Feminist Methodologies Essay example

Feminism is a perspective not a research method, meaning there are multiple ways to approach the study of women (Reinharz, 1992). However, a central goal of feminist empiricism, standpoint epistemology, and post–modernism methodologies is that women's lives are important and must understand women from their perspective and in context (O'Donnell, 1985, in Reinharz, 1992). Feminist methodologies all share a dedication to move the focus from the masculine perspective to incorporating both men and women to advance knowledge (DeVault, 1996). Therefore, it is research about women but also for women. It aims to identify various intelligences, the different ways of knowing, and to give a say to the silent voices (DeVault, 1996). Feminist...show more content...

Harding (1987) acknowledges there are three feminist methodologies depending on the relationship between experience and theory the researcher takes. These differences are based on epistemology and the research approach, instead of data collection (Davidson & Tolich, 2003), and each methodology shapes the research methods used (Skeggs, 1995). The first is feminist empiricism developed in the 1960s–1970s. It opposed the universality of male experience, and the partial knowledge that patriarchal methods provided (Burns & Walker, 2005). Women were thus added into research to remove the sexist bias, as these researchers believed women see the world differently to men, and experiences by women bring an objective knowledge that is central to challenging stereotypes and untruths (Skeggs, 1995). This methodology seeks equal opportunities for men and women, achieving this by questioning society and using mainstream methods in a new way.

The second is feminist standpoint epistemology. This position views the oppressed to be the source of knowledge as they are the ones with the experience and knowing. Researchers thus understand the world from the view of the oppressed women in that particular location (Skeggs, 1995). However, as the social control of women (race, history, and interests) differs across cultures, this methodology uses 'insider' investigation to enhance knowledge on a particular group by transferring all authority

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The past century saw women in Britain gain control of their fertility, acquire access to education and establish their status as equal citizens. The British social order came a long way from 1890s when women in Britain were legally restricted to the point they could not enter a contract, own property or have parental rights; unmarried women were challenged by society and pressured in to marriage (British History Oxford, 2007).The women's rights and suffrage movements in the period between 1832 and 1918, which is known as 'The first feminist wave', aimed to challenge the idea of women being the inferior sex and demanded equal rights. This 'so called' first wave ended with the 'Royal Assent to the Representation of the People Parliament Act'...show more content...

Modern feminists are concerned with inequalities in success, which are usually defined by financial wealth and social protection. The modern feminist movement strives to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. (London Feminist Network, 2011); Conservative feminists are guided strictly by the feminist philosophy of equal rights. Asfeminism spreads around the world, the British experience will indicate the significance of feminism in the modern world.

Financial independence affords individuals freedom of choice; therefