished by the sexualization and objectivization of female characters. Along with that, sadism and fetishism toward the physical beauty of the object and the representation of […]
“Daddy-long-Legs”: Why Jerusha Is a Feminist Heroine Jerusha is a feminist because she uses the letters to communicate the inequalities she feels in her relationship with Daddy-long-legs and her limits.
Homosexuality and Feminism in the TV Series The depiction of these complex topics in the TV series of the humoristic genre implies both regressive and progressive impulses for the audience.
Popular Feminism in Video Post of Emma Watson According to Emma Watson, now feminism is increasingly associated with hatred of men, although in reality it only implies the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.
Contingent Foundations: Feminism and Postmodernism Feminism offers women theoretical bases on which to interrogate the issues of womanhood while Postmodernism takes this away by arguing for the “death of subjects”.abolition of the foundations of the ideals of reality.
Art, Pornography and Feminism and Internet Influence The purpose of pornography is not the desire to admire the human body and respect physical intimacy. Indeed, society can say that women themselves agree to such rules, but the choice of a minority forms […]
The Contemporary Image of Feminism Following the initial surge of the movement, governments finally came to acknowledge the magnitude of the situation and satisfied the demands of the female population.
Historical Development of Feminism and Patriarchy Women in the United States have always encountered challenges that interfere with their individual fulfillment in society.
Feminism and Nationalism: The Western World In this case, we find that feminism has been a different that all the time and therefore, it is impossible to predict the trend of feminism in future.
Gould’s and Sterling’s Feminist Articles Critique The focal point of this paper is to prepare a critical reflection on the articles by Stephen Jay Gould named “Women’s Brains” in The Panda’s Thumb and by Anne Fausto-Sterling named “The biological Connections,” from […]
Core Aspects of Black Feminist and Womanist Thoughts Compared to Jones, who believes in “unparalleled advocates of universal suffrage in its true sense,” Lindsey does not support the relegation of the “voices and experiences of women of color to the background”.
Barbara and Beverly Smith: Black Feminist Statement Sexism was an explicit element of the African American Civil Rights Movement. Fight against segregation was rather single-sided.
Feminism: Fundamentals of Case Management Practice The feminist therapy’s main emphasis is put on the notion of invoking social changes and transforming the lives of people in favor of feminist resistance in order to promote equality and justice for all.
Feminist Contributions to Understanding Women’s Lives This gave women a clear picture of the daily realities in their lives. The success of feminism is evident at all levels of human interaction since there is a better understanding of women and their […]
Importance of Feminism in Interpersonal Communication in “Erin Brockovich” In this presentation, the theme of feminism in interpersonal communication will be discussed to prove that it is a good example of how a woman can fight for her rights.
As We Are Feminist Campaign’s Strategic Goals The present paper is devoted to the analysis of the goals of a feminist campaign As We Are that is aimed at challenging gender stereotypes that are being promoted by the media and society in […]
Feminist Ethics in Nursing: Personal Thoughts The concept of feminist ethics emphasizes the belief that ethical theorizing at the present is done from a distinctly male point of view and, as such, lacks the moral experience of women.
Feminism: Kneel to the Rest of Life, or Fight for the Fairness It seems that the law is not perfect, and the public opinion of sexual harassment might influence a woman’s life negatively.
Feminist Perspective Influence on Canadian Laws and Lawmakers The change in the statistics is attributed to social changes, which include increase of women in the labor force, conflict in female-male relations, increase in alcohol consumption and increase in the rate of divorce. Feminists […]
Blog Post: Arab Feminism in Contemporary World Women of the Arab world have struggled to overcome inequality, oppression, and rights deprivation by state authorities, which takes the discussion of the Islamic feminist movement to the political domain. According to Sharia, the unity […]
Feminist Movement and Recommendations on Women’s Liberation According to Nawal El-Saadawi In Egypt, the feminist movement was started by Nawal El-Saadawi, and her article “The Arab Women’s Solidarity Association: The Coming Challenge” has historical importance as it addresses the plight of women in the community.
Technological Progress, Globalization, Feminism Roots However, the work becomes more complicated when the time distance of the events and processes is shorter, and the stories are unfinished.
Race at the Intersections: Sociology, 3rd Wave Feminism, and Critical Race Theory In this reading, the author examines the phenomenon of racism not merely as an issue but a systematic, institutionalized, and cultural phenomenon that is hard to eliminate.
The Feminist Performers: Yoko Ono, Marina Abramovic, Gina Pane The feminist artists ccontributed to the women’s image, its role in society, and exposed the passiveness and submissiveness the women are obliged to endure.
Feminism and Multiculturalism for Women The foundation of liberalism is having an interest in all the minority cultures that are put together to form the larger special group.
“The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald: Betrayal, Romance, Social Politics and Feminism This work seeks to outline the role of women in the development of the plot of the book and in relation to the social issues affecting women in contemporary society.
Pornography’s Harm as a Feminist Fallacy In this scenario, scientific research has proven the argument not to be true. It is weakened by the fact that people are not forced to watch the video.
Feminism in Mourning Dove’s “Cogewea, the Half-Blood” The patriarchal practices embraced by the Indian community and the subsequent system of governance humiliated the writer; hence, the use of Cogewea in the passage was aimed to imply the abilities that were bestowed upon […]
The Emerging Feminism in India and Their Views on God as a Feminist However, among the explanation of the cause of the phenomenon for this lack of agreement is the tendency for people to define religion too narrowly, and in most cases from the perspective of their own […]
Feminist Psychology in Canada The introduction of the article gives the purposes of the research that include the historical and present condition of the psychology of women field of interest.
American Art Since 1945 Till Feminism The entire movement represented the combination of emotional strength and the self-expression of the European abstract schools: Futurism, the Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism.
Modernist Art: A Feminist Perspective Clarke limited the definition of modernism even further by his restriction of it to the facets of the Paris of Manet and the Impressionists, a place of leisure, pleasure, and excesses, and it seems that […]
Enlightenment, Feminism and Social Movements As a result of Enlightenment, the creative entrepreneurs as well as thinkers enjoyed the high freedom benefits that were brought in by the Enlightenment thinkers, enabling them to apply the newly acquired liberty to invent […]
“Our Journey to Repowered Feminism” by Sonja K. Foss Foss tried to work out a new conception of repowered feminism in the article “Our Journey to Repowered Feminism: Expanding the Feminist Toolbox”.
Maya Angelou and Audre Lorde: The Black Feminist Poets The themes of double discrimination are developed in the poems “Woman Work” and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou and poems “A Meeting of Minds” and “To the Poet Who Happens to Be Black and […]
Feminist Position on Prostitution and Pornography The only requirement is that it should not violate the norms of the law. On the other hand, one of the suggestions for feminists is to envisage individual cases of enslaving women as prostitutes.
The Politics of Feminism in Islam by Anouar Majid Considering the work The Politics of Feminism in Islam by Anouar Majid written in 1998, it should be noticed that the main point of this article is the Muslim feminism and the relation of West […]
The Feminist Art Movement in the 1970s and Today The feminist art movement emerged in the 1960s and from that time the women had taken much interest in what causes them to be different from the male gender and particularly, what causes the art […]
Feminist Theory. Modes of Feminist Theorizing The second point of conflict is the acknowledgment that most of the feminist ideas are part and parcel of our culture yet these ideas might be presented in a way that is hard for us […]
Australian Feminism Movements The fact that feminism movements do not have a great following in Australia is because they are not generally seen to address issues that women and the society are facing.
Feminism in Canadian Literature First of all, the female author of the article considered by Cosh is evidently a supporter of the equality of rights for men and women, and her account on the women liberation movement in the […]
Understanding of Feminism: Philosophical and Social Concepts The vision that emerges, in the narrative as in the world it represents, is of a whole composed of separate, yet interdependent and interrelating, parts.
Geoffrey Chaucer: A Founder of English Literature as a Feminist Despite the distorted interpretation of gender in the patriarchal society, Chaucer’s vision of women contradicts the orthodox view of the biological distinction of males and females as the justification for gender inequality.
Feminist Activism for Safer Social Space by Whitzman The scientist pays special attention to the municipal parks, mainly High Park in Toronto, from the point of view of feminists trying to make women involved into the discourse concerning different aspects of the park.
Feminist Theory in Psychotherapy This theory puts women at the first place, and this place is reflected in three aspects: the first is its main object of study – the situation and difficulties faced by women in society, and […]
Feminism in ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell The Feminist Movement, also called the Women’s Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement, includes a series of efforts by women in the world to fight for the restoration of gender equality.
Western Feminism as Fighters Against Oppression For postmodern feminists and post-colonial feminists, the second component of the new women’s ideology is the idea of the responsibility of the state to rule and administer both genders on the basis of their interpretation […]
Perils and Possibilities of Doing Transnational Feminist Activism These have promoted awareness of human rights among women and other masses, ensured and led to the adoption of the rules and regulations recognizing women rights and that supports ending of women violations and participated […]
The Feminist Gendering Into International Relations These are early female contributions to IR academic and the In terms of conferences, the theme of gender and politics was being explored in conferences.
Western Feminists and Their Impact on the Consciousness and Self-Identity of Muslim Women One of the main objectives of the Western feminism is to give to the citizen of the new nation a feeling of dignity and importance resulting from that citizenship and from his ethnic origin, and […]
Feminism – Women and Work in the Middle East The history of feminism consists of different movements and theories for the rights of women. The first wave of this phenomenon began in the 19th century and saw the end only in the early 20th […]
Harriet Martineau, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Marianne Weber: Feminist Sociologists Through her writings she always advocated for the equal rights of women with men and remarked the importance of financial self-sufficiency among women in the society. She observed the role of women in society and […]
Feminist Theory and Postmodern Approaches It seems to me that such technique can be quite helpful because it helps to get to the root of the problem.
English Language in the Feminist Movement In addition to that, it is of the crucial importance to explore the underlying causes of this phenomenon. Now that we have enumerated the research methods, that can be employed, it is of the utmost […]
Feminist Ideas in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” One of these issues and the subject of this paper is the theme of feminism in Shelley’s novel. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners”.- Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication of the […]
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Works and Feminism The woman’s role is depicted ever so poignantly in the works of Divakaruni and this also reflects the importance of reclaiming the understanding of the role of women in society.
Black Feminism: A Revolutionary Practice The Black Feminist Movement was organized in an endeavor to meet the requirements of black women who were racially browbeaten in the Women’s Movement and sexually exploited during the Black Liberation Movement.
Popular Culture From the Fifties to Heroin Chic: Feminism The women have become aware of their legal rights and disabilities as a consequence of the inclusion of educated women in movements to repair the legal disabilities.
Positive Changes That Feminism Brought to America And when, in 1919, the American Constitution was amended such that the women in all the States were given the right to vote, it was then that the first period of feminism officially ended, their […]
Are Feminist Criticisms of Militarism Essentialist? In the following essay, I will trace the essentialist feminists and their juxtaposition to the extent of their deep thoughts and activities toward the militaristic attitude and the changing perception of women in the militarism […]
Western Feminist Critics and Cultural Imperialism To be able to fulfill the above-provided task, it would be necessary to discuss and analyze the issues of race, gender, sexuality, the oppression of multiculturalism, cultural relativism, the attitude of the feminists toward the […]
Social Justice and Feminism in America So as to make a change in this situation, the feminists in America took efforts to improve the condition of women.
American Women in History: Feminism and Suffrage It is important to note that the key sharp issues discussed in this chapter are: a finding of the independent women suffrage movement, the role of the constituency in this process, the role of war […]
Wendy McElroy: A Feminist Defense of Men’s Rights The author sees the recent violation of men’s rights in the excessive spread of gender feminism, which appeared in the 1960s and touched primarily the family aspects of woman’s life, in particular, the right to […]
The Concept of Feminist Epistemology The analysis starts with an overview of the evolutions process of standpoint epistemology; then, the philosophical movement is defined and the major ideas and arguments embedded into the theory are discussed.
Modern Feminism as the Part of Intellectual Life Feminism In France has split lots of features recognizable to the anglophone world by the means of the feminist movements in the UK and the USA: on the one hand, the wish and the fight […]
Feminist Movements in Contemporary Times The artists are the intellectual leaders of a society who incur significant influence in the patterns of culture and civilization. The participation of women in the development of cultural values and literary achievements are also […]
Feminist Critiques of Medicine In the area of new reproductive technologies, for instance, some women have campaigned to end the use of techniques such as IVF, seeing them as potentially genocidal and of no value to women.
Shakespeare: A Feminist Writer A careful analysis of Lady Macbeth’s intensely complicated character and her role in the play proves that Shakespeare is actually a feminist writer.
Feminism in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler
Liberal Feminism Movement Analysis
Feminism and Support of Gender Equality
Feminism: Liberal, Black, Radical, and Lesbian
Women and Law. Feminist Majority Foundation
Empowerment and Feminist Theory
A Feminist Analysis on Abu Ghraib
“The Historical Evolution of Black Feminist Theory and Praxis” by Taylor
Is Power Feminism a Feminist Movement?
Postcolonial Feminism Among Epistemological Views
Feminist Theory: Performing and Altering Bodies
Feminist Theories by Bordo, Shaw & Lee, Shildrick & Price
Feminist Examination of Science
Race, Sex and Knowledge From Feminist Perspective
Colonialism and Knowledge in Feminist Discourse
Feminist Perspective in “Ruined” Play by Nottage
Feminism and the Relational Approach to Autonomy
Feminism and Sexuality in the “Lila Says” Film
Ecological Feminism and Environmental Ethics
Feminist Perspective: “The Gender Pay Gap Explained”
Second Wave of Feminist Movement
Education and Feminism in the Arabian Peninsula
Black Women in Feminism and the Media
Spiritual and Educational Feminist Comparison
Feminist Theoretical Schools in Various Cultures
The Application of Psychoanalysis in Feminist Theories
Feminism: Exposing Women to the Public Sphere
Feminist Psychoanalysis From McRobbie’s Perspective
Feminist Films: “Stella Dallas” and “Dance Girl, Dance”
Ageism and Feminism in Career and Family Expectations
“Feminist Geopolitics and September 11” by Jenifer Hyndman
The History of Feminism in the 1960
Feminist Theory in “A Family Thing” Movie
Feminist Theory of Family Therapy
Feminism in Tunisia and Jordan in Comparison
Feminism and Gender Studies in Science
Feminism in the United Arab Emirates
Conceptualization of Difference in Feminism
Feminist Political Theory, Approaches and Challenge
Feminism in Latin America
Planet B-Girl: Community Building and Feminism in Hip-Hop
Hello Kitty as a Kitsch and Anti-Feminist Phenomenon
Methods of Feminism Education and Its Modern Theories
Feminism in Lorrie Moore’s “You’re Ugly, Too”
Anti-Feminism and Heteropatriarchal Normativity
Feminist Archaeologists’ Interpretations of the Past
The Theory of Feminism Through the Prism of Time
Development of Feminism in Chile
Concept of “Western Feminism”
Marxism vs. Feminism: Human Nature, Power, Conflict
Feminism in Lorber’s, Thompson’s, Hooks’s Views
Prison and Social Movement in Black Feminist View
Great Awakening, American Civil War, and Feminism
Feminism and Roles in “A Raisin in the Sun” Play
Feminist Miss America Pageant Protest of 1968
Black Feminist Perspectives in Toni Morrison’s Works
Feminist Movement as an Attempt to Obtain Equal Rights
Axel Honneth Views on Feminism
Activist and Feminist Rose Schneiderman
Feminist Deceit in Short Stories
Post-Feminism in the Wonder Bra Commercial
Feminist Movement Influence on the Arab Film Industry
Third World Feminism and Its Challenges
“First Wave” Feminist Movement
Feminism: the Contraception Movement in Canada
Beyonce and Assata Shakur Feminism Ideas Comparison
Feminism in “‘Now We Can Begin” by Crystal Eastman
Gender Studies of Feminism: Radical and Liberal Branches
Feminism and Film Theory
The Realization of Third-wave Feminism Ideals
Sexuality as a Social and Historical Construct
Modern Feminist Movements
Feminist Theories in Relation to Family Functions
Rebecca Solnit’s Views on Feminism
Feminism and Respect for Culture
“Old and New Feminists in Latin America: The Case of Peru and Chile” by Chaney E.M.
“Frida Kahlo: A Contemporary Feminist Reading” by Liza Bakewell
Chinese Feminism in the Early 20th Century
Feminism in the 20th Century: a Literature Perspective. Research Summaries
Feminism and Modern Friendship
Women and Their Acceptance of Feminism
Women, Religion, and Feminism
The History of the Pill and Feminism
Challenges to Build Feminist Movement Against Problems of Globalization and Neoliberalism
Feministic Movement in Iron Jawed Angels
Hillary Clinton: Furthering Political Agenda Through Feminism
Feminist Pro-Porn During Sex Wars
Feministic View of McCullers’ “The Member of the Wedding”
“Feminism, Peace, Human Rights and Human Security” by Charlotte Bunch
Feminism in China During the Late Twentieth Century
Feminist Political Change
Antonio Gramsci and Feminism: The Elusive Nature of Power
Changes That Feminism and Gender Lenses Can Bring To Global Politics
Feminism Has Nothing to Tell Us About the Reality of War, Conflict and Hard, Cold Facts
Feminism in the works of Susan Glaspell and Sophocles
Cross Cultural Analysis of Feminism in the Muslim Community
The Adoption of Feminist Doctrine in Canada
Feminist Movement in Canada
The Feminist Power and Structure in Canada
Feminism and Gender Mainstreaming
Feminist Movement: The National Organization for Women
Feminist Analysis of the Popular Media: The Sexualization Process Takes Its Toll on the Younger Female Audience
Women in the Field of Art
The Reflection of the Second-Wave Feminism in Scandinavia: “Show Me Love” and “Together”
Liberal and Socialist Feminist Theories
What Does Feminism Stand For? Who are These Creatures who call themselves Feminists?
Full Frontal Feminism – What is Still Preventing Women from Achieving Equality?
The Ordeal of Being a Woman: When Feminist Ideas Dissipate
Comparison and Contrast of Spiritual and Educational Feminists
Gender Issue and the Feminist Movement
Dorothy E. Smith and Feminist Theory Development
Feminism Builds up in Romanticism, Realism, Modernism
Feminist Movement Tendencies
Scholars Comment on Gender Equality
The Smurfette Principle in the Modern Media: Feminism Is over?
The Feminist Movement
Feminism and Evolution or Emergence of Psychology
Reasons Why the Black Women Population Did Not Consider Themselves a Part of the Ongoing Feminist Movements
Black Women and the Feminist Movement
Feminism and Patriarchy
Feminism Interview and the Major Aim of Feminism
Gender and Religion: Women and Islam
Charlotte Gilman’s feminism theory
Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism
Feminism and Women’s History
Feminist Criticism in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Obesity: Health or Feminist Issue?
Feminism in Roger and Dodger Film
Comparing Views on the Feminism of Wollstonecraft and Martin Luther King
Anarchy, Black Nationalism and Feminism
Concepts of Feminism in the Present Societies
Gender Issues and Feminist Movement
“Just Say No? The Use of Conversation Analysis in Developing a Feminist Perspective on Sexual Refusal” by Kitzinger and Frith: Summary
Feminist Ethics Concept
How Did African Feminism Change the World?
Why Might Feminism and Poststructuralism Be Described as an Uneasy Alliance?
Does Feminism and Masculinity Define Who People Are Today?
How Did Feminism Change New Zealand?
Can Feminism and Marxism Come Together?
How Did Second Wave Feminism Affect the Lives of Women?
Does Arab Feminism Exist?
How Does Chivalry Affect Feminism?
Has Feminism Achieved Its Goals?
How Does the French Feminism Theory Manifest Itself?
Does Feminism Create Equality?
How Has Feminism Changed the Lives of Women, Men, and Families?
Has Feminism Benefited the American Society?
How Does Feminism Explain Gender Differences in Comparison to the Mainstream Psychology?
Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?
How Does Feminism Harm Women’s Health Care?
Does Feminism Really Work?
How Does Feminism Threaten Male Control and Alters Their Dominance in Society?
What Are the Basic Traits of Liberal Feminism?
How Has Economic Development and Globalization of South Korea Influenced the Role of Feminism?
What Are the Concepts of Marxism and Feminism?
How Has Feminism Developed?
What Are the Main Theoretical and Political Differences Between First and Second Waves of Feminism?
Why Should Men Teach Feminism?
How Does Popular Fiction Reflect Debates About Gender and Sexuality?
When Does Feminism Go Wrong?
How Do Teenage Magazines Express the Post-feminism Culture?
Why Has Patriarchy Proved Such a Contentious Issue for Feminism?
What Are the Main Contributions of Feminism to the Contemporary Lifestyle?
Can Modern Feminism Start the Discrimination of Men?
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IvyPanda. (2024, February 24). 334 Feminism Essay Topics & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/feminism-essay-examples/

"334 Feminism Essay Topics & Examples." IvyPanda , 24 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/feminism-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '334 Feminism Essay Topics & Examples'. 24 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "334 Feminism Essay Topics & Examples." February 24, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/feminism-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "334 Feminism Essay Topics & Examples." February 24, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/feminism-essay-examples/.

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IvyPanda . "334 Feminism Essay Topics & Examples." February 24, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/feminism-essay-examples/.

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Women's and Gender Studies > Theses and Dissertations

Women's and Gender Studies Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Social Media and Women Empowerment in Nigeria: A Study of the #BreakTheBias Campaign on Facebook , Deborah Osaro Omontese

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Going Flat: Challenging Gender, Stigma, and Cure through Lesbian Breast Cancer Experience , Beth Gaines

Incorrect Athlete, Incorrect Woman: IOC Gender Regulations and the Boundaries of Womanhood in Professional Sports , Sabeehah Ravat

Transnational Perspectives on the #MeToo and Anti-Base Movements in Japan , Alisha Romano

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Criminalizing LGBTQ+ Jamaicans: Social, Legal, and Colonial Influences on Homophobic Policy , Zoe C. Knowles

Dismantling Hegemony through Inclusive Sexual Health Education , Lauren Wright

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Transfat Representation , Jessica "Fyn" Asay

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Ain't I a Woman, Too? Depictions of Toxic Femininity, Transmisogynoir, and Violence on STAR , Sunahtah D. Jones

“The Most Muscular Woman I Have Ever Seen”: Bev FrancisPerformance of Gender in Pumping Iron II: The Women , Cera R. Shain

"Roll" Models: Fat Sexuality and Its Representations in Pornographic Imagery , Leah Marie Turner

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Reproducing Intersex Trouble: An Analysis of the M.C. Case in the Media , Jamie M. Lane

Race and Gender in (Re)integration of Victim-Survivors of CSEC in a Community Advocacy Context , Joshlyn Lawhorn

Penalizing Pregnancy: A Feminist Legal Studies Analysis of Purvi Patel's Criminalization , Abby Schneller

A Queer and Crip Grotesque: Katherine Dunn's , Megan Wiedeman

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

"Mothers like Us Think Differently": Mothers' Negotiations of Virginity in Contemporary Turkey , Asli Aygunes

Surveilling Hate/Obscuring Racism?: Hate Group Surveillance and the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Hate Map" , Mary McKelvie

“Ya I have a disability, but that’s only one part of me”: Formative Experiences of Young Women with Physical Disabilities , Victoria Peer

Resistance from Within: Domestic violence and rape crisis centers that serve Black/African American populations , Jessica Marie Pinto

(Dis)Enchanted: (Re)constructing Love and Creating Community in the , Shannon A. Suddeth

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

"The Afro that Ate Kentucky": Appalachian Racial Formation, Lived Experience, and Intersectional Feminist Interventions , Sandra Louise Carpenter

“Even Five Years Ago this Would Have Been Impossible:” Health Care Providers’ Perspectives on Trans* Health Care , Richard S. Henry

Tough Guy, Sensitive Vas: Analyzing Masculinity, Male Contraceptives & the Sexual Division of Labor , Kaeleen Kosmo

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Let’s Move! Biocitizens and the Fat Kids on the Block , Mary Catherine Dickman

Interpretations of Educational Experiences of Women in Chitral, Pakistan , Rakshinda Shah

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Incredi-bull-ly Inclusive?: Assessing the Climate on a College Campus , Aubrey Lynne Hall

Her-Storicizing Baldness: Situating Women's Experiences with Baldness from Skin and Hair Disorders , Kasie Holmes

In the (Radical) Pursuit of Self-Care: Feminist Participatory Action Research with Victim Advocates , Robyn L. Homer

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Significance is Bliss: A Global Feminist Analysis of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its Privileging of Americo-Liberian over Indigenous Liberian Women's Voices , Morgan Lea Eubank

Monsters Under the Bed: An Analysis of Torture Scenes in Three Pixar Films , Heidi Tilney Kramer

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Can You Believe She Did THAT?!:Breaking the Codes of "Good" Mothering in 1970s Horror Films , Jessica Michelle Collard

Don't Blame It on My Ovaries: Exploring the Lived Experience of Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and the Creation of Discourse , Jennifer Lynn Ellerman

Valanced Voices: Student Experiences with Learning Disabilities & Differences , Zoe DuPree Fine

An Interactive Guide to Self-Discovery for Women , Elaine J. Taylor

Selling the Third Wave: The Commodification and Consumption of the Flat Track Roller Girl , Mary Catherine Whitlock

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Beyond Survival: An Exploration of Narrative Healing and Forgiveness in Healing from Rape , Heather Curry

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Gender Trouble In Northern Ireland: An Examination Of Gender And Bodies Within The 1970s And 1980s Provisional Irish Republican Army In Northern Ireland , Jennifer Earles

"You're going to Hollywood"!: Gender and race surveillance and accountability in American Idol contestant's performances , Amanda LeBlanc

From the academy to the streets: Documenting the healing power of black feminist creative expression , Tunisia L. Riley

Developing Feminist Activist Pedagogy: A Case Study Approach in the Women's Studies Department at the University of South Florida , Stacy Tessier

Women in Wargasm: The Politics of Womenís Liberation in the Weather Underground Organization , Cyrana B. Wyker

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

Opportunities for Spiritual Awakening and Growth in Mothering , Melissa J. Albee

A Constant Struggle: Renegotiating Identity in the Aftermath of Rape , Jo Aine Clarke

I am Warrior Woman, Hear Me Roar: The Challenge and Reproduction of Heteronormativity in Speculative Television Programs , Leisa Anne Clark

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

Reforming Dance Pedagogy: A Feminist Perspective on the Art of Performance and Dance Education , Jennifer Clement

Narratives of lesbian transformation: Coming out stories of women who transition from heterosexual marriage to lesbian identity , Clare F. Walsh

The Conundrum of Women’s Studies as Institutional: New Niches, Undergraduate Concerns, and the Move Towards Contemporary Feminist Theory and Action , Rebecca K. Willman

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

A Feminist Perspective on the Precautionary Principle and the Problem of Endocrine Disruptors under Neoliberal Globalization Policies , Erica Hesch Anstey

Asymptotes and metaphors: Teaching feminist theory , Michael Eugene Gipson

Postcolonial Herstory: The Novels of Assia Djebar (Algeria) and Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine): A Comparative Analysis , Oksana Lutsyshyna

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

Loving Loving? Problematizing Pedagogies of Care and Chéla Sandoval’s Love as a Hermeneutic , Allison Brimmer

Exploring Women’s Complex Relationship with Political Violence: A Study of the Weathermen, Radical Feminism and the New Left , Lindsey Blake Churchill

The Voices of Sex Workers (prostitutes?) and the Dilemma of Feminist Discourse , Justine L. Kessler

Reconstructing Women's Identities: The Phenomenon Of Cosmetic Surgery In The United States , Cara L. Okopny

Fantastic Visions: On the Necessity of Feminist Utopian Narrative , Tracie Anne Welser

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

The Politics of Being an Egg “Donor” and Shifting Notions of Reproductive Freedom , Elizabeth A. Dedrick

Women, Domestic Abuse, And Dreams: Analyzing Dreams To Uncover Hidden Traumas And Unacknowledged Strengths , Mindy Stokes

Theses/Dissertations from 2001 2001

Safe at Home: Agoraphobia and the Discourse on Women’s Place , Suzie Siegel

Theses/Dissertations from 2000 2000

Women, Environment and Development: Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America , Evaline Tiondi

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The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research

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8 Feminist Qualitative Research: Toward Transformation of Science and Society

Maureen C. McHugh, Department of Psychology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Published: 04 August 2014
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Feminist research is described in terms of its purposes of knowledge about women’s lives, advocacy for women, analysis of gender oppression, and transformation of society. Feminist critiques of social science research are reviewed in relation to the development of methodological and epistemological positions. Feminist research is viewed as contributing to the transformation of science from empiricism to postmodernism. Reflexivity, collaboration, power analysis, and advocacy are discussed as common practices of feminist qualitative research. Several qualitative approaches to research are described in relation to feminist research goals, with illustrations of feminist research included. Validity and voice are identified as particular challenges in the conduct of feminist qualitative research. Intersectionality and double consciousness are reviewed as feminist contributions to transformation of science. Some emerging and innovative forms of feminist qualitative research are highlighted in relation to potential future directions.

What Is Feminist Research?

A starting principle of feminist research is that psychology should, at minimum, be nonsexist. Feminist scholars have identified numerous sexist biases in the existing psychological literature; psychological research is sexist to the extent that it incorporates stereotypic thinking about women or gender ( McHugh, Koeske, & Frieze, 1986 ). Sexist bias also refers to theories or research that do not have equal relevance to individuals of both sexes and to research in which greater attention or value is given to the life experiences of one sex ( McHugh et al., 1986 ). Research practices and methods that produce, promote, or privilege sex/gender inequalities are sexist and unacceptable.

Feminist research is research that is not only nonsexist, but also works actively for the benefit and advancement of women ( McHugh et al., 1986 ) and puts gender at the center of one’s inquiry. Specifically, feminist research examines the gendered context of women’s lives, exposes gender inequalities, empowers women, advocates for social change, and/or improves the status or material reality of women’s lives ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 1998 ; 2002 ). According to Letherby (2003) , feminist researchers have a “political commitment to produce useful knowledge that will make a difference in women’s lives through social and individual change” (p. 4). Feminist research is not research about women, but research for women; it is knowledge to be used in the transformation of sexist society ( Cook & Fonow, 1990 ; McHugh & Cosgrove, 1998 ).

Feminist research cannot be fully identified by its focus on women or its focus on gender disparity, as sexist research may entail a similar focus. Furthermore, feminist research cannot be specified by any single approach to the discovery or creation of knowledge, and feminist research is not defined by any orthodox substantive position ( Jaggar, 2008a ; McHugh & Cosgrove, 2002 ). However, feminist researchers share common perspectives. Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2008) identified three shared concerns: giving voice to women’s lives and experiences, overcoming gender inequities at the personal and social level, and improving women’s opportunities and the quality of women’s lives. Hawkesworth (2006) argues for three similar commitments of feminist research: “to struggle against coercive hierarchies linked to gender (and other statuses); to revolt against practices, values and knowledge systems that subordinate and denigrate women; and to promote women’s freedom and empowerment” (p. 7). Jaggar (2008a) described feminist research as distinguished by its dedication to the value of gender justice and its “commitment to producing knowledge useful in opposing the many varieties of gender injustice” (p. ix). According to Jaggar (2008a) , feminist research can be uniquely identified by its dedication to the value of gender justice in knowledge and in the world. And the feminist commitment to women’s emancipation requires knowing the situations and circumstances of women’s lives; to determine what needs to be “criticized, challenged or changed,” feminists need valid knowledge of the oppressions and marginalization of women ( Code, 1995 , p. 20). Feminist research is an approach to research that seeks knowledge for the liberation and equality of women.

To what extent can research, qualitative or otherwise, contribute to feminist goals of transforming society toward gender equality? Some feminists have questioned the liberation potential of research and especially the possibility of traditional (i.e., experimental, quantitative, and objective) research to produce knowledge that will alleviate gender inequity and oppression (e.g., Hollway, 1989 ). Keller (1982) viewed feminism and science as in conflict, but argued that the exploration of the conflict between feminism and science could be both productive and transformative. Some feminists have specifically called for the transformation of science to incorporate feminist values (e.g., Wiley Okrulik, Thielen-Wilson, & Morton, 1989 ). Feminist researchers, in their quest to transform society, have argued for and contributed to the transformation of (social) science research. In this chapter, I identify the dimensions and characteristics of feminist research and examine research practices and methodological and epistemological positions in relation to feminist tenets. Feminist research is not viewed as a static entity, but as a transforming and transformative practice.

(Trained as a social psychologist, I identify as a feminist psychologist. I studied at the University of Pittsburgh, working with Dr. Irene Frieze. My first research study, conducted as an undergraduate student at Chatham College, a woman’s college in Pittsburgh, examined problem-solving performance of women students as impacted by context; students completed a series of mathematical word problems in an all-female or a mixed-sex group. Women students performed better in a single-sex context in what today might be considered a study of stereotype threat. I pursued an interest in sex differences in graduate school, and my doctoral dissertation examined the intrinsic motivation of women and men as a function of task feedback. Over the course of my career, I became increasingly critical of both the experimental method of research and the study of sex differences. My own epistemological and methodological path parallels the progression of feminist research as described here.)

Feminist Research as Corrective

Feminists challenged the neglect of women’s lives and experiences in existing social science research (e.g., Wallston, 1981 ; Weisstein, 2006. Feminists have criticized psychology (and other disciplines) both for not studying the lives and experiences of women and for the development of sexist research theory and practice ( McHugh et al., 1986 ). One contribution of feminist research has been to offer a corrective to traditional research that either neglected women or presented a stereotypic or biased view of women. For example, early feminist research identified experiences of women including widespread gender discrimination and violence against women ( Chrisler & McHugh, 2011 ; Jaggar, 2008a ). As a corrective to research that neglects the study of women’s lives, feminist research has transformed the content of research in most disciplines. The expansion of feminist research over the past four decades has transformed knowledge in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ). The transformation of psychological science was examined by a task force of the Society of Women in Psychology ( Eagly, Eaton, Rose, Riger, & McHugh, 2012 ). Eagly and the task force members documented the growth of published research on women and gender in the psychological literature and its movement from the periphery of the discipline toward its center. They concluded that research on women is now situated as a methodologically and theoretically diverse content area within contemporary psychological science. Yet, by their broad definition, psychology of women and gender articles accounted for few (4.0 percent from 1960 to 2009 and 4.3 percent from 2000 to 2009) of the articles in the prominent journals of psychology. And for most of the research that Eagly and her colleagues documented, researchers did not label their research as feminist nor did the research explicitly address feminist goals of gender equality or advocacy for women.

A second important contribution of feminist researchers and theorists has been their critical analysis of research and the production of knowledge. Feminists have criticized research that characterizes women as having deficits and critically examined asymmetrical and inequitable constructions of the cultural masculine over the cultural feminine ( Jaggar, 2008a ). Similarly, Geiger (1990) characterizes feminist research as challenging the androcentric (male-centered) construction of women’s lives, and Wiley (2000) notes that feminists question androcentric or sexist frameworks or assumptions that had been unchallenged. Pushing against that which is taken for granted, feminist inquiry probes absences, silences, omissions, and distortions and challenges commonsense understandings that are based on inadequate research. For example, feminists challenge conclusions about human behavior based on evidence taken from narrow (e.g., male, European-American, educated, and middle-class) samples of human populations ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ). Furthermore, feminists exposed the (gender) power dynamics that operate in many aspects of women’s lives, including in research, and have challenged existing explanatory accounts of women’s experiences ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ). One goal of feminist research then is to attend to the power dynamics in the conduct of research, to expose invisible or concealed power dynamics. The demonstration that gender and other contextual variables can create bias in the scientific research of individuals, and that such bias exists in the science accepted as valid by scientific community, is an important contribution of feminism to science ( Rosser, 2008 ). Thus, one function of feminist research has been to call for the transformation/correction of science as a series of sexist and stereotypic depictions of women and of research that devalues women. Hawkesworth (2006) acknowledges the transformational character of feminist research as “interrogating accepted beliefs, challenging shared assumptions and reframing research questions” (p. 4).

(In 1975, I began teaching Psychology of Women, and I was keenly aware that there was very little research published on the experiences or concerns of women. As a member of Alice Eagly’s Task Force on the Feminist Transformation of Psychology, I agreed that there has been an explosion of research on women and gender over the past four decades, which Eagly et al. effectively document. However, I am ambivalent about the degree to which most of that research has improved the status or lives of women.)

Challenging Traditional Methods

The experimental approach has been critiqued as inauthentic, reductionistic, and removed from the social context in which behavior is embedded ( Bohan, 1993 ; Sherif, 1979 ). Others have exposed the laboratory experiment as a social context in which the (male) experimenter controls the situation, manipulates the independent variable, observes women as the “objects” of study, and evaluates and interprets their behavior based on his own perspective ( McHugh et al., 1986 ). From this critical perspective, the traditional psychological experiment is a replication of the power dynamics that operate in other social and institutional settings. The interests and concerns of the research subjects are subordinated to the interests of those of the researcher and theorist ( Unger, 1983 ). Feminists have argued that the controlled and artificial research situation may elicit more conventional behavior from participants, may inhibit self-disclosure, and may make the situation “unreal” to the participants ( McHugh et al., 1986 ). From this perspective, the experiment is not the preferred method of research.

Feminists challenged the pervasive androcentrism evidenced in empirical research. For example, in the 1980s, a task force of the Society for Women in Psychology examined the ways in which psychological research could be conducted in a nonsexist way ( McHugh et al., 1986 ). The task force’s guidelines ( McHugh et al., 1986 ) challenged traditional empirical psychology by examining the role that the values, biases, and assumptions of researchers have on all aspects of the research process. There is always a relationship of some kind between the scientist and the “object” of study since the scientist cannot absent himself from the world ( Hubbard, 1988 ). Selection of topics and questions, choice of methods, recruitment of participants, selection of audience, and the potential uses of research results all occur within a sociohistorical context that ultimately influences what we “know” about a topic or a group of people ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2004 ). The realization of the operation of sexist bias in science/psychology led some feminist researchers to question the value of the scientific method and to more carefully consider issues of methods, methodology, and epistemology. The study of gender raised the issue of how context and values challenge traditional conceptions of objectivity ( Rosser, 2008 ). The feminist challenge to the possibility of impartial knowledge and the recognition of the operation of values in science impacted the research conducted in some of the sciences ( Rosser, 2008 ; Schiebinger, 1999 ).

Feminists, including Hollway (1989) and Hubbard (1988) , provided a critique of the “context-stripping” and alleged objectivity of scientific research. According to Hubbard, the illusion that the scientist can observe the “object” of his inquiry as if in a vacuum gives the scientist the authority to “make facts.” She observed that science is made by a self-perpetuating group of chosen people; scientists obtain the education and credentials required and then follow established procedures to “make” science. The illusion of objectivity gives the scientist the power to name, describe, and structure reality and experience. The pretense that science is objective obscures the politics of research and its role in supporting a certain construction of reality. By pretending to be neutral, scientists often support the status quo. “By claiming to be objective and neutral, scientists align themselves with the powerful against the powerless” ( Hubbard, 1988 , p. 13). In terms of gender, male scientists’ alleged objectivity has given scientific validity to their mistaken contentions about women’s inferiority.

Feminist Epistemology

Prior to conducting research designed to address feminist goals, Harding (1987) advised feminists to understand the distinctions among methods, methodology, and epistemology. Others have similarly called for feminists to be aware of their epistemological positions and biases (e.g., Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002 ; Unger, 1988 ). Methods are the concrete techniques for gathering evidence or data such as experiments, interviews, or surveys. Methodology is the study of methods, the philosophical position on how research should proceed. Epistemology is the most central issue for feminist research according to Harding (1987) , Stanley and Wise (1993) , and others. Epistemology involves the study of answers to the question: How can we know? Epistemology is a framework for specifying what constitutes knowledge and how we know it. An epistemological framework specifies not only what knowledge is and how to recognize it, but who are the knowers and by what means someone becomes a knower or expert ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2002 ). Epistemological frameworks also outline the means by which competing knowledge claims are adjudicated ( Stanley & Wise, 1993 ). Harding (1986) identified three distinct feminist epistemological perspectives: empiricism, standpoint, and social construction. These epistemological perspectives are briefly reviewed here prior to a description of feminist qualitative research.

Feminist Empiricists

Feminist empiricism adopts the scientific method as the way to understand or know the world. Feminist empiricists believe in the scientific method for discovering reality; they assert that science is an approach that can provide value-neutral data and objective findings ( Chrisler & McHugh, 2011 ; McHugh & Cosgrove, 2004 ). Their position is consistent with the modernist perspective. The modernist perspective endorses adherence to a positivist-empiricist model, a model that privileges the scientific method of the natural sciences as the only valid route to knowledge ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ). From this perspective, there is a single reality that can be known through the application of the methods of science, including repeated objective observations. Objectivity refers to a dispassionate, impartial, and disengaged position and is valued. Bias is acknowledged as impacting scientific research but is viewed as a distortion that can be eliminated or corrected ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2004 ). The Guidelines for Nonsexist Research provide examples of errors and biases in research that should be eliminated ( McHugh et al, 1986 ). Feminist empiricists attempt to produce a feminist science that, without androcentric bias, more accurately reflects the world ( McHugh et al., 1986 ). To varying degrees, many feminists continue to conduct empirical research based on approved scientific methods.

(As a graduate student, I co-chaired (with Irene Frieze) the Task Force to Establish Guidelines for Nonsexist Research in Psychology for Division 35 of the American Psychological Association (APA). We started the project as empiricists hoping to help eliminate sexist bias from psychological research, especially research on sex difference. This experience introduced me to the diverse positions taken by feminist scientists, and, in the process of addressing sexist bias in research, my own understanding of the limits of empirical research developed. I became increasingly critical of the scientific method even as I conducted a social psychological experiment involving some deception for my degree.)

Feminists have refuted “scientific” evidence that women are inherently different from and inferior to men. Feminist empiricists have employed the experimental methods of science to provide evidence for gender equality ( Deaux, 1984 ; McHugh & Cosgove, 2002 ). However, there is debate over the success of using science to refute sexism in science. Shields (1975) contended that research comparing men and women has never been value-free or neutral but rather has typically been used to justify the subordination of women. Alternatively, Deaux (1984) concluded that empirical evidence has been used to effectively change belief that differences between men and women are universal, stable, and significant, and Hyde (1986) endorsed the use of scientific and quantitative measures to debunk gender stereotypes. Eagly and her colleagues (2012) concluded that research on women and gender has transformed psychology over the past fifty years and has influenced public policy. However, McHugh and Cosgrove (2002) , among others, have questioned whether the tools of science are adequate for the feminist study of women and gender. Burman (1997) argued that by employing empirical methods, feminist empiricists help to maintain a commitment to existing methods that neglect, distort, or stereotype women.

The study of sex differences is central to feminist psychology ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2002 ); arguments for the inclusion of women in social science research are based, in part, on the recognition that women have different experiences and perspectives. Critics, however, contend that research on sex differences typically leads to the devaluation and discrimination of women and confirms stereotypes (through biased methods) (e.g., Hare-Mustin & Maracek, 1990 ; 1994a ). MacKinnon (1990) argued that “A discourse of difference serves as ideology to neutralize, rationalize, and cover up disparities of power” (p. 213). Feminists have argued that interest in sex differences involves interest in justifying differential treatment of women and men and that there is a confirmation bias operating. Research that “finds” a sex difference is more likely to be published, publicized, and cited than is research refuting the existence of a difference between men and women (e.g., Epstein, 1988 ; Hyde, 1994 ; Kimball, 1995 ; Unger, 1998 ). Furthermore, research is often constructed to produce sex differences ( McHugh et al., 1986 ). For example, Kimball (1995) demonstrates how the research on sex differences in math ability has been carefully constructed to produce differences (i.e., the use of standardized tests administered to very large samples) and related research not demonstrating difference (i.e., classroom tests and research using smaller, more heterogeneous groups) is ignored.

Through the debate on the study of sex differences, feminists continued to recognize the politics of research. Increasingly, feminists recognized that research that supports the status quo and the view of women as less than men is more likely to be funded, conducted, published, and widely cited ( Epstein, 1988 ; McHugh & Cosgrove, 2002 ; Unger, 1998 ). Sexist bias not only impacts the design and conduct of research but is apparent in the interpretation and distribution of the research results. Differences between women and men were typically labeled “sex differences.” This label implies that the demonstrated differences are essential (i.e., reside inside men and women) and are related to biology. Feminists argued that differences that were found were frequently due to prior experiences, gender roles, and/or the context and not to biology ( Deaux, 1984 ; Hyde, 1986 ; Unger, 1998 ). Others argued that the behavior seen as characteristic of women is actually the behavior evidenced by people with low power and status ( Hare-Mustin & Maracek, 1994a ). Unger (1979) recommended that we use the term “gender” to avoid the biological connotation of the term “sex.” Despite this increasing sophistication in our understanding of gender as a function of context, roles, and power, gender differences continue to be constructed as essentialist ( Cosgrove, 2003 ; McHugh & Cosgrove, 2002 ). Also, the research findings, even when they were published, did not impact the beliefs held by professionals or the general public about women and men and their performance on tasks. For example, despite the pattern of results across many studies ( Frieze, McHugh & Hanusa, 1982 ; Frieze, Whitley, Hanusa, & McHugh, 1982 ), people continued to believe that women attributed their failures to lack of ability and their success as due to luck.

(Early in my career, I studied sex differences in response to task performance success and failure. I gave subjects ambiguous tasks that had no right or wrong answers and gave them false feedback about their performance. Some subjects were given success feedback; others were told that they had failed. I then asked them how they explained their performance and about their expectancies for future performance. I abandoned this line of research when I realized that the debriefing I gave might not have been successful in erasing their emotional response to failing the experimental task. Others documented that women’s response to novel tasks revealed low expectancies for success, thus biasing our understanding of women’s (lack of) confidence. I did not want to contribute to individuals’ feelings of failure, or to stereotypic and invalid characterizations of women.)

The realization that the questions asked by male theorists and researchers reflect their position in the world challenged the assumptions of logical positivism—including objectivity and value neutrality. Feminist research and theory has been criticized as political and biased, even as these critics continued to view research conducted by men as scientific and objective. Some feminist psychologists came to see the connection between individuals’ status and identity in the world, the questions they were interested in, and their approaches to research. Thus, many feminist psychologists recognized that unexamined androcentric biases at both the epistemological and methodological levels resulted in women’s experiences being devalued, distorted, marginalized, and pathologized (e.g., Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002 ; McHugh & Cosgrove, 2004 ).

Feminist Standpoint Perspective

The feminist criticism of science as biased led to a recognition of the importance of perspective or standpoint. Some critics have contended that individuals who are outsiders to a culture or group are more likely than insiders to recognize cultural or group assumptions (e.g., Mayo, 1982 ). Feminism provoked some feminist scholars to recognize male bias and to view aspects of male-dominated society, including the practice of research, through an alternative lens. The realization that women and men might view the world differently, ask different questions, and use different methods to answer those questions led some feminists to adopt a standpoint position. Hartstock (1983) argued that women’s lives offered them a privileged vantage point on patriarchy and that such an epistemological perspective had liberatory value.

In the feminist standpoint perspective, women’s ways of knowing are considered to be different from and potentially superior to men’s ways of knowing ( Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986 ). As outsiders or marginalized individuals, women have a unique perspective on their own experience, on men, and on sociocultural patterns of domination and subordination ( Mayo, 1982 ; Westkoff, 1979 ). Like feminist empiricists, advocates of a feminist standpoint perspective typically accept the existence of a reality but recognize that one’s position within a social system impacts one’s understanding of that reality ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2004 ). A standpoint epistemological perspective argues that there are important research questions that originate in women’s lives that do not occur to researchers operating from the dominant androcentric frameworks of the disciplines ( Harding, 2008 ). Furthermore, standpoint theory has allowed some of us to recognize that traditional research has typically served the purpose of the researcher rather than the researched ( Letherby, 2003 ); the experiences of marginalized people are not viewed as a source of interesting or important questions. For example, research on motherhood and women’s experience of embodiment was not conducted prior to feminist influence on social science ( Chrisler & McHugh, 2011 ).

Standpoint epistemology views the relationship between knowing and politics as central and examines how different types of sociopolitical arrangements impact the production of knowledge ( Harding, 2008 ). The answers to questions about women and other marginalized groups may originate in the lives of marginalized individuals but typically involve an analysis of the social and power relations of dominant and marginalized groups to answer. Feminist standpoint epistemology calls for a critical analysis of women’s experiences as described through women’s eyes ( Leavy, 2007 ). For example, DeVault (1990) documents the skills that women have developed from their work feeding their families, and Jaggar (2008b) examines women’s skills at reading emotion as having developed through their care-taking roles.

In an important contribution to feminist standpoint, Smith (1987) argued that social science knowledge systems are used as systems of control and that those who develop knowledge are typically separated from everyday life. She describes knowledge as controlled by an elite (i.e., racially and economically privileged men) who have no interest in or knowledge of the women who serve their needs. Smith (2008) notes that questions regarding women’s work originate in the consideration of women’s lives, which have historically not been examined. Consideration of women’s daily lives leads to the recognition that women are assigned the work that men do not want to complete and to the realization of the processes by which that work is devalued and trivialized. Such insights are not constructed by the elite and may have liberatory value for women.

In an early consideration of this perspective, Westkott (1979) recognized that feminist researchers were both insiders and outsiders to science and that this was a source of both insight and a form of self-criticism. Furthermore, Westkott argued that the concern with the relationship of scientist/observer to the target/object stereotypically represents the focus of women on relationships, whereas the detachment of the traditional researcher is consistent with a stereotypic masculine role. Similarly, Letherby (2003) commented that androcentric (male) epistemologies deny the importance of the personal and the experiential, whereas the feminist researcher often values the experiential, the personal, and the relational rather than the public and the abstract.

In feminist standpoint theory, knowledge is mediated by the individual’s particular position in a sociopolitical system at a particular point in time ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ). In feminist standpoint perspectives, an oppressed individual can see through the ideologies and obfuscations of the oppressor class and more correctly “know” the world ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ). Recognition of a feminist standpoint raises the possibility of other standpoints, and Fine (1992) argued that a single woman’s or feminist standpoint was not plausible. Thus, race and class and other identities within the sociocultural system impact the individual’s understanding of the world.

In particular, black feminist theorists (e.g., Collins, 1989 ) have articulated the existence of a black feminist standpoint, arguing that the position of black women allows them to recognize the operation of both racism and sexism in the sociopolitical system. According to Collins (1989) , black women have experienced oppression and have developed an analysis of their experience separate from that offered by formal knowledge structures. The knowledge of black women is transmitted through alternatives like storytelling. Such knowledge has been invalidated by epistemological gatekeepers. Thus, black feminist standpoint theorists contend that at least some women have an ability referred to as “double visions” or “double consciousness” ( Brooks, 2007 ). Smith (1990) similarly recognized in women the ability to attend to localized activities oriented to maintenance of the family and, at the same time, to understand the male world of the marketplace and rationality. The narrative of hooks (2000) as a black child in Kentucky reveals a double consciousness with regard to her own community and the white world across the tracks.

Postmodern Perspectives on Research

The third epistemological position, the postmodern approach, challenges traditional conceptions of truth and reality. Postmodernists view the world and our understanding of the world as socially constructed and therefore challenge the possibility of scientists producing value-neutral knowledge ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002 ; 2008 ). Postmodern scholars view attempts to discover the truth as an impossible project and equally reject grand narratives and the experimental method. From a postmodern perspective, life is multifaceted and fragmented, and a postmodern position challenges us to recognize that there are multiple meanings for an event and, especially, multiple perspectives on a person’s life. Postmodern approaches examine the social construction of concepts and theories and question whose interests are served by particular constructions ( Layton, 1998 ). Social constructionism requires a willingness to make explicit the implicit assumptions embedded in psychological concepts (e.g., identity, gender, objectivity, etc.). By doing so, social constructionists encourage researchers to recognize that the most dangerous assumptions are those we don’t know we’re making. From the postmodern position, all knowledge, including that derived from social science research, is socially produced and therefore can never be value free. Someone’s interests, however implicit, are always being served ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002 ).

The postmodern perspective emphasizes the relationship between knowledge and power. The postmodern perspective suggests that, rather than uncovering truths, the methods we use construct and produce knowledge and privilege certain views and discount or marginalize others ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002 ; Gergen, 2001 ; Hare-Musten & Maracek, 1994b). Social constructionists are less interested in the answer to research questions and more interested in the following: What are the questions? Who gets to asks the questions? Why are those methods used to examine those questions? Postmodern thought can open a new and more positive way of understanding and can contribute to the transformation of intellectual inquiry ( Gergen, 2001 ). Although some feminists have rejected the postmodern approach, Hare-Musten and Maracek (1994b) argued that interrogation of the tension between feminism and postmodern perspectives can be used to transform psychological research. The conduct of feminist research from within the postmodern approach involves conducting research in which women’s interests are served.

Postmodern feminists view empiricist and standpoint feminists as reverting to essentialist claims, viewing women as an identity. Cosgrove (2003) explains essentialism as viewing women as a group, as having a single point of view, or as sharing a trait (i.e., that women are caring). The standpoint position is that women have a shared perspective or a unique capacity (different from men’s) or voice; the standpoint position is viewed as problematic from a postmodern perspective. Brooks (2007) explains the problem of essentialism of feminist standpoint theory: “Beyond the difficulty of establishing that women, as a group, unlike men as a group, have a unique and exclusive capacity for accurately reading the complexities of social reality, it is equally problematic to reduce all women to a group” (p. 70). Thus, the essentialism inherent in empirical and standpoint positions does not acknowledge the diversity and complexity of women’s perspectives and voices and does not attend to the ways that gender is produced through socialization, context, roles, policies, and interactions. Cosgrove (2003) similarly explained that “the hegemony of the essentialist claim of women’s experience or voice has had the unfortunate effect of reinforcing normative gendered behavior” (p. 89). Essentialism that views gendered behaviors as universal, biological in origin, and/or residing within women as traits or inherent characteristics is essentially problematic.

Gergen (1988) explained the relationship of research methods to essentialism. The decontextualized approach to traditional research results in studying women apart from the circumstances of their lives. Social and cultural factors including discrimination, violence, sexism, and others’ stereotypes are eliminated from the view of the researcher. Subsequently, researchers are likely to attribute observed behavior as due to women’s traits or natural dispositions. Gergen concluded that research should be conducted without violating the social embeddedness of the participant.

(I met Lisa Cosgrove when I was a faculty member at Duquesne University in 1985, having recently completed my degree. She was completing her doctorate in clinical psychology at Duquesne; at Duquesne, she was trained in phenomenological psychology with a very strong background in philosophy of science. A few years after she had graduated and moved to Boston, we began collaborating. Both feminists, I had experience as an empiricist and she was trained as a clinician and a phenomenologist. We wrote a series of papers on feminist research, the study of gender and gender differences, and epistemological issues that are cited here and are the basis for this chapter. Discussions with Lisa led me to the adoption of a postmodern position in regards to feminist research.)

Implications for Feminist Qualitative Methods

I have briefly reviewed the feminist epistemological positions to illustrate alternative feminist positions and to trace transformations in the theory and conduct of feminist research and the development of feminist postmodernism. Equally important is the demonstration of how feminist criticism of logical positivist science relates to the development and use of qualitative research approaches. Feminist critiques of research led some psychologists to a loss of confidence in the scientific method; postmodern feminists object to the privileged status given to scientific researchers, especially the scientific method in the positivist tradition ( Chrisler & McHugh, 2011 ). Feminist critics argued that the experimental method, including its reductionism, the creation of an artificial context, the failure to understand the context of women’s lives, and the inherent inequality of psychological experiments is not a superior method for understanding the psychology of women. For example, McHugh, Koeske, and Frieze (1986) reviewed feminist arguments that context matters and that the methods of empiricism that decontextualize the individual may support oppressive status quo conditions. McHugh and her colleagues argued that the controlled and artificial research situation may elicit more conventional behavior from participants, may inhibit self-disclosure, and may make the situation “unreal” to the participants ( McHugh et al., 1986 ). The impetus for the adoption of alternative epistemological positions came, in part, from the criticism that the scientific method put the experimenter in the position of influencing, deceiving, manipulating, and/or interpreting “subjects.” Feminists working from a social constructionist perspective are interested in examining the implicit assumptions embedded in traditional psychological research and theory. For example, Unger (1979) acknowledged that our position regarding what constitutes knowledge is the basis for our choice of research methods and the usefulness of our research to advance women. Feminist researchers seek approaches to research that advance our understanding of women without committing essentialist errors or contributing to gender inequities.

The idea that women need to express themselves (i.e., find their own voice and speak for themselves), rather than have their experience interpreted, coded, or labeled by men, is consistent with feminist standpoint theory. Qualitative methods are preferred by many feminist psychologists because they allow marginalized groups, such as women of color, to have a voice and to impact the conduct of research. Feminists value the representation of marginalized groups and the use of subjective and qualitative approaches that allow such participants to speak about their own experiences. Postmodern feminists might argue that liberation or equality may be enacted or experienced when women resist patriarchal conceptualizations of their/our experience and grasp the power to speak for ourselves ( Chrisler & McHugh, 2011 ).

Values of Feminist Research

In contrast to traditional research, feminist research has paid special attention to the role that the values, biases, and assumptions of the researcher has on all aspects of the research process. Selection of topics and questions, choice of methods, recruitment of participants, selection of the audience, and the potential uses of the research results are choices made within a sociohistorical context that ultimately influence what we “know” about a topic or a group of people (cf. Bleir, 1984 ; Harding 1986 ; Keller, 1985 ; Sherif, 1979 ). Feminist research recognizes that, as a result of unexamined androcentric biases at both the epistemological and methodological levels, women’s experiences have been neglected, marginalized, and devalued. Feminist scholars, recognizing that values play a formative role in research, believe that values should be made explicit and critically examined ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ). Feminist research is explicit in its ethical and political stance; feminist research seeks epistemic truth and social justice and challenges social bias as existing in some existing knowledge claims ( Jaggar, 2008a ).

Feminist researchers have explicated their value systems, realizing that an unbiased, objective position is not possible. Feminists are aware that the product cannot be separated from the process ( Kelly, 1986 ) and strive to conduct research in an open, collaborative, and nonexploitative way. The voice of the participants is often the focus of the research, but the researchers themselves are encouraged to reflect on and report their own related experiences and point of view ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2004 ; Morawski, 1994 ).

Reflexivity

Feminists have questioned the possibility of and the preference for value-free or neutral research and the value of the detached, disengaged researcher who is objective in the conduct of research. Not only do we all and always have some relation to the subject under study, but a connection to or experience with the phenomena may actually be an asset. As Brooks and Hesse-Biber (2007) suggest, “rather than dismissing human emotions and subjectivities, unique lived experiences, and world views as contaminants or barriers in the quest for knowledge, we might embrace these elements to gain new insight and understandings or, in other words, new knowledge” (p. 14). The feminist epistemological perspective pays attention to personal experience, position, emotions, and worldview as influencing the conduct of research ( Brooks & Hesse-Biber, 2007 ). In feminist research, there is a realization that such connections cannot be removed, bracketed, or erased, but we do consider it important to reveal them. The researcher is expected to acknowledge her situated perspective, to reflect on and share how her life experiences might have influenced her choice of topics and questions.

In a related vein, Reinharz (1992) recommended that valid listening to the voices of others requires self-reflection on “who we are, and who we are in relation to those we study” (p. 15). Feminist research has frequently engaged in this process of questioning, referred to as “reflexivity.” The reflexive stance may involve critically examining the research process in an attempt to explicate the assumptions about gender (and other oppressive) relations that may underlie the research project ( Maynard, 1992 ). Incorporating reflexivity is a complex and multidimensional project, one that necessitates a constant vigilance with regard to the epistemic commitments that ground our research ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002 ).

In feminist research, a commonly used reflective approach is one in which the researcher provides an “intellectual autobiography” ( Stanley & Wise, 1993 ) tracing her interest in relationship with and approach to the questions and to the research participants. Ussher (1991) for example, traces her interest in women’s madness to her mother’s “mental illness,” thus eliminating the illusion that she is a detached or disinterested knower. Hollway (1989) also offers such an extended reflexive stance by deliberately and thoroughly examining how she made decisions and interpretations throughout her research on heterosexual relationships. Fine (1992) offers multiple examples of reflections on the research process, arguing that we should demystify the ways in which we select, use, and exploit respondents’ voices. Letherby (2003) provides an extended examination and analysis of feminist research issues by describing her own history and her experience conducting individual and collaborative research interviewing women who experienced infertility and childlessness.

(In this chapter, I have included some of my own biography as a feminist psychologist. I hope to share part of my own journey, starting as an enthusiastic empiricist, then becoming a critic of biases in research, to the adoption of a view of research as political. Having traced that journey, I recognize the potential contribution and the potential risks that exist in any research undertaken, and I appreciate the diversity of feminist positions in research. Currently, I view myself as encouraging feminist researchers to recognize the problems identified by postmodern critics and to realize the potential for a postmodern perspective to resolve issues and dilemmas in feminist research.)

Feminist researchers are cognizant of the impact of power on the research process. Jaggar (2008a) described feminist research as concerned with the complex relationship between social power (and inequalities in social power) and the production of knowledge. Part of the feminist critique of traditional research includes the power and authority of the researcher to construct and control the research process and product. In traditional science, the power of the researcher is connected to his position as an objective expert “knower” in relation to the uninformed and ignorant subject of his inquiry ( Hubbard, 1988 ). Similarly Smith (1987) and Collins (1989) have examined the power of the educated elite to ignore and invalidate the experiences and knowledge of women and other marginalized groups. Feminist researchers challenge this oppressive status hierarchy in a number of ways. Feminists challenge both the objectivity and the expertise/knowledge of the scientist and view women (or men) participants as knowing about their own experiences. Feminists more than nonfeminists see power as a socially mediated process as opposed to a personal characteristic and recognize the role of power in efforts to transform science and society ( Unger, 1988 ). Thus, feminist research recognizes the power inherent in the process of research and attempts to use that power to transform society. If the purpose of feminist research is to challenge or dismantle hierarchies of oppression, then it is crucial that the research process not duplicate or include power differentials. Yet it is difficult to dismantle the competitive and hierarchical power relations present across most contexts of our lives, including the research context.

An identifying aspect of feminist research is the recognition of power dilemmas in the research process ( Hesse-Biber, 2007b ). Consistent with this perspective, feminist research is based on a respect for the participants as equals and agents rather than subjects. In an attempt to dismantle power hierarchies, the feminist researcher is concerned with the relationships among the research team; feminist research teams are ideally nonhierarchical collaborations (discussed later). Another dilemma is how to interpret or represent the voices of the women respondents; researchers are cautioned not to tell their story, but, in the postmodern perspective, one’s own position always as part of the research process.

Collaboration

Based on critiques of the experimental method, feminist research has emphasized the need for a collaborative (rather than objectifying) focus. Feminist research seeks to establish nonhierarchical relations between researcher and respondent and to respect the experience and perspective of the participants ( Worrell & Etaugh, 1994 ). Feminist psychologists challenge the regulatory practices of traditional research by developing more explicitly collaborative practices (cf. Marks, 1993 ). Collaboration necessitates an egalitarian context from the inception of the research process to the distribution of results. For example, instead of conducting an outcome assessment of a battered women’s shelter based on the preferred outcomes suggested by agencies, researchers, or shelter staff (i.e., how many women have left their abusive relationships?), Maguire (2008) conducted participatory research with battered women examining a question they raised. As Lather (1991) notes, empowerment and empirical rigor are best realized through collaborative and participatory efforts.

Often, relationships among researchers and respondents, although referred to in the literature as partnerships, collaborations, or otherwise egalitarian relations, may be better characterized as ambivalent, guarded, or conflicted ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2004 ). Being committed to seeing things from the respondents’ position is a necessary aspect of feminist research, but it is also important to recognize our privileged position within our relationships with respondents and with co-workers. Often credentials and our status within the academy place us in a privileged position.

(Feminists idealize the collaborative approach, but I, like others, have experienced difficulties in some of my collaborations. Often, collaborations are not an experience of equality or sisterhood. Rather, differences in power, status, and experience can impact the collaborations, which may be more hierarchical than feminists might want. Feminist researchers may not recognize that they do not share the same epistemological perspectives. I also experienced differences in styles of working and writing as especially painful and problematic, in that class and worldview are incorporated in nonconscious ways.)

Research as Advocacy and Empowerment

Although I believe that feminist research should explicitly address issues of social injustice, the issue of doing research as advocacy is complex. It is impossible to know in advance how best to empower women and other marginalized groups. Indeed, many scholars have argued that researchers tend to position themselves as active emancipators and see participants as passive receivers of emancipation (e.g., Lather, 1991 ). Conducting and using research for advocacy requires the researcher to engage in critical reflection on his or her epistemic commitments. Feminists try to design studies that avoid objectifying participants and foster a particular kind of interaction. For example, participatory researchers work with communities to develop “knowledge” that can be useful in advocacy and provide the basis for system change. In terms of doing research with and for women, it is important to develop knowledge collaboratively and, whenever possible, share the knowledge with a wider audience. Often, empowerment is viewed as the process by which we allow or encourage respondents to speak for themselves or to find their voice. Certainly, teaching women to engage in speech or actions that are of our choosing is not empowering, but empowerment of other women is a complicated issue, as discussed below. Wilkinson and Kitzinger (1995) suggest that, in feminist research, we speak for ourselves and create conditions under which others will speak.

Challenges to Feminist Research

An important contribution made by feminist researchers has been giving voice to women’s experiences. Davis (1994) suggests that the notion of voice resonates with feminists who hope that women’s practices and ways of knowing may be a source of empowerment and that speaking represents an end to the silencing and suppression of women in patriarchal culture. Many theorists have addressed the silencing of women, the ways in which the construction of knowledge by “experts” resulted in women’s voices not being heard, not being taken seriously, or questioned as not trustworthy. “Women’s testimony, women’s reports of their experiences, is as often discredited... from their testifying about violence and sexual assault through their experiential accounts of maladies, to their demonstrations of the androcentricity of physics” ( Code, 1995 , p. 26).

At first thought, it might appear that the metaphor of voice and the methods designed around it (i.e., the qualitative analysis of women’s narratives) have allowed feminist psychology to articulate women’s experiences. However, closer examination of this metaphor and the research methods used to support it argue for a more critical examination of research that attempts to give women voice ( Alcoff, 2008 ). The position that women can and must speak for women and/or that women can listen to each other differently than men has been challenged. Substituting a woman’s standpoint for an androcentric position privileges women’s way of way of being, speaking, viewing the world, and knowing, but the idea of women’s voice also essentializes femininity and can reify the constructs of men and women. Feminist theorists have cautioned that in our attempts to correct psychology’s androcentric perspective, we must avoid a position that essentializes masculinity and femininity ( Bohan, 1993 ; Cosgrove, 2003 ; Hare-Mustin & Maracek, 1990 ) (i.e., one that views differences between men and women as universal and as originating or residing within men and women). Similarly, Davis (1994) questions whether the notion of voice is a useful one for feminist theory. Do women have voice (i.e., an “authentic” feminine self)? Does voice refer to “the psychological focus of femininity, the site of women’s subordination, or the authentic expression of what women really feel” (p. 355)? The use of the voice metaphor raises questions of essentialism. Is there such a thing as femininity, which can be discovered or uncovered?

Other feminists (e.g., Tavris, 1994 ) reminded us that women (and girls) do not speak the same in all situations, pointing out that there is more than a single “women’s voice” and that there is more than one way to hear the same story. Similarly, Gremmen (1994) questions whether authentic and false voices can be distinguished in the qualitative analysis of transcripts. Others have questioned whether women are speaking for themselves when their responses are reported, presented, organized, or otherwise produced by the researcher. The emancipatory potential of research is undermined when the researcher positions herself as an arbitrator of truth and knowledge or as a judge of what is or is not an authentic voice ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2000 ).

There is great value in questioning who speaks for whom; indeed, who speaks may be more important than what is said (cf. Lather, 1991 ; 1992 ; Rappaport & Stewart, 1997 ). When we speak for women or about women’s experience, we may distort or silence women’s own voices ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2000 ). Can we presume to know how to express the experiences of other women? The issues are further complicated when we attempt to “speak for others across the complexities of difference” ( Code, 1995 , p. 30); that is, speak for women who differ from us in terms of age, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, region, and other dimensions ( Alcoff, 2008 ). As feminist researchers, we might recognize the degree to which we have positioned ourselves as “universalizing spokesperson” and abandon that role, choosing instead the role of “cultural workers who do what they can to lift the barriers which prevent people from speaking for themselves” ( Lather, 1991 , p. 47).

Relinquishing the role of “universalizing spokesperson” requires a shift in how we conduct our research and in how we analyze our data. Marks (1993) encouraged us to reflect on the institutional power we have as researchers in order to avoid buying into the illusion of empowerment or democracy. To ensure that our hypotheses and questions are relevant, meaningful, and helpful to participants, we might ask participants to comment on, modify, add to, or even change the questions developed by the researcher. Standard research practice might include conducting a needs assessment and obtaining pilot data on the appropriateness of the focus, structure, and design of the research. The research process might begin with an opportunity for participants to voice their concerns and collaborate in the development of the research questions. In addition, Cosgrove and McHugh (2000) suggest that researchers adopt a cautious and reflective approach when editing participants’ narrative accounts. We need to acknowledge and attend to the fact that editing changes the voice(s) heard. The way in which we frame and present quotes may involve implicit assumptions about our interpretive authority; when we are not including the entire narrative, we need to include a rationale for and a detailed description of our editing choices. The question of “who can/should speak for whom engages with issues of power and the politics of knowledge that are especially delicate in present day feminist and other postcolonial contexts” ( Code, 1995 , p. 26).

Struggles for the “power to name” are continually played out in politics, the media, and in the academy. Specific words are needed to describe concepts that are important to people; without those words, it is very difficult to think about—and nearly impossible to talk about—objects, ideas, and situations. Feminists have provided words and concepts to describe the previously unspoken experiences of women and girls ( Smith, Johnston-Robledo, McHugh & Chrisler, 2010 ) including stalking, date rape, coercive sex, and intimate partner violence. Yet, our constructions and operational definitions of the phenomenon under study can also introduce limitations and distortions in women’s understanding of their own experiences ( McHugh, Livingston, & Frieze, 2008 ). When we give a woman a label for her experience and outline for her the particulars of the phenomenon, we direct her attention and memory and impact her own construction of her experiences. In this way, science has claimed the power to name reality and has sometimes challenged the credibility of women to articulate and name their own experiences. Postmodern feminists are attentive to the power of words and examine how language or discourse is used to frame women’s experience.

Traditionally, objectivity has been equated with quantitative measurement and logical positivist approaches to science and is valued as the path to truth and knowledge. Qualitative research and research rooted in standpoint and postmodern epistemologies are frequently seen as subjective and are devalued as such. Feminist and other postmodern critics of logical positivism argue that objectivity is an illusion that has contributed (illegitimately) to the power of science and scientists to make knowledge claims (e.g., Hubbard, 1988 ). The position of a disengaged or impartial researcher who studies others as objects, without investing in their well-being, or the outcomes of the research, has been rejected. Objectivity in this sense is not seen as a superior way to understand the world or the people in it. From a postmodern perspective, all knowledge involves a position or perspective that results in partial or situated knowledge. Furthermore, postmodern positions reject claims of grand theories and discoveries of some truth that exists “out there.” Knowledge is viewed as co-created or constructed in social interactions. Developing a theory of human behavior based on the study of a limited sample of people is viewed as inappropriate and universalizing. Some have exposed the issue of scientific objectivity as an elitist effort to exclude others from making meaning, a system by which all who are not trained to participate are devaluated and objectified ( Hubbard, 1988 ; Schewan, 2008 ).

Feminist qualitative research as described here has not sought universal truths about women but has increasingly been focused on particular communities of women (people), and the research is “judged” as useful in terms of its contribution to the improvement of women’s lives or to the (re)solution of a locally defined problem. Yet, some feminist theorists have grappled with the issue of validity claims. Is every interpretation or conclusion based on qualitative “data” equally valid? How can we know or evaluate our research as valid, if not objective? Questions of validity and credibility (which are sometimes discussed in terms of objectivity) remain unanswered or contested in regards to feminist qualitative research.

Schewan (2008) addresses the question of objectivity, asking “What is it about objectivity that helps to make a claim acceptable?” She argues that we do want our claims to be acceptable to some broader constituency. What do we have to do to establish such credibility? Schewan’s (2008) answer to these questions revolves around questions of trustworthiness. Her argument for an epistemological trustworthiness involves multiple dimensions of credibility including, for example, research that is critical, contextual, committed, and co-responsible; and practical, political, pluralist, and participatory. Furthermore, Schewan contends that trust is ultimately a product of community, and a basic question we might ask about our own research is in which (and how broad a) community would we look for consensus on the validity of our research? In which context do want to articulate our claims, and how might we be evaluated in that context. In participatory action research, the researcher typically would have the participants in the project provide feedback as to the accuracy, validity, and usefulness of the project “data.”

Similarly, Collins (2008) views community and connectedness as essential to establishing the validity of black feminist theory. She observes that in the African-American community new knowledge claims are not worked out in isolation, but in dialogue. An example of the dialogue for assessing the validity of black women’s concerns is the call-and-response interaction in African-American communities, including churches. Ideas are tested and evaluated in one’s own community, which is also the context in which people become human and are empowered. Black feminist thought emerges in the context of subjugated individuals. Each idea or form of knowledge involves a specific location from which to examine points of connection; each group speaks from its own unique standpoint and shares its own partial and situated knowledge. There are no claims to universal truth. Collins also notes that this approach to validation is distinctly different from scientific objectivity in that this dialogue involves community rather than individualism, speaking from the heart, and the integration of reason and emotion.

The feminist scientist may question objectivity but continue to return to the concept when designing a feminist science ( Keller, 1985 ). Haraway (2008) and Harding (2008) are searching for a broader form of validation of claims; they articulate their ideas for a successor science and a feminist version of objectivity. Coming from the epistemology of standpoint theory, Harding (2008) anticipates the emergence of a successor science that offers an acknowledged better and richer account of the world. In response to questions of how to maintain validity and reliability in research when objectivity is challenged, Harding (1991) proposed the solution of strong objectivity . Her idea of strong objectivity is based on the outsider perspective ( Mayo, 1982 ) or the double consciousness attributed to African Americans ( Collins, 1990 ). In Harding’s approach to validity, individuals at the margins of the institutions of knowledge may provide an outsider perspective on the conceptualization not evident to the insiders at the center. Harding argued that outsiders can bring awareness of the ways in which values, interests, and practices impact the production of knowledge. Harding argued that including the perspectives of the outsider or marginalized perspectives can strengthen the objectivity of science while retaining validity ( Rosser, 2008 ).

Haraway (2008) offers her vision of a usable doctrine of objectivity, embodied vision . Consistent with Collins (2008) and Schewan (2008) , Haraway’s ideas about validity relate to conversation and community; situated knowledge is about communities not individuals. Haraway proposes that our capacity for knowing involves embodied vision; that is, we are limited to partial and situated knowledge because our vision is limited by our body in a physical location. She contrasts this idea of situated and partial knowledge with the omnipotence and omnipresence of a male (god); thus, her conception of objectivity relates to where we are located in the world, as opposed to an objectivity that comes from being above the fray. Haraway recommended that we share our knowledge with others who occupy a different space to help construct a larger vision. Haraway calls for objectivity as positioned rationality , rational and fuller knowledge as a process of ongoing critical interpretations among a community of interpreters and (de)coders. In her vision, feminist objectivity would make for both surprises and irony (since we are not in charge of the world). As indicated here, feminist researchers employing qualitative and post-positivist methods continue to contend with the issue of validity. Current approaches emphasize knowledge as partial and situated (as opposed to universal truth) and the validity of knowledge as established through dialogue with participant communities.

Forms of Feminist Qualitative Research

In this section, I introduce a number of qualitative forms of research and examine them in relation to feminist goals for research. All possible forms of qualitative research are not introduced or described; the selection represents in part my own areas of interest or expertise. The forms of research addressed here can be undertaken from any feminist epistemological positions, and each of these is consistent with a postmodern perspective.

In-Depth Interviews

Interviewing is a valued method for feminist researchers, allowing them to gain insight into the lives and experiences of their respondents and potentially helping others to understand a group of women. Feminists are often concerned with experiences that are hidden, for example, the lives of marginalized women ( Geiger, 1990) . When the goal of the research is in-depth understanding, a smaller sample is used since the interviewer is interested in the process and meanings and not in the generalization of the findings ( Hesse-Biber, 2007 a ). In more unstructured interviews, the researcher exerts very little control over the process, letting the interview flow where the respondent goes.

Interviewing as a feminist research strategy is designed to get at the lived experience of the respondent ( Nelson, 1989 ). Often, a goal of interviewing is to have women express their ideas, insights, or experiences in their own words. According to Letherby (2003) , the method chosen in a feminist project should allow the voices of the respondents to be distinct and discernible. Feminist interviewing is conscious of the relationship between the researcher and the researched and of the ways that power operates in the interview and in the product of the project. Letherby (2003) describes variation in how much two-way conversation she engaged in, and she also describes the relationship between the researcher and respondent as dynamic and changing over time.

One feminist perspective on interviewing is that the researcher and the respondent co-construct meaning. Oakley (1981) espoused a participatory model that involves the researcher sharing aspects of her own biography with the researched. A more conversational and sharing approach invites intimacy. Oakley also sees this as a way to break down the power hierarchy. As an example, Parr (1998) traced her own development from a positivist researcher to a more feminist and grounded approach in her interviews of mature women who returned to education. Parr (1998) started with a barriers framework that she eventually abandoned when the respondents’ stories did not fit this framework: the women did not perceive themselves as experiencing barriers. Her subsequent analysis was rooted in the data, and the respondents influenced the research process. Importantly and unexpectedly, her participants gave more personal reasons for their reentry, and more than one-half of the women reported serious incidents or traumatic experiences as linked to their return to education. Parr (1998) reported that listening closely and paying attention to the women’s nonverbal behaviors helped her to hear what they were telling her about the links between trauma and education “once she allowed the women’s voices to be heard” (p. 100).

Narratives as Research

The use of narratives as research is compatible with a postmodern or social constructionist perspective. Narratives are the stories people tell about their lives. Narrative research focuses on the ways in which individuals choose to tell their stories, in relation to the frameworks or master narratives provided by the culture for organizing and describing life experiences ( Sarbin, 1986 ). Master narratives refer to the cultural frameworks that limit and structure the way that stories are told in order to support the status quo and the dominant groups’ perspective on reality. Gergen (2010) described her analysis of how women’s narratives differed from the cultural heroic myths of male narratives; she argued that women’s narratives were more embodied, and that in women’s narratives, love and achievement themes were interwoven. Story telling can be used, however, to disrupt or challenge accepted perceptions and master narratives. Stories are used to communicate experience, but they can also articulate ideology and can move people to action ( Romero & Stewart, 1999 ).

A narrative approach can be employed to further feminist goals. Narratives have been discussed as an innovative feminist method ( Gergen, Chrisler, & LoCicero, 1999 ) designed to reveal cultural constructions. Recognizing, resisting, or deconstructing the master narratives that have been used to restrict or limit the experiences of women is one feminist form of narrative research ( Romero & Stewart, 1999 ). Other examples of feminist narrative research are presented in Franz and Stewart’s (1994) edited volume of narratives, in which they explore the way in which narratives “create” a psychology of women. Thus, storytelling can lead to “ideological transformations and to political mobilization” ( Romero & Stewart, 1999 , p. xii). Storytelling is seen as a way of including women’s experience, of breaking the silence of women, and as a way of giving women a voice for the expression and analysis of their own experiences ( Romero & Stewart, 1999 ). They argue that social transformative work is done through the telling of previously untold stories and through women’s naming and analyzing their own experience ( Romero & Stewart, 1999 ).

Narrative research reveals our desire to provide a unified and coherent story and to gloss over or ignore paradoxes, inconsistencies, and contradictions in women’s lives ( Cabello, 1999 ; Franz & Stewart, 1994 ). The challenge for feminist researchers is to find methods for including and representing dualities and contradictions present in women’s lives ( Cabello, 1999 ). Cabello (1999) describes the methodological challenge of including the incoherence and contradictions in narrative research. She also discusses the tensions between the researcher’s interpretation and the subject’s active participation in the telling and interpretation of her life story.

Discourse Analysis

The main goal of discourse analysis is to investigate how meanings are produced within narrative accounts (e.g., in conversations, newspapers, or interviews). Thus, the label discourse analysis does not describe a technique or a formula, but rather it describes a set of approaches that can be used when researchers work with texts ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ). Researchers who use a discourse analytic approach emphasize the constitutive function of language, and they address the ways in which power relations are reproduced in narrative accounts ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2004 ). A discourse analytic approach is grounded in the belief that meaning and knowledge are created by discourse; discourse analysts views language/discourse as constituting our experience. Based on the belief that all forms of discourse serve a function and have particular effects, and the research focus is on “how talk is constructed and what it achieves” ( Potter & Wetherell, 1996 , p. 164). The researcher cannot, simply by virtue of switching from a quantitative to a qualitative approach, uncover an experience or identity that exists prior to and distinct from human interaction. There are no true, real, or inner experiences or identities that somehow reside underneath the words a woman uses to describe that experience or identity. The paradigm shift from analyzing interview data to analyzing discourse involves a different perspective on the goals of research and what we can know ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002 ). It encourages us to examine the practices, technologies, and ideologies that allow for the experiences that we are investigating. This shift may help us focus on structural rather than individual change strategies.

In the conduct of discourse analysis, the researcher is explicitly interested in the sociopolitical context that creates particular discourses and discourages other constructions and linguistic practices ( Wilkinson & Kitzinger, 1995 ). The implications of this epistemological shift for developing alternative methodologies can be seen in how interview-based data would be approached and analyzed. The researcher does not assume that she will discover some underlying truth about women’s essential nature or personality. Instead, the researcher is interested in identifying dominant and marginalized discourses and in addressing how women position themselves in the available discourses. As previously noted, rather than denying or trying to overcome the inconsistencies, contradictions, or ambivalence in women’s accounts of their experience, the researcher pursues these contradictions. This allows for a better understanding of how women might position themselves otherwise ( Burr, 1995 ; Hollway, 1989 ; Kitzinger, 1995 ; Potter & Wetherell, 1996 ). This social constructionist approach moves the researcher from the analysis of narratives as revealing inner subjectivity (i.e., of a woman’s story as revealing who she is) to an analysis of discourse as constituting subjectivity. Thus, the question shifts from “what does this account reveal about women’s underlying or true nature?” to “what does this account reveal about the dominant discourses to which women have been subjected?” and “what does this account reveal about discourses which have become marginalized?” The analysis of data is then carried out with a focus on the questions “when and how do women resist dominant discourses when those discourses cause them distress, and how might we allow for greater opportunities to position ourselves in alternative discourses?”

The implications for feminist research are dramatic and complex. If there is no method to “get to the bottom of things,” what does it mean to create a space for women to speak for themselves? A researcher using discourse analysis would understand meaning to be produced rather than revealed. An account of an individual’s experience is always located in a complex network of power relations ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ). Thus, in analyzing women’s accounts, a social constructionist approach applies an analysis of power. The interview, and analysis, is not about discovering “truths” but about identifying dominant and marginalized discourses. The analysis examines the degree and the ways in which individuals resist oppressive discourses. For example, a psychologist interested in the experience of motherhood would first recognize that the discourses of motherhood shape and confine one’s understanding of oneself as a mother and as not a mother ( Letherby, 2003 ). The analysis of the data on the experience of being a mother would be contextualized in terms of how discourses produce certain identities (e.g., “supermom,” mother as the primary care-giver, etc.) while marginalizing others ( Cosgrove, 1999 ).

Focus Groups

Wilkinson (1998) argues for the use of focus groups as a feminist method in that focus groups can meet the feminist goals of examining women’s behavior in naturalistic social contexts and in a way that shifts the power from the researcher to the participants. A focus group might be described as an informal discussion among a group of people, which is focused on a specific topic and is either observed or taped by the researcher ( Morgan & Krueger, 1993 ). Focus groups are typically facilitated by a trained moderator who fosters a comfortable environment. Kitzinger (1994) suggests that focus group interviews might be used as an effective method when gaining information from participants is difficult; that is, when people feel disenfranchised, unsafe, or reluctant to participate. Focus groups may be useful in mining subjugated knowledge or in giving a voice to members of marginalized groups or empowering clients ( Leavy, 2007 ; Morgan, 2004 ). Focus groups have been used to bridge a gap in perspective between the researcher and the informants ( Morgan, 2004 ). The communication in focus groups may be dynamic and create a sense of a “happening” ( Leavy, 2007 ). In successful focus groups, participants express or share some of their experiences with others using their own language and frameworks ( Leavy, 2007 ).

Focus groups avoid the artificiality of many psychological methods. Focus groups mimic the everyday experience of talking with friends, family, and others in our social networks. The focus group itself may be seen as a social context and, at the same time, as a parallel to the social context in which people typically operate. The group-based approach of nondirective interviewing allows the participants to identify, discuss, disagree about, and contextualize issues of importance to them ( Hennink, 2008 ). At times, the focus group may reveal the extent of consensus and diversity of opinion within groups ( Morgan, 2004 ). The group environment can provide rich data regarding complex behaviors and human interactions.

People establish and maintain relationships, engage in activities, and make decisions through daily interactions with other people. Focus groups may use these preexisting or naturally occurring groups, or may set up groups of people who do not know each other ( Wilkinson, 1998 ). For example, Press (1991) studied female friends talking about abortion by having them meet in one woman’s home to view and discuss an episode of a popular television show. The focus group can thus avoid artificiality by making naturalistic observations of the process of communication in everyday social interaction ( Wilkinson, 1998 ; 1999 ). More importantly, the focus group provides the opportunity to observe how people form opinions, influence each other, and generate meaning in the context of discussion with others ( Wilkinson, 1998 ; 1999 ). For feminists who see the self as relational or identity as constructed (e.g., Kitzinger, 1994 ), the focus group can be an ideal method. In focus groups, the influence of the researcher is minimized as women in the group speak for themselves and voice their own concerns and themes. Focus groups may also provide an opportunity to access the views of individuals who have been underrepresented in traditional methods ( Wilkinson, 1998 ). Focus groups may lead to consciousness raising or to the articulation of solutions to women’s problems ( Wilkinson, 1998 ; 1999 ). Focus groups may be a component of participatory action projects ( Morgan, 2004 ). The increased use of focus groups by social scientists over the past two decades argues for their usefulness as a qualitative method ( Morgan, 2004 ).

Feminist Phenomenological Approaches

A phenomenological approach emphasizes a (paradigm) shift from observed behaviors to the importance of an individual’s lived experience as the proper subject matter for psychology. Phenomenology is committed to the articulation of individuals’ experience as description and does not subscribe to hypothesis testing. Husserl (1970) argued that psychologists should use descriptive methods to try and capture the meaning of individuals’ experience; he emphasized the need for social scientists to investigate the personal, the life-world to capture the experiential nature of human experience. Criticizing psychology (and other social sciences) for its adherence to positivist methods, he challenged the subjective/objective distinction. ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ). Thus, a phenomenological approach is not just another method that might be employed by a feminist researcher, but an alternative approach to knowledge ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ). Phenomenological research uses a descriptive method that attempts to capture the experiential meaning of human experience ( Nelson, 1989 ). Phenomenologically informed researchers do not test hypotheses but generate theory from the data (i.e., individuals’ experiences). This approach does not distinguish between objective and subjective methods but does privilege description over measurement and quantification ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ). The phenomenological researcher does not subscribe to the goal of uncovering or discovering truths about the participants’ experience but has a commitment to articulating the lived experience of the participants and analyzing the sociopolitical context in which the experience occurs ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ). For example, a research team could investigate the lived experience of being “at home.” The descriptive differences in men and women’s lived experience might be described without essentializing or reifying gender.

According to Cosgrove and McHugh (2008) , phenomenology shares the feminist commitment to creating a space to hear (women’s) stories. In phenomenologically grounded research, the researcher may examine the ways in which gender (along with race, class, and culture) plays a key role in shaping women’s experiences. Phenomenologists also share the feminist commitment to test theory against experience. Both feminists and phenomenologists recognize the limits of laboratory-based research, emphasize the importance of listening to individuals’ experiences, and appreciate the possibilities of a descriptive science ( Nelson, 1989 ). Cosgrove and McHugh (2008) suggest that some feminists would agree with the phenomenological perspective that relying, epistemologically and methodologically, on quantification and measurement to the exclusion of life-world description is a limited approach that produces alienated rather than emancipatory knowledge.

Both feminists and phenomenologists view research as an interaction or dialogue between the researcher and the participant ( Garko, 1999 ). The phenomenological approach emphasizes connections among self, world, and others and allows the researcher to hear women’s experiences as contextualized within the larger social order. Consistent with feminist research, a phenomenological perspective demands that we hear, describe, and try to articulate the meaning of women’s experiences, including stories that have been marginalized and/or silenced ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ).

Participatory Action Research

“Participatory research offers a way to openly demonstrate solidarity with oppressed and disempowered people through our work as researchers” ( Maguire, 2008 , p. 417). Maguire (1987 ; 2008 ) described participatory action research as involving investigation, education, and action. By involving ordinary people in the process of posing problems and solving them, participatory research can create solidarity and social action designed to radically change social reality, as opposed to other methods that describe or interpret reality ( Maguire, 2008 ). Goals of feminist research, including self-determination, emancipation, and personal and social transformation, are approached by working with oppressed people, not studying them ( Maguire, 2008 ). When working with a community group to address a problem they define, the traditional distinctions between knower and participant and between knowledge and action are dissolved ( Hall, 1979) .

In contrast to the traditional valuation of theoretical and pure science over applied science, participatory action research challenges the dichotomous view of applied versus theoretical research. In action research, theory is political and action has theoretical implications ( Hoshmand & O’Byrne, 1996 ; Reinharz, 1992 ). Hoshmand and O’Byrne (1996) view action research as consistent with postmodern and post-positivist revisions of science; action research takes an explicitly contextual focus and thus action researchers may be less likely to commit the “errors” of essentialism and universalism ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002 ). Participatory research is built on the (feminist) critique of positivist science, and the androcentrism of much of traditional social science research ( Maguire, 2008 ) and the emancipatory impact of participatory research is dependent on feminist analysis. Researchers should explicitly consider gender and patriarchy as important components of the project ( Maguire, 1987 ). A challenge for feminist researchers is to consider the operation of class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other dimensions of oppression in the research agenda.

In addition to improving the lives of the participants, education and the development of critical consciousness is a component of participatory action research ( Maguire, 2008 ). The research process can assist the community members to develop skills in information gathering and use and in analysis. Perhaps more significantly, the community members may develop a critical understanding of social problems and underlying causes and possible ways to overcome them. By having ordinary people participate in the research, affirming and extending their knowledge about their own lives, participatory action research exposes and helps to dismantle the industry of knowledge production. Knowledge production and traditional research exclude ordinary people from meaningful participation in knowledge creation, intimidate marginalized groups through academic degrees and jargon, and dehumanize people as objects of research ( Maguire, 2008 ).

In this spirit of research designed to create critical consciousness (of the sexual double standard), McHugh and her students facilitated discussions in class and in focus groups of undergraduate students about their experience and observation of slut bashing and the walk of shame (McHugh, Sciarillo, Pearlson, & Watson, 2011; Sullivan & McHugh, 2009 ). Students shared their understanding and experience of who gets called a slut and why. In the discussion, many students recognized the operation of the sexual double standard and developed some understanding of how this impacted their own and other women’s expression of sexuality. This “research” emphasizes the students as experts on this topic, helps students develop critical consciousness, and documents the existence of the sexual double standard as common social practice, in contrast to quantitative research that does not confirm the existence of the sexual double standard ( Crawford & Popp, 2003 ).

In most social action research, the researchers design the research project to empower the individuals and communities with whom they work ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ). In participatory research, the shared agenda is set by the community; traditional research is based on the researcher’s agenda. The engagement and solidarity with participants is an important feature of participatory research, in contrast to the traditional objectivity and disengagement of the experimenter. For example, in contrast to traditional research (e.g., why battered women stay), Maguire (1987) reported on her participatory research with a group of battered women in Gallup, New Mexico. Maguire talked with former battered women in their kitchens, employing Freire’s (1970) concept of dialogue. The researcher and participants moved through a cycle of reflection and action; Maguire presented the women (in their own words) as they searched for how to move forward after living with violent men. These results are in contrast to the psychologizing and victim-blaming approaches often taken in research with women who experience intimate partner violence ( McHugh, 1993 ; McHugh, Livingston, & Frieze, 2008) . Fine (1992) also identified the victim-blaming interpretations made by researchers. In a critical examination of articles published in The Psychology of Women Quarterly, Fine documented that authors “psychologized the structural forces that construct women’s lives by offering internal explanations for social conditions, and through the promotion of individualistic change strategies, authors invited women to alter some aspect of self in order to transform social arrangements” (p. 6).

A variety of qualitative methods were described here with an emphasis on why and how each method might be used by feminist researchers. For each of the methods, feminist researchers with differing epistemological positions are likely to share certain concerns regarding the research: “attention to women’s voices, differences between and within groups of women, women’s contextual and concrete experiences, and researcher positionality” ( Leckenby & Hess-Biber, 2007 , p. 279). As feminist researchers, we might mine each approach for its liberatory potential.

Innovations in Feminist Research

Intersectionality.

Feminist analytic strategies have been used to challenge biological reductionism, demonstrating how race and gender hierarchies are produced and maintained ( Hawkesworth, 2006 , p. 207). Increasingly, feminists have realized that individuals’ experiences are influenced by both race and gender and by the intersection of various identities (intersectionality). Intersectionality is an innovative approach that applies an analytic lens to research on gender, racial, ethnic, class, age, sexual orientation, and other dimensions of disparities ( Dill & Zambrana, 2009 ). The approach of intersectionality analyzes the intersections of oppressions, recognizing that race, sexual orientation, social class, and other oppressed identities are socially constructed. Intersectionality challenges traditional approaches to the study of inequality that isolated each factor of oppression (e.g., race) and treated it as independent of other forms of oppression ( Dill & Zambrana 2009 ). Interpersonal interactions and institutional practices can create marginalization and subsequently constrain women of color and women marginalized by other identities. In response to such recognition, feminist scholars of color have coined the term “intersectionality” to refer to the complex interplay of social forces that produce particular women and men as members of particular classes, races, ethnicities, and nationalities ( Crenshaw, 1989 ). McCall (2005) has referred to intersectionality as the most important contribution of women’s studies; intersectionality challenges the dominant perspectives within multiple disciplines including psychology. Intersectionality recognizes the interrelatedness of racialization and gendering. The term “racing-gendering” highlights the interactions of racialization and gendering in the production of difference ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ). The identities of women of color result from an amalgam of practices that construct them as Other. Such practices include silencing, excluding, marginalizing, stereotyping, and patronizing.

For example, in a study of congresswomen (103rd Congress), Hawkesworth (2006) found the narratives of congresswomen of color to be markedly different from the interview responses of white congresswomen. African-American congresswomen, especially, related experiences of insults, humiliation, frustration, and anger. Hawkesworth (2006) provides a series of examples to demonstrate that Congress was/is a race-gendered institution, that race-specific constructions of acting as a man and a woman are intertwined in daily interactions in that setting. She further relates the experiences of invisibility and subordination of black congresswomen to congressional action on welfare reform and concludes that the data indicate ongoing race-gendering in the institutional practices of Congress and in the interpersonal interactions among members of Congress.

Developing Consciousness

Consciousness raising (CR) was an important method of the second wave of feminism in the United States ( Chrisler & McHugh, 2011 ). Through group discussions, women recognized commonalities in their experiences that they had previously believed to be personal problems ( Brodsky, 1973 ). Such discussions had the potential to reveal aspects of sexism and patriarchy and led to the realization that the personal is political; that is, that the power imbalance between women and men and the way that society was structured along gender lines contributed to women’s experiences of distress (Hanish, 1970). Undertaken as political action, CR groups were later facilitated by psychologists and became a model for therapeutic women’s groups ( Brodsky, 1973 ). Consciousness raising groups are a form of participatory action research. Consciousness raising is a method for understanding and experiencing women’s experiences, and for understanding and resisting patriarchy. Consciousness-raising is an important contribution of feminism.

Double Consciousness

In an elaboration of consciousness raising, some theorists have discussed women’s double consciousness in relation to feminist standpoint theory. In one version of double consciousness, women, as a result of their subordinated position, have an awareness of their own daily lives and work (which are invisible to members of the dominant group), but they also have an understanding of the lives of the dominant group (Nielsen, 1989. Or, women scientists, by participating in science and yet experiencing the subordinated position of women, have a unique perspective as both an insider and an “other,” to examine the operation of sexist bias in science ( Rosser, 2008 ). Most frequently, double consciousness refers to the position of black feminist theorists that black women hold a unique position that allows them to understand the operation of both sexism and racism ( Collins, 1990 ; 2008 ). Collins argues that such consciousness, based on lived experience, involves both knowledge and wisdom and that such consciousness is essential to black women’s survival. Black women share their truth by way of storytelling or narrative, and the black community values their stories. The consciousness of black women is thus forged in connection with community. Collins (2008) suggests “the significance of a Black feminist epistemology may lie in its ability to enrich our understanding of how subordinate groups create knowledge that fosters both empowerment and social justice” ( Collins, 2008 , p. 256).

In an elaboration of double consciousness, feminist standpoint approaches have developed into a method, as well as an epistemological position ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ; Sandoval, 2000 ). Feminist standpoint as a method begins with the “collection and interrogation of competing claims about a single phenomenon” ( Hawkesworth, 2006 , p. 178). The method involves the contrast and analysis of competing situated (theoretical and value-laden) claims to understand the role theoretical presuppositions play in cognition. The feminist standpoint analysis may suggest ways to resolve seemingly intractable conflicts ( Hawkesworth, 2006 ). Hawkesworth (2006) illustrates the method with an analysis of multiple feminist positions on Affirmative Action.

Oppositional Consciousness

Authors and theorists from varied backgrounds and geographies have described and theorized a form of consciousness referred to as “oppositional consciousness.” The recognition and development of “oppositional consciousness” is considered both a social movement and a method ( Sandoval, 2000 ). As a method, cultural theorists aim to specify and reinforce particular forms of resistance to the dominant social hierarchy. “The methodology of the oppressed is a set of processes, procedures and technologies for de-colonizing the imagination” ( Sandoval, 2000 , p. 68). The theory and method of oppositional consciousness is a consciousness developed within women of color feminism ( Sandoval, 2000 , p. 180), where it has been employed as a methodology of the oppressed. The methodology of oppositional consciousness, as theorized by a racially diverse (US) coalition of women of color, demonstrates the procedures for achieving affinity and alliance across difference ( Sandoval, 2000 ). Through a series of dialogues, processes, meaning-making, deconstructions, and consciousness, people in search of emancipation from oppression voice, interrogate, and theorize their experiences, recognize (resist) ideologies and practices of oppression, and transcend differences to achieve an alliance, a coalition of consciousness that opposes oppression and transcends difference ( Sandoval, 2000 ).

Trans/Feminist Methodology

In a related approach, Pryse (2000) argued that the interdisciplinarity of women’s studies can contribute to the development of a “trans/feminist methodology.” Pryse (2000) contends that there is a special opportunity in the study of women’s studies scholars; faculty and students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds collaborate over questions regarding gender and its interconnections with race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, ability, and culture. Envisioning a hybrid or “trans” methodology is the challenge of interdisciplinary collaborations ( Friedman, 1998 ; Pryse, 2000 ). She examines interdisciplinarity as involving intellectual flexibility and engagement in cross-cultural analyses, both of which can be conducive to cross-cultural insight and may enhance receptivity to difference. Pryse is hopeful that the work of interdisciplinary teams can develop the transversal political perspective described by Yuval-Davis (1997) . Transversal political perspectives are contrasted with identity politics in which women from different classes, regions, nations, races, or ethnicities recognize and emphasize the differences in their material and political realities. In a transversal political perspective, women could “enter into a dialogue concerning their material and political realities without being required to assert their collective identity politics in such a way that they cannot move outside their ideological positioning” ( Pryse, 2000 , p. 106). Yuval-Davis (1997) described interactions of Palestinian and Israeli women who engaged in a dialogue that could be indicative of transversalism. Each member of the interaction remained rooted in her own identity, but shifted to a position that allowed an exchange with a women with another identity. This dialogue, labeled transversalism was contrasted with universalism. In transversalism, a bridge that can cross borders or differences is constructed, whereas universalism assumes homogeneity among women. In her vision, Pryse sees transversalism as a methodology that can allow feminist researchers to construct questions that emerge from women’s lives without committing the error of universalizing women and by remaining specific about the differences among women. Furthermore, the transversal approach can help researchers transcend disciplinary boundaries and methods. A transversal approach is consistent with a postmodern perspective in that multiple realities and partial truths are recognized and essentialism is avoided ( Pryse, 2000 ). The transversal viewpoint allows both difference and similarity to be simultaneously recognized and appreciated as we study women’s lives. This can be seen as a form of dialectic thinking, as opposed to the traditional tendency to engage in dichotomous thinking.

Dialectic Thinking

In a similar approach, Kimball argued that “The major goal of practicing double visions is to resist the choice of either similarities or differences as more true or politically valid than the other” ( Kimball, 1995 , p. 12). Kimball (1995) called for a rejection of simplistic dichotomous thinking (about gender) and for the practice of double visions with regard to feminist theory and research on gender. Kimball’s reference to double visions originates in the postmodern position that we can only have partial knowledge and that partial knowledge is, by definition, not fully accurate. Accordingly, Kimball is suggesting that we are not forced to choose between one piece of partial knowledge and another. Thus, we do not have to choose between evidence that women are caring and evidence that women are aggressive. One might chose a particular position in a certain context or prefer a given perspective on gender, but, as Kimball has noted, practicing double visions means that neither alternative is foreclosed; feminist psychologists would recognize the partiality of any perspective and respect theoretical diversity. This means that we should actively resist making a choice and instead maintain a tension between/among the alternative positions. The way forward for feminist research, according to Tuana (1992) , is to avoid dichotomous thinking and either/or choices. In terms of the sex/gender difference debate, this could mean that we recognize that men and women are both alike and different or are alike in some settings and different in others ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2002 ).

Double visions, or a dialectic approach to sex/gender, describes the movement between or among positions as a sophisticated and theoretically grounded practice. Previously, the perspective of individuals who vacillated between denying gender differences and focusing on the common experiences of women may have been labeled as contradictory, inconsistent, incoherent, or confused. This is similar to the problem of either focusing on the differences among women or examining the common experience of being a woman in a patriarchal society. Privileging the dialectic perspective legitimizes our current confusion, giving us permission to hold contradictory, paradoxical, and fragmented perspectives on gender and women’s experiences.

Applying a postmodern or dialectic approach can help to resolve epistemological and theoretical debates. For example, feminists and family researchers have been engaged in an ongoing debate about intimate partner violence as battering (of women by their male partners) or as family violence (equally perpetrated by men and women) ( McHugh, Livingston, & Ford, 2005 ). A postmodern or dialectic approach allows us to recognize how issues of method, sample, and conceptualization have contributed to the debate and to realize that, in a postmodern world, there is not a single truth, but multiple, complex, and fragmented perspectives. Thus, women may contribute to family violence, and battering may be perpetrated mostly by men against female intimates ( McHugh et al., 2005 ).

Ferguson (1991) and Haraway (1985) recommend irony as a way to resolve the dichotomous tensions created by two (seemingly opposing) projects or perspectives. In irony, laughter dissuades us from premature closure and exposes both the truth and the non-truth of each perspective. Ferguson (1991) describes irony as “a way to keep oneself within a situation that resists resolution in order to act politically without pretending that resolution has come” (p. 338). Similarly, Cosgrove and McHugh (2008) have encouraged the use of satire to expose and challenge the limitations of the scientific method; irony and satire can contribute to the transformation of both science and society.

Feminist scholars have taken issue with dominant disciplinary approaches to knowledge production. Feminist researchers have asked a range of questions, examined and adopted varied epistemological positions, and employed diverse methods. While employing varied methods, feminist researchers share a commitment to promote women’s freedom, to examine/expose oppression based on gender (and other subordinated statuses), and to revolt against institutions, practices, and values that subordinate and denigrate women.

Feminists have a long tradition of challenging the theories, methods, and “truths” that traditional social scientists believe to be real, objective, and value-free. Feminists have posed a serious challenge to the alleged value neutrality of positivistic social science. In an attempt to transform social science, feminists have developed innovative ideas, methods, and critiques, some of which were reviewed here. Classic and emergent qualitative methods have been deployed in a variety of contexts as feminist researchers critique traditional methods and assumptions and struggle to conduct research that empowers women or improves their lives. The current chapter represents an attempt to help researchers understand the methodological and epistemological underpinning of feminist research, to reflect on their own choice of methods, and to practice feminist research by engaging in a nonhierarchical and collaborative process that leads to an understanding of some aspect of women’s lives and contributes to the transformation of society. Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2007) have provided a guide to feminist research practice. In conclusion to their guide, Hesse-Biber (2007) characterized the research process as a “journey... where the personal and the political merge and multiple truths are discovered and voiced where there had been silence” (p. 348).

One possibility for the future is that increasing numbers of researchers will be exposed to the feminist critique of science and will contribute to the transformation of research by developing a postmodern or dialectical approach to research. According to a postmodern approach, the transformation of society begins with a transformation of our understanding of how and what we can know. Traditional approaches to knowledge constructed, confirmed, and constrained our understanding of gender and our ideas of what is possible. The postmodern position provides a powerful epistemological position for deconstructing rather than regulating gender ( Cosgrove, 2003 ). Thus, the transformation of science and research is an initial step toward the feminist transformation of gender and the dismantling of male dominance. Larner (1999) viewed the postmodern perspective as encouraging us to “think the unthought and ask questions unasked.”

However, changing the practices of science and social science so that we can better attend to issues of social injustice is neither an easy nor straightforward task. Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2008) note that quantitative methods continue to be privileged over qualitative in a variety of ways. In my own experience, despite the varied epistemological perspectives and the array of methodological approaches available, the majority of research reported in journals and textbooks continues to employ empirical and quantitative methods. When qualitative methods are employed, they tend to be the established classic approaches, like open-ended survey interview questions that are thematically coded. Furthermore, in a systematic review of the top undergraduate research methods texts of 2009, I observed that qualitative methods were not substantially described or discussed in most texts, and feminist critiques or research were not mentioned ( Eagly, Eaton, & McHugh, 2011 ). Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2008) cite research and university culture as supporting the status quo and limiting the use of innovative and emergent methods. Funding sources may contribute to conservativism in science, and gatekeepers, such as journal editors, may also limit researchers’ willingness to engage in innovative feminist research.

Although she was writing in 1988, Morawski could be talking about today when she suggests that a new (US) conservatism is indicated by recent losses in Affirmative Action, challenges to reproductive rights, and legislation that negatively affects large numbers of American women. She notes that feminist progress is transforming traditional social science but may easily become or remain mired in such a climate. In response to such a societal impasse, Morawski considers some possibilities for feminist deconstruction and reconstruction. She recommends that we continue to be critical and reflective and that we not commit the same errors that we have identified, for example, essentialism. She encourages us to develop a vision of emancipation, to use our imagination, creativity, and irony to overcome our current impasse.

Future Directions

Satire and irony represent one approach to the future of feminist research. “Through the resources of irony, we can think both about how we do feminist theory, and about which notions of reality and truth make our theories possible” ( Ferguson, 1991 , p. 339). Irony is also recognized by Shotter and Logan (1988) as a requisite for feminist research as it attempts to resist patriarchal thinking and practices even as it produces meaning within the current patriarchal context. They see the feminist research project as developing new practices while still making use of resources that are part of the old. Shotter and Logan argue for a feminist alternative that would “allow a conversation within which the creative, formative power of talk could be put to use in reformulating, redistributing and redeveloping both people’s knowledge of themselves and their immediate circumstances, and the nature of their practical-historical relations to one another” (p. 82). Moving forward toward an egalitarian community requires a reflection and understanding of our immediate practical relationships to one another, a consideration of “in what voices we allow to speak, and which voices we take seriously” (p. 83).

One form of irony, farce, involves exaggerated versions of a phenomena resulting in both laughter and sometimes a new understanding of the issues involved. Taking an ironic approach can lead to a richer and more complex picture and necessitates a re-visioning of the epistemological and methodological frameworks that underlie psychological research and feminist theory ( Cosgrove & McHugh, 2008 ; McHugh & Cosgrove, 2002 ). Although the empirical satiricism described by Cosgrove and McHugh (2008 ; McHugh & Cosgrove, 2002 ) is a quantitative method, qualitative methods based on irony and satire can certainly be developed within the participatory action or performative approaches.

(Whereas my younger colleagues may need to limit their research to methods that are acceptable to funding sources and journal editors, I realize that I am not limited by these factors. A decade preretirement, I am in a position to use emergent methods to conduct research that challenges existing ideas regarding women and gender or advocates for marginalized women. I am willing to rethink (again) my epistemological and ontological perspectives, to go beyond my disciplinary boundaries, and to engage in dialectic thinking and irony. Although I may not be successful in jumping publication hurdles, there are alternative methods for distributing or performing transformative knowledge. I hope to conduct participatory and performative research that is ironic, even farcical, to incite new knowledge).

Multidisciplinary collaborations can contribute to the adoption of new perspectives and methods that ignore or transgress boundaries set by traditional disciplines that have served to restrict or constrain our conceptions on how to conduct research. The interdisciplinary practice of women’s studies has contributed to innovations in feminist research practice. Through women’s studies and other multidisciplinary approaches, feminists from more conservative disciplines can be introduced to postmodern perspectives and other post-postmodern and emerging forms of research. Feminists can contribute to progress by affirming, approving, and applauding the attempts at methodological innovation employed by others.

For example, feminist psychology in the United States has not yet taken the “performative turn,” although feminist researchers from other disciplinary contexts have. Leavy (2008) characterized performance as an interdisciplinary methodological genre used in a variety of fields including sociology, health, and education. Performance can be viewed as a new epistemological stance that disrupts conventional ways of knowing ( Gray, 2003 ). In a performance, individuals act out, and the performance is experienced “in the moment.” Profound theoretical insight can occur to researcher and audience alike when we shift from the representation of reality in written records to the flow of performance. In performance, the actors and the audience help to make or co-create the meaning, and understanding involves an interaction among members of the cast and the audience ( Leavy, 2008 ). Audience members do not need special skills or training to understand or appreciate a performance, and different perspectives on the performance may result in different interpretations or insights. Thus, the knowing that results from a performance is different from the meaning constructed by the researcher in more traditional research. Leavy (2008) points out the relevance of performance to feminist perspectives that emphasize the embodied experience of women (e.g., Bardo, 1989 ). Leavy (2008) described arts-based methods as a hybrid of arts and science; she characterized performative methods as innovative, dynamic, holistic, creative, as involving reflection and problem solving.

An aspect of the performative turn is the emerging interest in research on the mundane, or the study of the everyday. Contemporary nonrepresentational theory calls us to study the flow of everyday practices in the present rather than constructing post hoc interpretations of past events. Profound theoretical insight and innovations in methods could result if we were to shift from the representation of reality to the flow of performance, if we were to take the mundane or everyday practices of women seriously ( Chrisler & McHugh, 2011 ). This philosophical position builds on the phenomenological approach, an approach Cosgrove and McHugh (2008) have recommended for integration into feminist methods. This approach is also consistent with the position taken by some feminists that women’s ways of being in the world (i.e., as emotional and connected beings) have validity and importance and should not be eliminated in the name of rationality and science.

As early as 1988, Aebischer marveled at the feminist transformation that social science had undergone, when it had become possible to intellectually study “aspects of everyday life and everyday people and to be taken seriously.” Even then, she recognized the study of personal experiences, intimate relationships, emotional reactions, and body experiences as a significant transition from one value system to another. Contemporary calls for the exploration of the everyday reveal the extent to which social science in the past had been focused on the unusual, the non-normative, or the pathological. Emphasis on the exceptional, on public domains, on cognition, and on achievements (of men) reflects the androcentric bias of social science. Furthermore, traditional approaches to research such as the experiment, the survey, and systematic observation are not conducive to the study of everyday routines and experiences. Women’s everyday experiences such as gossip ( McHugh & Hambaugh, 2010) , feeling at home ( McHugh, 1996 ), and street harassment ( Sullivan, Lord, & McHugh, 2010 ) have traditionally not been valued as significant topics. In some ways, the current emphasis on the study of everyday lives is a continuation or an extension of an angle of vision adopted primarily within sociology ( Scott, 2009 ). Perhaps what is more innovative is the development of new and emerging methods, including the performative, for the study of affect and the everyday.

The study of the everyday experiences and routines of women is just one example of the directions that future US feminist researchers may take as they shift away from the limitations of logical positivism and, with postmodern permission, strategically adopt multiple ontological, epistemological, and methodological perspectives. Removing the methodological shackles of positivism, modernism, and empiricism, we can exercise epistemological and methodological freedom and move toward feminist research that transforms science and society and liberates women.

(Writing this chapter has been challenging and has caused me to further reflect on myself as a feminist researcher. I have recognized the barriers that have impeded my research in the past decades. Some of these barriers are personal and others are more about the reception that I have received as a feminist researcher and a postmodern theorist. I have reaffirmed the importance to myself of intrinsic motivation and finding meaning in my work, as opposed to external recognition. Through writing this chapter, I have come to an appreciation of the value of research that I have conducted (for example, on the meaning of home and the positive aspects of gossip) and could continue to conduct that provides partial and situated knowledge and research that adopts an emergent research method. I am inspired to pursue more feminist research and to encourage my students to employ varied and more innovative feminist methods.)

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Writing an article for ‘Research Made Simple’ on feminist research may at first appear slightly oxymoronic, given that there is no agreed definition of feminist research, let alone a single definition of feminism. The literature that examines the historical and philosophical roots of feminism(s) and feminist research is vast, extends over several decades and reaches across an expanse of varying disciplines. Trying to navigate the literature can be daunting and may, at first, appear impenetrable to those new to feminist research.

There is no ‘How To’ in feminist research. Although feminists tend to share the same common goals, their interests, values and perspectives can be quite disparate. Depending on the philosophical position they hold, feminist researchers will draw on differing epistemologies (ways of knowing), ask different questions, be guided by different methodologies and employ different methods. Within the confines of space, this article will briefly outline some of the principles of feminist research. It will then turn to discuss three established epistemologies that can guide feminist research (although there are many others): feminist empiricism, feminist standpoint and feminist postmodernism.

What makes feminist research feminist?

Feminist research is grounded in a commitment to equality and social justice, and is cognisant of the gendered, historical and political processes involved in the production of knowledge. 1 It also strives to explore and illuminate the diversity of the experiences of women and other marginalised groups, thereby creating opportunities that increase awareness of how social hierarchies impact on and influence oppression. 2 Commenting on the differentiation between feminist and non-feminist research, Skeggs asserts that ‘feminist research begins from the premise that the nature of reality in western society is unequal and hierarchical’ Skeggs 3 p77; therefore, feminist research may also be viewed as having both academic and political concerns.

Reflexivity

The practice of reflexivity is considered a hallmark of feminist research. It invites the researcher to engage in a ‘disciplined self-reflection’ Wilkinson 9 p93. This includes consideration of the extent to which their research fulfils feminist principles. Reflexivity can be divided into three discrete forms: personal, functional and disciplinary. 9 Personal reflexivity invites the researcher to contemplate their role in the research and construction of knowledge by examining the ways in which their own values, beliefs, interests, emotions, biography and social location, have influenced the research process and the outcomes (personal reflexivity). 10 By stating their position rather than concealing it, feminist researchers use reflexivity to add context to their claims. Functional reflexivity pays attention to the influence that the chosen research tools and processes may have had on the research. Disciplinary reflexivity is about analysing the influence of approaching a topic from a specific disciplinary field.

Feminist empiricism

Feminist empiricism is underpinned by foundationalist principles that believes in a single true social reality with truth existing entirely independent of the knower (researcher). 8 Building on the premise that feminist researchers pay attention to how methods are used, feminist empiricist researchers set out to use androcentric positivist scientific methods ‘more appropriately’. 8 They argue that feminist principles can legitimately be applied to empirical inquiry if the masculine bias inherent in scientific research is removed. This is achieved through application of rigorous, objective, value-free scientific methods. Methods used include experimental, quasi-experimental and survey. Feminist empiricists employ traditional positivist methodology while being cognisant of the sex and gender biases. What makes the research endeavour feminist is the attentiveness in identifying potential sources of gendered bias. 11

Feminist standpoint

In a similar way to feminist empiricism, standpoint feminism—also known as ‘women’s experience epistemology’ Letherby 8 p44—holds firm the position that traditional science is androcentric and is therefore bad science. This is predicated on the belief that traditional science only produces masculine forms of knowledge thus excluding women’s perspectives and experiences. Feminist standpoint epistemology takes issue with the masculinised definition of women’s experience and argue it holds little relevance for women. Feminist standpoint epistemology therefore operates on the assumption that knowledge emanates from social position and foregrounds the voices of women and their experiences of oppression to generate knowledge about their lives that would otherwise have remained hidden. 12 Feminist standpoint epistemology maintains that women, as the oppressed or disadvantaged, may have an epistemological advantage over the dominant groups by virtue of their ability to understand their own experience and struggles against oppression, while also by being attuned to the experience and culture of their oppressors. 11 This gives women’s experience a valid basis for knowledge production that both reflects women’s oppression and resistance. 13

Feminist standpoint epistemology works on the premise that there is no single reality, 11 thus disrupting the empiricist notion that research must be objective and value-free. 12 To shed light on the experiences of the oppressed, feminist standpoint researchers use both quantitative and qualitative approaches to see the world through the eyes of their research participants and understand how their positions shape their experiences within the social world. In addition, the researchers are expected to engage in strong reflexivity and reflect on, and acknowledge in their writing, how their own attributes and social location may impact on interpretation of their data. 14

Feminist postmodernism

Feminist postmodernism is a branch of feminism that embraces feminist and postmodernist thought. Feminist postmodernists reject the notion of an objective truth and a single reality. They maintain that truths are relative, multiple, and dependent on social contexts. 15 The theory is marked by the rejection of the feminist ideology that seeks a single explanation for oppression of women. Feminist postmodernists argue that women experience oppression because of social and political marginalisation rather than their biological difference to men, concluding that gender is a social construct. 16

Feminist postmodernists eschew phallogocentric masculine thought (expressed through words and language) that leads to by binary opposition. They are particularly concerned with the man/woman dyad, but also other binary oppositions of race, gender and class. 17 Feminist postmodernist scholars believe that knowledge is constructed by language and that language gives meaning to everything—it does not portray reality, rather it constructs it. 11 A key feature of feminist postmodernist research is the attempt to deconstruct the binary opposition through reflecting on existing assumptions, questioning how ways of thinking have been socially constructed and challenging the taken-for-granted. 17

This article has provided a brief overview of feminist research. It should be considered more of a taster that introduces readers to the complex but fascinating world of feminist research. Readers who have developed an appetite for a more comprehensive examination are guided to a useful and accessible text on feminist theories and concepts in healthcare written by Kay Aranda. 1

Western D ,
Giacomini M
Margaret Fonow M ,
Wilkinson S
Campbell R ,
Wigginton B ,
Lafrance MN
Naples NA ,
Hesse-Biber S

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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291 Feminism Topics

Much has been written about feminism, yet there always are good feminism essay topics and issues to debate about. Here, we invite you to delve into this movement advocating for gender equality, women’s rights, and the dismantling of patriarchal norms. With our feminist topics, you can encompass a wide range of perspectives and theories that challenge systemic discrimination and promote social change.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Introduction to feminism, topics: what is feminism.

Introduction
What is Feminism?
Historical Context
Normative and Descriptive Components
Feminism and the Diversity of Women
Feminism as Anti-Sexism
Topics in Feminism: Overview of the Sub-Entries

Bibliography

Works cited.

General Bibliography [under construction]
Topical Bibliographies [under construction]

Other Internet Resources

Related entries, i. introduction, ii. what is feminism, a. historical context, b. normative and descriptive components.

i) (Normative) Men and women are entitled to equal rights and respect. ii) (Descriptive) Women are currently disadvantaged with respect to rights and respect, compared with men.

Feminism is grounded on the belief that women are oppressed or disadvantaged by comparison with men, and that their oppression is in some way illegitimate or unjustified. Under the umbrella of this general characterization there are, however, many interpretations of women and their oppression, so that it is a mistake to think of feminism as a single philosophical doctrine, or as implying an agreed political program. (James 2000, 576)

C. Feminism and the Diversity of Women

Feminism, as liberation struggle, must exist apart from and as a part of the larger struggle to eradicate domination in all its forms. We must understand that patriarchal domination shares an ideological foundation with racism and other forms of group oppression, and that there is no hope that it can be eradicated while these systems remain intact. This knowledge should consistently inform the direction of feminist theory and practice. (hooks 1989, 22)

Unlike many feminist comrades, I believe women and men must share a common understanding--a basic knowledge of what feminism is--if it is ever to be a powerful mass-based political movement. In Feminist Theory: from margin to center, I suggest that defining feminism broadly as "a movement to end sexism and sexist oppression" would enable us to have a common political goal…Sharing a common goal does not imply that women and men will not have radically divergent perspectives on how that goal might be reached. (hooks 1989, 23)

…no woman is subject to any form of oppression simply because she is a woman; which forms of oppression she is subject to depend on what "kind" of woman she is. In a world in which a woman might be subject to racism, classism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, if she is not so subject it is because of her race, class, religion, sexual orientation. So it can never be the case that the treatment of a woman has only to do with her gender and nothing to do with her class or race. (Spelman 1988, 52-3)

D. Feminism as Anti-Sexism

i) (Descriptive claim) Women, and those who appear to be women, are subjected to wrongs and/or injustice at least in part because they are or appear to be women. ii) (Normative claim) The wrongs/injustices in question in (i) ought not to occur and should be stopped when and where they do.

III. Topics in Feminism: Overview of the Sub-Entries

Alexander, M. Jacqui and Lisa Albrecht, eds. 1998. The Third Wave: Feminist Perspectives on Racism. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
Anderson, Elizabeth. 1999a. “What is the Point of Equality?” Ethics 109(2): 287-337.
______. 1999b. "Reply” Brown Electronic Article Review Service, Jamie Dreier and David Estlund, editors, World Wide Web, (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Philosophy/bears/homepage.html), Posted 12/22/99.
Anzaldúa, Gloria, ed. 1990. Making Face, Making Soul: Haciendo Caras. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books.
Baier, Annette C. 1994. Moral Prejudices: Essays on Ethics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Barrett, Michèle. 1991. The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Bartky, Sandra. 1990. “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power.” In her Femininity and Domination. New York: Routledge, 63-82.
Basu, Amrita. 1995. The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women's Movements in Global Perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Baumgardner, Jennifer and Amy Richards. 2000. Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Beauvoir, Simone de. 1974 (1952). The Second Sex. Trans. and Ed. H. M. Parshley. New York: Vintage Books.
Benhabib, Seyla. 1992. Situating the Self: Gender, Community, and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics. New York: Routledge.
Calhoun, Cheshire. 2000. Feminism, the Family, and the Politics of the Closet: Lesbian and Gay Displacement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
______. 1989. “Responsibility and Reproach.” Ethics 99(2): 389-406.
Collins, Patricia Hill. 1990. Black Feminist Thought. Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman.
Cott, Nancy. 1987. The Grounding of Modern Feminism. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1991. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.“ Stanford Law Review , 43(6): 1241-1299.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller and Kendall Thomas. 1995. “Introduction.” In Critical Race Theory, ed., Kimberle Crenshaw, et al. New York: The New Press, xiii-xxxii.Davis, Angela. 1983. Women, Race and Class. New York: Random House.
Crow, Barbara. 2000. Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader. New York: New York University Press.
Delmar, Rosalind. 2001. "What is Feminism?” In Theorizing Feminism, ed., Anne C. Hermann and Abigail J. Stewart. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 5-28.
Duplessis, Rachel Blau, and Ann Snitow, eds. 1998. The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women's Liberation. New York: Random House (Crown Publishing).
Dutt, M. 1998. "Reclaiming a Human Rights Culture: Feminism of Difference and Alliance." In Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age , ed., Ella Shohat. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 225-246.
Echols, Alice. 1990. Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-75. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Engels, Friedrich. 1972 (1845). The Origin of The Family, Private Property, and the State. New York: International Publishers.
Findlen, Barbara. 2001. Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, 2nd edition. Seattle, WA: Seal Press.
Fine, Michelle and Adrienne Asch, eds. 1988. Women with Disabilities: Essays in Psychology, Culture, and Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Fraser, Nancy and Linda Nicholson. 1990. "Social Criticism Without Philosophy: An Encounter Between Feminism and Postmodernism." In Feminism/Postmodernism, ed., Linda Nicholson. New York: Routledge.
Friedan, Betty. 1963. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton.
Frye, Marilyn. 1983. The Politics of Reality. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press.
Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. 1997. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
Grewal, I. 1998. "On the New Global Feminism and the Family of Nations: Dilemmas of Transnational Feminist Practice." In Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age, ed., Ella Shohat. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 501-530.
Hampton, Jean. 1993. “Feminist Contractarianism,” in Louise M. Antony and Charlotte Witt, eds. A Mind of One’s Own: Feminist Essays on Reason and Objectivity, Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Haslanger, Sally. Forthcoming. “Oppressions: Racial and Other.” In Racism, Philosophy and Mind: Philosophical Explanations of Racism and Its Implications, ed., Michael Levine and Tamas Pataki. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Held, Virginia. 1993. Feminist Morality: Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Herrman, Anne C. and Abigail J. Stewart, eds. 1994. Theorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Heywood, Leslie and Jennifer Drake, eds. 1997. Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism.
Hillyer, Barbara. 1993. Feminism and Disability. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Hoagland, Sarah L. 1989. Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Values. Palo Alto, CA: Institute for Lesbian Studies.
Hooks, bell. 1989. Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston: South End Press.
______. 1984. Feminist Theory from Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press.
______. 1981. Ain't I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism. Boston: South End Press.
Hurtado, Aída. 1996. The Color of Privilege: Three Blasphemies on Race and Feminism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Jagger, Alison M. 1983. Feminist Politics and Human Nature. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
James, Susan. 2000. “Feminism in Philosophy of Mind: The Question of Personal Identity.” In The Cambridge Companion to Feminism in Philosophy, ed., Miranda Fricker and Jennifer Hornsby. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kiss, Elizabeth. 1995. "Feminism and Rights." Dissent 42(3): 342-347
Kittay, Eva Feder. 1999. Love’s Labor: Essays on Women, Equality and Dependency. New York: Routledge.
Kymlicka, Will. 1989. Liberalism, Community and Culture. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Mackenzie, Catriona and Natalie Stoljar, eds. 2000. Relational Autonomy: Feminist perspectives on Autonomy, Agency and the Social Self. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MacKinnon, Catharine. 1989. Towards a Feminist Theory of the State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
______. 1987. Feminism Unmodified. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mohanty, Chandra, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, eds. 1991. Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Molyneux, Maxine and Nikki Craske, eds. 2001. Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America. Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan.
Moody-Adams, Michele. 1997. Fieldwork in Familiar Places: Morality, Culture and Philosophy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Moraga, Cherrie. 2000. "From a Long Line of Vendidas: Chicanas and Feminism." In her Loving in the War Years, 2nd edition. Boston: South End Press.
Moraga, Cherrie and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds. 1981. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings of Radical Women of Color. Watertown, MA: Persephone Press.
Narayan, Uma. 1997. Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third World Feminism. New York: Routledge.
Nussbaum, Martha. 1995. "Human Capabilities, Female Human Beings." In Women, Culture and Development : A Study of Human Capabilities, ed., Martha Nussbaum and Jonathan Glover. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 61-104.
_______. 1999. Sex and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
O’Brien, Mary. 1979. “Reproducing Marxist Man.” In The Sexism of Social and Political Theory: Women and Reproduction from Plato to Nietzsche, ed., Lorenne M. G. Clark and Lynda Lange. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 99-116. Reprinted in (Tuana and Tong 1995: 91-103).
Ong, Aihwa. 1988. "Colonialism and Modernity: Feminist Re-presentation of Women in Non-Western Societies.” Inscriptions 3(4): 90. Also in (Herrman and Stewart 1994).
Okin, Susan Moller. 1989. Justice, Gender, and the Family. New York: Basic Books.
______. 1979. Women in Western Political Thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Pateman, Carole. 1988. The Sexual Contract. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Reagon, Bernice Johnson. 1983. "Coalition Politics: Turning the Century." In: Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, ed. Barbara Smith. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 356-368.
Robinson, Fiona. 1999. Globalizing Care: Ethics, Feminist Theory, and International Affairs. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Rubin, Gayle. 1975. “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the “Political Economy” of Sex.” In Towards an Anthropology of Women , ed., Rayna Rapp Reiter. New York: Monthly Review Press, 157-210.
Ruddick, Sara. 1989. Maternal Thinking: Towards a Politics of Peace. Boston: Beacon Press.
Schneir, Miriam, ed. 1994. Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present. New York: Vintage Books.
______. 1972. Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings. New York: Vintage Books.
Scott, Joan W. 1988. “Deconstructing Equality-Versus-Difference: or The Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism.” Feminist Studies 14 (1): 33-50.
Silvers, Anita, David Wasserman, Mary Mahowald. 1999. Disability, Difference, Discrimination: Perspectives on Justice in Bioethics and Public Policy . Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.
Simpson, J. A. and E. S. C. Weiner, ed., 1989. Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OED Online. Oxford University Press. “feminism, n1” (1851).
Snitow, Ann. 1990. “A Gender Diary.” In Conflicts in Feminism, ed. M. Hirsch and E. Fox Keller. New York: Routledge, 9-43.
Spelman, Elizabeth. 1988. The Inessential Woman. Boston: Beacon Press.
Tanner, Leslie B. 1970 Voices From Women's Liberation. New York: New American Library (A Mentor Book).
Taylor, Vesta and Leila J. Rupp. 1996. "Lesbian Existence and the Women's Movement: Researching the 'Lavender Herring'." In Feminism and Social Change , ed. Heidi Gottfried. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Tong, Rosemarie. 1993. Feminine and Feminist Ethics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Tuana, Nancy and Rosemarie Tong, eds. 1995. Feminism and Philosophy. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Walker, Alice. 1990. “Definition of Womanist,” In Making Face, Making Soul: Haciendo Caras , ed., Gloria Anzaldúa. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 370.
Walker, Margaret Urban. 1998. Moral Understandings: A Feminist Study in Ethics. New York: Routledge.
______, ed. 1999. Mother Time: Women, Aging, and Ethics. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Walker, Rebecca, ed. 1995. To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism. New York: Random House (Anchor Books).
Ware, Cellestine. 1970. Woman Power: The Movement for Women’s Liberation . New York: Tower Publications.
Weisberg, D. Kelly, ed. 1993. Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Wendell, Susan. 1996. The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability. New York and London: Routledge.
Young, Iris. 1990a. "Humanism, Gynocentrism and Feminist Politics." In Throwing Like A Girl. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 73-91.
Young, Iris. 1990b. “Socialist Feminism and the Limits of Dual Systems Theory.” In her Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory . Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
______. 1990c. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Zophy, Angela Howard. 1990. "Feminism." In The Handbook of American Women's History , ed., Angela Howard Zophy and Frances M. Kavenik. New York: Routledge (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities).

General Bibliography

Topical bibliographies.

Feminist Theory Website
Race, Gender, and Affirmative Action Resource Page
Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement (Duke Univ. Archives)
Core Reading Lists in Women's Studies (Assn of College and Research Libraries, WS Section)
Feminist and Women's Journals
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
Feminist Internet Search Utilities
National Council for Research on Women (including links to centers for research on women and affiliate organizations, organized by research specialties)
Feminism and Class
Marxist, Socialist, and Materialist Feminisms
M-Fem (information page, discussion group, links, etc.)
WMST-L discussion of how to define “marxist feminism” Aug 1994)
Marxist/Materialist Feminism (Feminist Theory Website)
MatFem (Information page, discussion group)
Feminist Economics
Feminist Economics (Feminist Theory Website)
International Association for Feminist Economics
Feminist Political Economy and the Law (2001 Conference Proceedings, York Univ.)
Journal for the International Association for Feminist Economics
Feminism and Disability
World Wide Web Review: Women and Disabilities Websites
Disability and Feminism Resource Page
Center for Research on Women with Disabilities (CROWD)
Interdisciplinary Bibliography on Disability in the Humanities (Part of the American Studies Crossroads Project)
Feminism and Human Rights, Global Feminism
World Wide Web Review: Websites on Women and Human Rights
International Gender Studies Resources (U.C. Berkeley)
Global Feminisms Research Resources (Vassar Library)
Global Feminism (Feminist Majority Foundation)
NOW and Global Feminism
United Nations Development Fund for Women
Global Issues Resources
Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI)
Feminism and Race/Ethnicity
General Resources
WMST-L discussion on “Women of Color and the Women’s Movement” (5 Parts) Sept/Oct 2000)
Women of Color Resources (Princeton U. Library)
Core Readings in Women's Studies: Women of Color (Assn. of College and Research Libraries, WS Section)
Women of Color Resource Sites
African-American/Black Feminisms and Womanism
African-American/Black/Womanist Feminism on the Web
Black Feminist and Womanist Identity Bibliography (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library)
The Womanist Studies Consortium (Univ. of Georgia)
Black Feminist/Womanist Works: A Beginning List (WMST-L)
African-American Women Online Archival Collection (Duke U.)
Asian-American and Asian Feminisms
Asian American Feminism (Feminist Theory Website)
Asian-American Women Bibliography (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe)
American Women's History: A Research Guide (Asian-American Women)
South Asian Women's Studies Bibliography (U.C. Berkeley)
Journal of South Asia Women's Studies
Chicana/Latina Feminisms
Bibliography on Chicana Feminism (Cal State, Long Beach Library)
Making Face, Making Soul: A Chicana Feminist Website
Defining Chicana Feminisms, In Their Own Words
CLNet's Chicana Studies Homepage (UCLA)
Chicana Related Bibliographies (CLNet)
American Indian, Native, Indigenous Feminisms
Native American Feminism (Feminist Theory Website)
Bibliography on American Indian Gender Roles and Relations
Bibliography on American Indian Feminism
Bibliography on American Indian Gay/Lesbian Topics
Links on Aboriginal Women and Feminism
Feminism, Sex, and Sexuality
1970's Lesbian Feminism (Ohio State Univ., Women's Studies)
The Lesbian History Project
History of Sexuality Resources (Duke Special Collections)
Lesbian Studies Bibliography (Assn. of College and Research Libraries)
Lesbian Feminism/Lesbian Philosophy
Society for Lesbian and Gay Philosophy Internet Resources
QueerTheory.com
World Wide Web Review: Webs of Transgender

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Elevate Your Work: 200 Unique Feminist Research Topics for 2023

The role of women in society is commonly highlighted these days. Hence, it’s not surprising that your professor has asked you to produce a research paper on Feminism. Yes, finding a good topic, to begin with, is more challenging than it sounds. But that’s where you can count on this interesting yet very informational write-up to help you out. As you should know, we have been offering Custom writing services for years now, so we have a list of the best topics for you to count on. That said, make sure you read this amazing blog post till the end to make the most of it.

Table of Contents

Feminist Research Topics: Unique, Interesting & Professor-Approved

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Best Feminist Research Topics

Want to make a mark with this research essay? Then, choose a topic from our list of best feminist research topics. Here you go:

Is there a possibility of Feminism becoming a new fashion?
Explain the 2022 trends of Feminism.
Are feminist actions justified?
How is Feminism influencing human psychology?
Can you consider Feminism a social trend?
What is triggering Feminism?
Explain how freedom of speech influences the proliferation of feminist ideas.
Has Feminism developed a new type of discrimination?
Drawbacks of Feminism for society.
Can you regard Feminism as a community’s new weapon?
How do feminist thoughts influence young minds?
Explain what countries are major flashpoints of Feminism and why?
Name the ethnic groups that are not supporting Feminism.

Fascinating feminist research topics

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How will you explain Feminism as a philosophy of life?
What encouraged Feminism, humans or society?
How are the sentiments of feminists relevant to the current generation?
Should you consider Feminism a want or need?
What are other ways for a woman to conquer freedom besides Feminism?
How does Feminism address violence?
How is Liberalism changing the way women think?
Where do the stereotypes lie in the 21st century?
How is the state playing a role in feminist movements?
Explain the feminism primary source.
Where are feminist groups illegal?
Discuss how women were treated in ancient times.
Explain the culture of Feminism.
Is it possible for women to change the world by taking part in feminist movements?
Why is Feminism no longer a taboo?
Explain how Feminism is developing.
In what circumstances do feminists’ occasionally resort to illegal means?
Explain how every human is a feminist.
Describe the outcomes of the feminist movement.
How is Feminism evolving in the social networks era?
Reasons to believe that women are no longer silent
Who condemned Feminism?
Understanding the feminist’s modern art.
Who is benefiting the feminist movements?
Does discrimination justify the existence of Feminism?
The role of women in international business.
How is feminism relevant in 2022?
Explain how feminism has harmed women’s reputations.
Effects of the evolution of feminism on society.
Elaborate on the future of feminism.
Explain why some religious groups regard feminism as a threat.
Discuss the impact of feminist views on the 2016 presidential election.

Most Discussed Feminist Research Topics

If you want to get over with your feminist research essay quickly, go with picking up a topic from this list of most discussed feminist research topics:

Is radical Feminism suppressing women’s freedom?
Feminism in the twentieth century.
Equality and Feminism – Things we should know about.
Discussing the second wave feminism.
Feminism and homosexuality – problems we should highlight
The misunderstanding of feminist moments.
How is liberal Feminism affecting equality?
The difference between first and second-wave feminists.
Explain the relationship between Feminism and post Feminism.
Feminism, symbolism, and more.
Shedding light on feminist social theory.
The hidden message of Feminism.
How is Feminism responding to the discrimination against women?
How is Feminism related to constructivism?
Feminism in the light of fairness doctrines.
Discussing the social system and Marxist feminist theory.
Feminism – The First Wave
The difference between Liberalism and political Feminism.
Social justice and Feminism – the connection.
Things you should know about black Feminism.
Explain why a gentleman might be insulting feminists.
Steps for adopting feminism.
How does anti-racism equate to feminists?
Explain the significance of Bitch Manifesto.
Elaborate on provocative feminism.
The study into women’s health and rights.
Is feminism influencing science?
Elaborate on women in leadership positions.
Overcoming gender stereotypes in the 21st century.
The female gendering of AI assistants – The real problem
How is child marriage impacting society?
Should gender roles be socially constructed?
How does feminism count in international relations?

Easiest feminism essay topics

Feeling writing on Feminism a tough ask? Don’t worry; we have the list of the easiest topics for you below. Picking up a simple topic will ensure that you begin writing your research paper immediately. Here’s your list of the easiest feminism research topics to write on and to impress your professor:

Radical Feminism vs. Liberalism
Promotion of Feminism in Beyonce’s music.
Feminism’s pride and power.
Post-feminism culture in teenage magazines.
Chicana Feminism and Mexican culture.
How is Feminism overcoming gender discrimination?
How is the media promoting Feminism?
Feminism vs Multiculturalism.
Dilemmas and Intersections of Feminism and Postcolonialism.
Gender differences in comparison to mainstream psychology.
Explain the differences between Liberal Feminism and Radical Feminism.
Collective representation and multicultural Feminism – an overview.
Feminism in China after Chinese Economic Reforms
Feminism in Haiti and female gender roles.
Julia Ward Howe’s struggle for Feminism.
The contentious issues for Feminism.
Compare and contrast 19th and 20th-century feminist cultures.
How are Masculinity and Feminism defining people today?
The Feminism real meaning.
The Feminism – What’s coming next?
Three types of Feminism.
The Feminism in Arab.
The rise of Feminism in Europe.
Eurocentric Feminism – Things you should know.
Is Feminism achieving its goals?
Western Feminism – How is it different?
How is Feminism benefiting American Society?
How has Feminism changed New Zealand?
The three waves of Feminism.
Elaborate on the Marxist Feminism Theory.
Explain how French Feminism is Manifesting itself.
The effects of Feminism on women, men, and families.
Male control and their dominance in society in the light of Feminism.
Discuss critical Feminism.
Things you should know about Patriarchy in Feminism.
The effects of South Korea Globalization on the role of Feminism.
Feminism and sayings of Stepford wives.
Important theories of Feminism.
Feminism, in simple words.
The objectives of Feminism.
Is Feminism equal to gender equality?
The rise of Feminism in the USA.

Powerful Feminist Research Topics

Surely you can add power to your feminist research essay. The right way of doing that is to pick a powerful research topic. Most importantly, you don’t have to wander about such a topic as we have a long list below.

Explain the Eco-feminism.
How are Fashion and Feminism related?
Modern education and Feminism.
Explain feminist movements in the USA.
Is Cyberfeminism a new concept?
The rise of Gender stereotypes – Are they still relevant?
Modern Feminism – The overview
Discuss how Feminism is influencing your life.
Feminism from a man’s perspective.
Anti-feminism movements.
Women inequality in modern society.
The modern manifestations of Feminism and their positive effects.
Feminism in literature.
Feminism’s negative influence on brand income.
How is feminism mainstream these days?
Teenagers and Feminism.
Famous feminist personalities.
The pros and cons of radical Feminism.
Feminism affects on heterosexual relationships.
A society without gender stereotypes.
How is Feminism harming men?
Feminists’ ways of reaching their goals.
The difference between Feminism and anti-feminism.
Common men’s perspective of Feminism.
Is calling oneself a feminist fashion these days?
Feminism – controversial issues.
Various perspectives of feminist movements.
How is the media influencing Feminism?
Explain how Feminism is negatively affecting women.

Events that have led to the birth of Feminism

The Blonde Beard was a practice where women would disguise themselves as men to get jobs in the workplace. This was done to avoid the glass ceiling and other forms of discrimination against women. The Blonde Beard was popular in the 19th century, but it has since fallen out of favor because of its association with sexism and racism.
Women in the pre-1800s were not allowed to work, go to school, or own property. This was because they were considered inferior to men, and the property was considered male-made.
You might think that the term “mommy blogger” is new, but it’s actually an old-fashioned insult. In fact, it dated back to the 1960s and was used to describe women who were too passive in their roles as mothers or housewives. This idea has stuck around for decades because it’s still very true. Men have historically been the ones who go to work outside the home (and get paid more than women), while women have historically stayed at home with children or other family members — even if they had jobs outside their homes.

Undoubtedly, coming up with a good feminist research topic feminist research paper topics is no less a daunting task. Not when you have found this article that lists great topics for you to get on with your research paper immediately. Furthermore, if we have missed including something here, please feel free to use the comment box below.

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50 winning feminist topics for essays.

There is no denying it; feminism is an enthralling subject. Millions around the globe support feminism while an equal number express concerns about it.

Feminism is a political, historical, and social movement of ladies who fearlessly spoke for social, economic, political, and personal equality between men and women.

Because of feminism, women can enjoy suffrage rights, study in schools, go outside without being accompanied by men, work, and wear what they want.

Feminism has also become a popular area for most lecturers. When they give their students assignments, the first step, which involve selecting feminist paper topics is always a challenge. In this post, we are going to help you address the challenge by listing the top 50 feminist topics for you.

Popular Feminism Essay Titles

Notably, the subject of feminism is pretty broad. To get you started on this list of feminist topics for essays, here are some ideas on general questions.

Domestic violence and feminism.
Feminism and activism in the 21 st century.
What is the role of women in the current world of business?
How did feminism contribute to the contemporary lifestyle?
How has the internet affected the publicity of feminism?
Defining the differences between gender and sex.
Mass media defining beauty standards: What are the pros and cons on women?
Feminism is hatred to men: Is this a myth or reality?
What are the main principles of feminism?
The contrast of classic and modern feminism.
Deconstructing the myths about feminists and feminism.
What methods are used by feminists to fight for their ideas?
Human rights and feminism.
Feminist critics: Are they right in any way?
Women rights violation in the contemporary world.
Criminality and feminism: Are they related?
What obstacles did feminists face in the contemporary world?

Controversial Feminism Paper Topics

To craft an excellent research paper on feminism, you need to have an inherent understanding of the topic. But feminism has been changing over time and attracting major controversies. So, if you want to focus on the controversial side of feminism, here are some research paper topics on feminism to consider.

Sexual education on children: What are the pros and cons?

Men and women’s non-traditional roles: Does feminism encourage it?

What are the causes of gender imbalance in Asia?

What are the best coping strategies for gender inequality?

Misogyny: What are the causes and ways to overcome it?

Kids’ toys for boys and girls: Should boys and girls be raised differently?

Analyzing feminism in Islamic countries?

Where do we need feminism most?
What are the best strategies for achieving gender equality?
Why do men lead in businesses and politics even after decades of active feminism?
Analyze the role of feminism in the declining cases of domestic violence.

The Most Interesting Feminist Research Taper Topics

Have you been wondering about the most thrilling feminist topics to write about? As feminism develops, it generates loads of issues, and you can focus on them to create winning papers. Here are some interesting feminist research paper topics to work on.

The history of fashion and feminism.
What are the impacts of feminism on education?
Are gender stereotypes still relevant today?
What components of women inequality are evident in the modern workplace?
What are the main impacts of feminism on teenagers?
What are the steps of becoming a feminist today?
A closer look at top feminist personalities of the 21 st century.
Feminism vs anti-feminism.
Can feminism impact women negatively?
Is it possible to make the world a better place for women?
Sexuality and politics.
Feminism in the developing world.

Powerful Feminist Topics for Research Paper

Whether you want to focus on feminism and gender, workplace, or traditional male-female duties, powerful topics will always make your paper stand out. Here are some of the powerful ideas for the best research paper on feminism.

Analyzing gender violence cases in the US and UK.
What issues are faced by modern Feminists today?
A closer look at the advantages of investing in girl education.
Comparing the career opportunities for men and women in the US military.
How is feminism presented in literature?
Rethinking the society without gender stereotypes.
What is the influence of feminism on the modern media?
Analyzing the controversial issues of feminism.
Men earn more than women: Can you research to confirm or deny this assertion.
Feminism and transgender theory.

Seek Help from Professional Writers

After selecting the best feminist research topics, your writing journey has just begun. You need to start working on the paper right away. This entails researching dozens of books on feminism, picking the right arguments & counterarguments, developing the right paper structure, and writing the papers based on your professor’s instructions. Well, if you have poor writing skills, the deadline is tight, or have other engagements, the process of writing a good feminism paper could turn into a nightmare. But there is a way out: seeing writing help from professional writers.

Expert academic writers have been in the industry for a long time and understand how to craft the best papers. So, do not give up after selecting the best feminist argument topics, let professional writers assist you in preparing A-rated research paper on feminism.

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489 Feminism Essay Topics

Women make up half of the world’s population. How did it happen they were oppressed?

We are living in the era of the third wave of feminism, when women fight for equal rights in their professional and personal life. Public figures say that objectification and sexualization of women are not ok. Moreover, governments adopt laws that protect equal rights and possibilities for people of all genders, races, and physical abilities. Yes, it is also about feminism.

In this article, you will find 400+ feminism essay topics for students. Some raise the problems of feminism; others approach its merits. In addition, we have added a brief nuts-and-bolts course on the history and principal aspects of this social movement.

❗ Top 15 Feminism Essay Topics

💻 Feminism Research Topics
📜 History of Feminism Topics
🙋‍♀️ Topics on Feminism Movements

🔥 Famous Feminists Essay Topics

👩‍🎓 Topics on Women’s Rights in the World
👸 Antifeminism Essay Topics

📚 Topics on Feminism in Literature

🔗 references.

Compare and contrast liberal and radical feminism.
The problem of political representation of feminism.
Is Hillary Clinton the most prominent feminist?
How can feministic ideas improve our world?
What is the glass ceiling, and how does it hinder women from reaching top positions?
What can we do to combat domestic violence?
Unpaid domestic work: Voluntary slavery?
Why do women traditionally do social work?
What are the achievements of feminism?
Why is there no unity among the currents of feminism?
Pornographic content should be banned in a civilized society.
Does feminism threaten men?
What is intersectional feminism, and why is it the most comprehensive feminist movement?
Those who are not feminists are sexists.
Why are women the “second gender?”

💻 Feminism Research Topics & Areas

Feminism is the belief in the equality of the sexes in social, economic, and political spheres. This movement originated in the West, but it has become represented worldwide. Throughout human history, women have been confined to domestic labor. Meanwhile, public life has been men’s prerogative. Women were their husband’s property, like a house or a cow. Today this situation has vastly improved, but many problems remain unresolved.

A feminism research paper aims to analyze the existing problems of feminism through the example of famous personalities, literary works, historical events, and so on. Women’s rights essay topics dwell on one of the following issues:

Healthcare & Reproductive Rights of Women

Women should be able to decide whether they want to have children or not or whether they need an abortion or not. External pressure or disapprobation is unacceptable. In many countries, abortions are still illegal. It is a severe problem because the female population attempts abortions without medical assistance in unhygienic conditions.

Economic Rights of Women

Women’s job applications are often rejected because they are expected to become mothers and require maternity leave. Their work is underpaid on a gender basis. They are less likely to be promoted to managerial positions because of the so-called “ glass ceiling .” All these problems limit women’s economic rights.

Women’s Political Rights

Yes, women have voting rights in the majority of the world’s countries. Why isn’t that enough? Because they are still underrepresented in almost all the world’s governments. Only four countries have 50% of female parliamentarians. Laws are approved by men and for men.

Family & Parenting

The British Office for National Statistics has calculated that women spend 78% more time on childcare than men. They also perform most of the unpaid domestic work. Meanwhile, increasingly more mothers are employed or self-employed. It isn’t fair, is it?

Virginity is a myth. Still, women are encouraged to preserve it until a man decides to marry her. Any expression of female sexuality is criticized (or “ slut-shamed “). We live in the 21st century, but old fossilized prejudices persist.

📜 History of Feminism Essay Topics

First wave of feminism & earlier.

Ancient and medieval promoters of feminist ideas.
“Debate about women” in medieval literature and philosophy.
The emergence of feminism as an organized movement.
Enlightenment philosophers’ attitudes towards women.
The legal status of women in Renaissance.
Women’s Liberation Movement Evolution in the US.
Mary Wollstonecraft’s views on women’s rights.
Sociopolitical background of the suffrage movement.
The most prominent suffrage activists.
The Liberation Theme Concerning Women.
“Declaration of sentiments”: key points and drawbacks.
What was special about Sojourner Truth and her famous speech?
The significance of the first feminist convention in Seneca Falls.
The National Woman Suffrage Association: goals and tactics.
The influence of abolitionism on feminism ideas.
Why did some women prefer trade unions to feminism?
Radical feminists’ criticism of the suffrage movement.
The UK suffragists’ approach to gaining voting rights for women.
Alice Paul and Emmeline Pankhurst’s role in the suffrage movement.
The Nineteenth Amendment: the essence and significance.
Infighting in the post-suffrage era.

Second Wave of Feminism Essay Titles

How did second-wave feminism differ from the suffrage movement?
The roots of the second wave of feminism.
John Kennedy’s policies concerning women’s rights.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s contribution to feminism.
Debates on gender equality in the late 1960s.
Feminism activists’ achievements in 1960-1970.
What was the focus of second-wave feminist research?
Why was there no comprehensive feminist ideology?
Anarcho-, individualist, “Amazon,” and separatist feminism: key ideas.
The nature of liberal feminism.
How did liberal and radical feminism differ?
Why was cultural feminism also called “difference” feminism?
Liberal and Postmodernist Theories of Feminism.
What is the difference between liberal and radical feminism?
Black feminists’ challenges and input to the fight for equity.
Sociocultural differences in views on female liberation.
The globalization of feminism: positive and negative aspects.
Taliban’s oppression of Afghani women.
Women in the US Military: World War II.
What were the main concerns of feminists from developing countries?
Why did Third World women criticize Western feminists?
Feminism achievements to the end of the 20th century.

Third Wave of Feminism Research Topics

What was peculiar about the third wave of feminism?
Why did third-wave feminists consider their predecessors’ work unfinished?
Social, political, economic, and cultural premises of third-wave feminism.
How did the information revolution impact feminism?
Third Wave Foundation’s major goals.
Women’s Rights and Changes Over the 20th Century.
Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards’ views on feminism.
The impact of second wavers success on third-wave feminism.
New approaches in fighting discrimination, utilized by third-wave feminists.
The influence of the postmodern movement on feminism.
The concept of a gender continuum.
How did sexist symbols turn into female empowerment tools?
What was specific about third-wave feminist art?
Third-wavers’ redefinition of women as powerful and assertive figures.
“Girl power” in pop culture.
How did the Internet impact third-wave feminism?
Sexualized behavior: sexual liberation or oppression in disguise?
Why was third-wave feminism criticized?
The multifaceted nature of third-wave feminism.
Is multivocality a strength or weakness of third-wave feminism?
How did third wavers counter the criticism?

Fourth Wave of Feminism Essay Topics

The premises of fourth-wave feminism.
Feminism’s major goals after 2012.
Peculiarities of fourth-wave feminism.
What behavior is sexual harassment?
Gender Equality at the Heart of Development.
Sexual harassment: different gender-based perspectives.
Social media: a feminist tool.
Can social media deepen discrimination?
Gender discrimination in video games.
Musical Preferences: Race and Gender Influences.
GamerGate’s alleged “men’s rights campaign.”
Sexism in Donald Trump’s speech.
Women’s March: reasons and significance.
Main steps in MeToo’s development.
Tarana Burke’s fight for justice.
Gender Stereotypes of Superheroes.
MeToo’s contribution to women’s rights.
The most impactful MeToo stories.
Harvey Weinstein’s case: outcome’s implications.
Gender Roles in the Context of Religion.
Sexual harassment awareness after MeToo.
MeToo’s influence on Hollywood’s ethics.
Reasons for criticism of MeToo.
Social Change and the Environment.
Are sexual violence discussions necessary?

🙋‍ Argumentative Essay Topics on Feminism Movements

Mainstream feminism topics.

What is the focus of mainstream feminism?
Mainstream feminism predispositions in the 19th century.
The place of politics within mainstream feminism.
What is males’ place in mainstream feminism?
The correlation of mainstream feminism and social liberalism.
The correlation between mainstream feminism and state feminism.
Gender equality in the doctrine of mainstream feminism.
Why sunflower is the symbol of mainstream feminism?
Anthony Gidden’s ideas regarding liberal feminism.
Liberal feminism, according to Catherine Rottenberg.
Mary Wollstonecraft and her vision of liberal feminism.
Liberal feminism through John Stuart Mill’s perspective.
Interdependence of mainstream feminism and political liberalism.
NOW’s activities and mainstream feminism.
LWV’s activities and mainstream liberalism.
LGBT’s place in mainstream liberalism’s doctrine.
Discourse Analysis of the Me Too Movement’s Media Coverage.
Frances Wright’s role in establishing mainstream feminism.
Mainstream feminism and the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Constitutional Equity Amendment and mainstream feminism.
International Woman Suffrage Alliance’s activities and mainstream feminism.
Mainstream feminism and Gina Krog’s works.
Betty Friedan’s understanding of mainstream feminism.
Gloria Steinem’s theoretical contribution to mainstream feminism.
Simone de Beauvoir’s ideas and the framework of mainstream feminism.
Rebecca Walker and her vision within the scope of mainstream feminism.
NWPC’s activities and mainstream feminism.
WEAL’s activities and mainstream feminism.
Catherine Mackinnon and mainstream feminism’s critique.
“White woman’s burden” and mainstream feminism’s critique.
The roots of mainstream feminism in Europe.

Radical Feminism Essay Titles

Society’s order according to radical feminism.
Sexual objectification and radical feminism.
Gender roles according to radical feminism.
Shulamith Firestone’s ideas regarding the feminist revolution.
Ti-Grace Atkinson’s ideas in Radical feminism.
The vision of radical feminism on patriarchy.
Radical feminism’s impact on the women’s liberation movement.
Radical feminism’s roots in the early 1960s.
Kathie Sarachild’s role in radical feminism movements.
Carol Hanisch’s contribution to radical feminism.
Roxanne Dunbar and her radical feminism.
Naomi Weisstein and her vision of radical feminism.
Judith Brown’s activities in terms of radical feminism.
UCLA Women’s Liberation Front role in radical feminism.
Why have women come to be viewed as the “other?”
Ellen Willis’s ideas regarding radical feminism.
Redstockings’ role in radical feminism.
The feminist’s role in radical feminism.
Differences between The Feminists’ and Restokings’ positions.
The protest against Miss America in 1968.
11-hour sit-in at the Ladies Home Journal headquarters.
Forms of direct action in radical feminism.
Protest of biased coverage of lesbians in 1972.
Lisa Tuttle’s vision of radical feminism.
Catharine MacKinnon’s position regarding pornography.
Peculiarities of radical lesbian feminism.
Recognition of trans women in radical feminism.
Radical feminism in the New Left.
Mary Daly’s vision of radical feminism.
Robin Morgan’s vision of radical feminism.

🎯 Persuasive Women’s Rights Essay Topics

Healthcare and reproductive rights of women.

Is abortion morally acceptable?
Why is the fight for child care not over?
Should government participate in birth control?
Researching of Maternity Care in Haiti.
Government’s moral right to cancel abortions.
Should the government allow abortions?
What are birth control and its meaning?
Abortion rights recently disappeared in the US.
Gender Disparity in Colorectal Cancer Screening.
Why are women’s rights becoming less vital?
Western world’s degradation in women’s rights issue.
Canceling abortion endangers women’s human rights.
Female access to healthcare in developing countries.
Developed countries’ role in improving women’s healthcare.
Media’s contribution to legalizing abortions.
Middle-Aged Women’s Health and Lifestyle Choices.
Female genital mutilation’s moral side.
Feminism’s impact on LGBTQ healthcare rights.
The reproductive rights of women are everyone’s problem.
Abortion rights’ impact on country’s economy.
Protection From Infringement and Discrimination.
Women’s reproductive rights in developing countries.
Abortion rights crisis and the UN’s failure in achieving SDG#4.
UN’s contribution to achieving equal healthcare rights.
IGO’s impact on women’s reproductive rights issue.
Report on the Speech by Gianna Jessen.
Is birth control already at risk?
Why should abortions not be allowed?
Meaning of reproductive justice.
Reproductive rights movement’s role in the country’s development.
Single Mothers, Poverty, and Mental Health Issues.
The reproductive rights movement, as all social movements’ drivers.
Abortion’s relation to healthcare rights.
Healthcare rights’ impact on a country’s economic development.
Political agenda behind abortion cancellation.
Feminism’s role in national healthcare.

Economic Rights, Salaries, and Access to Education for Women

Definition of women’s economic rights.
Female economic rights’ impact on the economy.
Female economic rights and education.
Gender Prevalence in Medical Roles.
Can women do “male jobs”?
Gender inequality in the workplace.
Women’s economic rights movements.
How Wealth Inequality Affects Democracy in America.
Barriers to gender-equal economic rights.
Gender inequality by social classes.
Female economic rights and poverty.
Can equal economic rights solve SDG#1?
Gender-Based Discrimination in the Workplace.
Why is it important to have equal access to education?
How did the gender pay gap appear?
Why does the gender pay gap exist?
Women’s economic rights and industrialization.
Characteristics of Mayo Clinic.
Female economic rights worldwide.
Legal rights of women workers.
Laws that protect women’s economic rights.
Women as leaders in the workplace.
The Future of Women at Work in the Age of Automation.
Why are companies against women workers?
Fertility’s impact on female economic rights.
Quiet revolution’s impact female workforce.
Reasons to monitor occupational dissimilarity index.
Women’s Roles in Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism.
Female economic rights in developing countries.
Democracy and female economic rights.
Gender pay gap as a global problem.
ILO’s role in the fight for equal economic rights?
Politics’ impact on female economic rights.
Health Disparities: Solving the Problem.
Female economic rights movement and the fight against racism.
The best practices in achieving gender-equal economic rights.
Democracy and gender pay gap.
Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value.

Women’s Political Rights Essay Topics

Women’s suffrage movement definition.
Female suffrage movement’s significance.
Causes of gender inequality in politics.
Women’s suffrage movement’s role today.
Female suffrage’s impact on democracy.
Women’s suffrage and economy.
Suffrage movement’s effect on politics in the US.
Do women need the right to vote?
Effects of gender inequality on politics.
Suffrage movement and politics in Britain.
Laws for gender-equal political rights.
The correlation between gender inequality in politics and authoritarianism.
The possible solutions to gender inequality in politics.
The role of IGOs in solving gender inequality in politics.
How has the UN participated in the women’s suffrage movement?
What is women’s role in politics in developing countries?
How can women improve politics in their countries?
What can men do for women’s equal political rights?
Why equal rights to vote are everyone’s problem?
The impact of Antoinette Louisa Brown on women’s suffrage.
The effect of equal rights to education on equal political rights.
Are western policies for equal rights applicable in developing countries?
The importance of equal rights to vote.
How to eliminate the gender pay gap?
Why had women not had equal rights in politics?
Is politics a “male job”?
Benefits of appearance of female leaders in politics.
Who created the women’s suffrage movement?
How does women’s suffrage impact racism?
Women’s suffrage contribution to LGBTQ communities’ equal political rights.

Family and Parenting Research Titles

Female and male roles in a family.
Sexism in families.
Eliminating sexism in families is the best solution to gender inequality.
Why is feminism a pro-family movement?
The Childbirth Process in Women’s Experiences.
The benefits of feminist upbringing.
The causes of sexism in families.
How does feminism help LGBTQ parents?
Why should sexism be legally banned?
Healthcare Resources and Equity in Their Distribution.
The effects of sexism in families.
The influence of sexist customs on society.
Why should every family be feminist?
How can feminism help solve the domestic violence issue?
Government’s role in creating feminist families.
What is feminist family value?
The relation of authoritarian parent-paradigm on politics.
Can feminist families bring democracy?
Teaching feminism at home vs. at school.
Traditional vs. Feminist parenting.
Why should women have the right to be child-free?
The impact of bringing up feminist daughters.
Can feminist parents bring up mentally healthy children?
Does the government have a moral right to endorse feminist values?
The role of media for feminist families.
How does feminism transform parent-child relationships?
Can feminism help families overcome poverty?
The role of feminist families in the economy.
The influence of hierarchal husband-wife relationships on children.
Do IGOs have moral rights to intervene in feminist families?
The movements endorsing feminism in families.
The effect of different views on feminism in parents on children.

Sexuality Essay Ideas

The views of radical feminists on women’s sexuality.
Who are sex-positive feminists, and their values?
Feminism’s impact on sexual orientation.
The role of feminism in sexual identity matters.
Gender-Based Violence Against Women and Girls.
How does feminism help eliminate sexual violence?
What is harassment, and why are feminists fighting it?
The role of media in women’s sexuality.
Traditional views on women’s sexuality.
How is feminism transforming sexuality?
Domestic Violence and COVID-19 Relation.
What are feminist sex wars?
Why are some feminists against pornography?
What are pro-pornography feminist arguments?
How is feminism protecting the rights of sex workers?
Rights of sex workers in developed vs. developing countries.
Media Promotion of Cosmetic Surgery in Women.
Feminist critique of censorship.
What is behind the issue of sex trafficking?
Children’s rape problem and feminism.
The role of feminism in solving the sex trafficking problem.
The Influence of the Women Image in the Media.
R v. Butler case discussion.
How is pornography enhancing sexual objectification?
How is poverty causing prostitution?
Can feminism eliminate prostitution by solving poverty?
Child Marriage in Egypt and Ways to Stop It.
Pro-sex worker feminists and their beliefs.
What are the perspectives of pro-sex workers?
The consequences of violence against women.
The role of feminism to LGBTQ sex workers.
Why are feminists trying to decriminalize prostitution?
Beauty Standards: “The Body Myth” by Rebecca Johnson.
Prostitution in developed vs. developing countries.
The effect of class and race differences on prostitution.
Short- and long-term impacts on sex workers.

👩‍🎓 Essay Topics on Women’s Rights in the World

Essay topics on feminism in developing countries.

Social taboos and abortion in Nigeria.
Access to sexual healthcare in Asia.
Human Papillomavirus Awareness in Saudi Women.
Sexual health and access to contraception in developing countries.
Coronavirus pandemic’s impact on gender inequalities.
Health and education access for women in Afghanistan.
Female Empowerment in the Islamic States.
Does poverty result in increased sexual violence?
Regulations on gender equality in developing countries.
Unsafe abortion, contraceptive use, and women’s health.
Female genital mutilation in the 21st century.
Practicing female genital mutation in Africa.
Gender Discrimination After the Reemergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Which countries have the highest gender gap?
Forced and child marriages in humanitarian settings.
The Taliban’s view: Is woman a property?
Feminism in Latin America.
Honor killing in Pakistan: 1000 women are killed annually.
Women’s access to healthcare in Somalia.

Feminism Essay Topics in Developed Countries

“Broken Rung” and the gender pay gap.
What are the obstacles to reaching gender equality?
Do gender stereotypes result in workplace discrimination?
Increased educational attainment of young women.
Culture: Women With Hijab in Western Countries.
Ending sexual harassment and violence against women.
Is sexual harassment a form of discrimination?
Cracking the glass ceiling: What are the barriers and challenges?
Domestic drama: The impact of sexual violence on women’s health.
Socio-cultural Factors That Affected Sport in Australian Society.
Feminism and the problem of misogyny.
The challenges faced by women in developed counties.
Female participation in the labor market.
Discrimination Against Girls in Canada.
Unequal pay for women in the workplace.
How do developed countries improve women’s rights?
Nations with strong women’s rights.
Women’s employment: Obstacles and challenges.

👸 Antifeminist Essay Topics

Antifeminism: The right to abortion.
Gender differences in suicide.
Manliness in American culture.
Antifeminism view: Men are in crisis.
The threats of society’s feminization.
The meaning of antifeminism across time and cultures.
Antifeminism attracts both men and women.
Gender and Science: Origin, History, and Politics.
Antifeminism: The opposition to women’s equality?
How do religious and cultural norms formulate antifeminism?
Saving masculinity or promoting gender equality?
Traditional gender division of labor: Fair or not?
Are feminist theories of patriarchy exaggerated?
Oppression of men in the 21st century.
Psychological sex differences and biological tendencies.
Does feminism make it harder for men to succeed?
The change of women’s roles: Impact on the family.
How were traditional gender roles challenged in modern culture?
History of antifeminism: The pro-family movement.
Religion and contemporary antifeminism.
Antifeminist on the rights of minorities.
Heterosexual and patriarchal family: Facts behind antifeminism.
Women against feminism in Western countries.
Feminism versus humanism: What is the difference?
Does feminism portray women as victims?
Same-sex marriage: The dispute between feminists and antifeminists.
Male-oriented values of religions and antifeminism.
Does antifeminism threaten the independence of women?
Men’s rights movement: Manosphere.
Does antifeminism refer to extremism?
The fear of being labeled as a feminist.
A Vindication of the Right of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft.
Jane Austen: Criticism of inequitable social rules.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: Frankenstein and aborted creations.
Undercutting female stereotypes in Jane Eyre.
“Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body” by Marion.
Oppression of woman’s traditional roles in The Awakening.
Society’s inequitable treatment of women in The Age of Innocence.
Virginia Woolf and her feminism.
Orlando: A Biography. Evolving from man to woman.
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Title: mapping the increasing use of llms in scientific papers.

Abstract: Scientific publishing lays the foundation of science by disseminating research findings, fostering collaboration, encouraging reproducibility, and ensuring that scientific knowledge is accessible, verifiable, and built upon over time. Recently, there has been immense speculation about how many people are using large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT in their academic writing, and to what extent this tool might have an effect on global scientific practices. However, we lack a precise measure of the proportion of academic writing substantially modified or produced by LLMs. To address this gap, we conduct the first systematic, large-scale analysis across 950,965 papers published between January 2020 and February 2024 on the arXiv, bioRxiv, and Nature portfolio journals, using a population-level statistical framework to measure the prevalence of LLM-modified content over time. Our statistical estimation operates on the corpus level and is more robust than inference on individual instances. Our findings reveal a steady increase in LLM usage, with the largest and fastest growth observed in Computer Science papers (up to 17.5%). In comparison, Mathematics papers and the Nature portfolio showed the least LLM modification (up to 6.3%). Moreover, at an aggregate level, our analysis reveals that higher levels of LLM-modification are associated with papers whose first authors post preprints more frequently, papers in more crowded research areas, and papers of shorter lengths. Our findings suggests that LLMs are being broadly used in scientific writings.

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Talking politics with strangers isn't as awful as you'd expect, research suggests

Many of us avoid discussing politics with someone who holds an opposing viewpoint, assuming the exchange will turn nasty or awkward. But having those conversations is far more gratifying than we expect, a new research paper suggests.

Across a series of experiments involving hundreds of U.S. adults, a team of scientists found that individuals underestimate the social connection they can make with a stranger who disagrees with them. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

These low expectations may help to explain why people think those on the opposite side of the political spectrum have more extreme views than they actually do, behavioral scientists Kristina A. Wald (University of Pennsylvania), Michael Kardas (Oklahoma State University), and Nicholas Epley (University of Chicago) wrote in an article about their research.

"Mistakenly fearing a negative interaction may create misplaced partisan divides," they wrote, "not only keeping people from connecting with each other but also keeping people from learning about each other and from each other."

The experimenters found evidence, through experiments conducted online and in person, that people prefer to avoid hot-button issues, especially with people who disagree with them. People also tend to advise their friends and relatives to avoid such conversations.

But Wald, Kardas, and Epley believed people would find discussing their political differences to be a more positive experience than expected, at least partly because people fail to appreciate the extent to which conversations are informative and draw people closer together.

To test their theory, they asked nearly 200 participants in one experiment for their opinions on divisive political and religious topics, such as abortion and climate change. The researchers then divided the participants into pairs and assigned them to discuss one of these topics. Some participants were told in advance whether their partners agreed with them or not, but others entered the discussions unaware of their partners' views.

All the participants reported how positively or negatively they expected the conversation to be, then engaged in the discussion while being video recorded. Afterward, the participants rated their sentiments about the dialogue. Research assistants also viewed the videos of the conversations and evaluated them across several dimensions.

As predicted, the participants underestimated how positive their conversation experience would be, but this tendency was largest when they disagreed with their partner. Participants in this disagreement condition also underestimated the similarities in their opinions. Coders who watched the videos of these conversations confirmed that participants tended to stay on topic, and that the conversations were consistently positive whether the participants agreed or disagreed.

In another experiment, the researchers tested their hypothesis that people underestimate how the process of conversation itself -- actual back-and-forth dialogue -- connects people. To do so, they randomly assigned participants to discuss a divisive topic they agreed or disagreed on, but they also randomly assigned participants to either have a conversation about the topic in a dialogue format or to simply learn of their partners' beliefs on the topic in a monologue format. In the monologue format, each person separately recorded themselves talking about their opinion and then watched the other person's recording.

Overall, the participants underestimated how positive their interactions would be, especially when they disagreed with their partner, the researchers noted. But this tendency was especially strong when people actually had a conversation with their partner rather than simply learning of their beliefs in a monologue. The social forces in conversation that draw people together through back-and-forth dialogue are not only powerful, but they appear to be even more powerful than people expect.

The researchers cautioned that their experiments involved participants talking with strangers; the experiments did not reveal how disagreements unfold among family and friends. Still, they said their findings illustrate the benefits of talking and listening to others rather than typing and broadcasting in debates on social media.

Our reluctance to discuss our differences denies us some positive social interactions, the authors concluded.

"Misunderstanding the outcomes of a conversation," they wrote, "could lead people to avoid discussing disagreements more often, creating a misplaced barrier to learning, social connection, free inquiry, and free expression."

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Journal Reference :

Kristina A. Wald, Michael Kardas, Nicholas Epley. Misplaced Divides? Discussing Political Disagreement With Strangers Can Be Unexpectedly Positive . Psychological Science , 2024; DOI: 10.1177/09567976241230005

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Research team creates a chemistry map for human cells

by National Physical Laboratory

Scientists shed light on the chemistry of human cells

Scientists at NPL worked with Diamond Light Source to publish a study that shows how the chemistry of human cells changes, depending on the structure of their extracellular niche, are major determinants of cell responses and development pathways. The paper is published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces .

The human body undergoes renewal by specializing "blank" cells—termed stem cells—into primary cells organized into tissues according to their environment. The environment is created by extracellular matrices or scaffolds on which cells build up tissues and organs.

Cell responses to these matrices provide performance metrics that are critical for the development of cell-based diagnostics and therapies. Some of the important metrics are obtained using microscopy and biological assays, which, however, fail to capture the chemistry of cells and how it changes at different cell-matrix interfaces.

This shortcoming continues to hamper progress in health care and technology innovation , as chemistry is the direct reflection of cellular processes responsible for tissue growth and repair.

Scientists at NPL set out to address this gap by recording InfraRed maps of human primary and stem cells grown on native and synthetic matrices.

InfraRed spectroscopy can access virtually all chemical information available in the cell but cannot tell the cell from its matrix or recognize different parts of the same cell. Therefore, a correlative approach involving the use of physical imaging, provided by light and atomic force microscopy , to guide chemical spectra was necessary.

To achieve this, NPL collaborated with beamline scientists at Diamond Light Source, biologists from Sheffield and London Colleges and data expertise from Cambridge. Together, they developed a spectral imaging approach which not only allowed them to obtain chemical maps of single cells but also to cross-compare their chemistry signatures in response to matrices exhibiting distinct physical properties.

Their study also demonstrates the efficiency of correlative measurements to explain cell behavior at cell-matrix interfaces in 2D, as well as the need to develop analogous and more advanced methodologies to measure cell-matrix interfaces in 3D, pathing a way to impact for health care and solutions towards human tissue regeneration.

Max Ryadnov, NPL Fellow, said, "The study was an exciting collaboration which provided us with important insights into how the chemical make-up of human cells correlates with the physical changes of the molecular scaffolds that support their growth and development. The study also informed next steps in our developments focusing on correlative measurements of living biological systems."

Journal information: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

Provided by National Physical Laboratory

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3. problems students are facing at public k-12 schools.

We asked teachers about how students are doing at their school. Overall, many teachers hold negative views about students’ academic performance and behavior.

48% say the academic performance of most students at their school is fair or poor; a third say it’s good and only 17% say it’s excellent or very good.
49% say students’ behavior at their school is fair or poor; 35% say it’s good and 13% rate it as excellent or very good.

Teachers in elementary, middle and high schools give similar answers when asked about students’ academic performance. But when it comes to students’ behavior, elementary and middle school teachers are more likely than high school teachers to say it’s fair or poor (51% and 54%, respectively, vs. 43%).

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing that many teachers hold negative views about students’ academic performance and behavior.

Teachers from high-poverty schools are more likely than those in medium- and low-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are fair or poor.

The differences between high- and low-poverty schools are particularly striking. Most teachers from high-poverty schools say the academic performance (73%) and behavior (64%) of most students at their school are fair or poor. Much smaller shares of teachers from low-poverty schools say the same (27% for academic performance and 37% for behavior).

In turn, teachers from low-poverty schools are far more likely than those from high-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are excellent or very good.

Lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing that most teachers say the pandemic has had a lasting negative impact on students’ behavior, academic performance and emotional well-being.

Among those who have been teaching for at least a year, about eight-in-ten teachers say the lasting impact of the pandemic on students’ behavior, academic performance and emotional well-being has been very or somewhat negative. This includes about a third or more saying that the lasting impact has been very negative in each area.

Shares ranging from 11% to 15% of teachers say the pandemic has had no lasting impact on these aspects of students’ lives, or that the impact has been neither positive nor negative. Only about 5% say that the pandemic has had a positive lasting impact on these things.

A smaller majority of teachers (55%) say the pandemic has had a negative impact on the way parents interact with teachers, with 18% saying its lasting impact has been very negative.

These results are mostly consistent across teachers of different grade levels and school poverty levels.

Major problems at school

When we asked teachers about a range of problems that may affect students who attend their school, the following issues top the list:

Poverty (53% say this is a major problem at their school)
Chronic absenteeism – that is, students missing a substantial number of school days (49%)
Anxiety and depression (48%)

One-in-five say bullying is a major problem among students at their school. Smaller shares of teachers point to drug use (14%), school fights (12%), alcohol use (4%) and gangs (3%).

Differences by school level

A bar chart showing that high school teachers more likely to say chronic absenteeism, anxiety and depression are major problems.

Similar shares of teachers across grade levels say poverty is a major problem at their school, but other problems are more common in middle or high schools:

61% of high school teachers say chronic absenteeism is a major problem at their school, compared with 43% of elementary school teachers and 46% of middle school teachers.
69% of high school teachers and 57% of middle school teachers say anxiety and depression are a major problem, compared with 29% of elementary school teachers.
34% of middle school teachers say bullying is a major problem, compared with 13% of elementary school teachers and 21% of high school teachers.

Not surprisingly, drug use, school fights, alcohol use and gangs are more likely to be viewed as major problems by secondary school teachers than by those teaching in elementary schools.

Differences by poverty level

A dot plot showing that majorities of teachers in medium- and high-poverty schools say chronic absenteeism is a major problem.

Teachers’ views on problems students face at their school also vary by school poverty level.

Majorities of teachers in high- and medium-poverty schools say chronic absenteeism is a major problem where they teach (66% and 58%, respectively). A much smaller share of teachers in low-poverty schools say this (34%).

Bullying, school fights and gangs are viewed as major problems by larger shares of teachers in high-poverty schools than in medium- and low-poverty schools.

When it comes to anxiety and depression, a slightly larger share of teachers in low-poverty schools (51%) than in high-poverty schools (44%) say these are a major problem among students where they teach.

Discipline practices

About two-thirds of teachers (66%) say that the current discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat mild – including 27% who say they’re very mild. Only 2% say the discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat harsh, while 31% say they are neither harsh nor mild.

We also asked teachers about the amount of influence different groups have when it comes to determining discipline practices at their school.

67% say teachers themselves don’t have enough influence. Very few (2%) say teachers have too much influence, and 29% say their influence is about right.

A diverging bar chart showing that two-thirds of teachers say they don’t have enough influence over discipline practices at their school.

31% of teachers say school administrators don’t have enough influence, 22% say they have too much, and 45% say their influence is about right.
On balance, teachers are more likely to say parents, their state government and the local school board have too much influence rather than not enough influence in determining discipline practices at their school. Still, substantial shares say these groups have about the right amount of influence.

Teachers from low- and medium-poverty schools (46% each) are more likely than those in high-poverty schools (36%) to say parents have too much influence over discipline practices.

In turn, teachers from high-poverty schools (34%) are more likely than those from low- and medium-poverty schools (17% and 18%, respectively) to say that parents don’t have enough influence.

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Table of contents, ‘back to school’ means anytime from late july to after labor day, depending on where in the u.s. you live, among many u.s. children, reading for fun has become less common, federal data shows, most european students learn english in school, for u.s. teens today, summer means more schooling and less leisure time than in the past, about one-in-six u.s. teachers work second jobs – and not just in the summer, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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8 Feminist Qualitative Research: Toward Transformation of Science and Society

What Is Feminist Research?

Feminist Research as Corrective

Challenging Traditional Methods

Feminist Epistemology

Feminist Empiricists

Feminist Standpoint Perspective

Postmodern Perspectives on Research

Implications for Feminist Qualitative Methods

Values of Feminist Research

Reflexivity

Collaboration

Research as Advocacy and Empowerment

Challenges to Feminist Research

Forms of Feminist Qualitative Research

In-Depth Interviews

Narratives as Research

Discourse Analysis

Focus Groups

Feminist Phenomenological Approaches

Participatory Action Research

Innovations in Feminist Research

Developing Consciousness

Double Consciousness

Oppositional Consciousness

Trans/Feminist Methodology

Dialectic Thinking

Future Directions

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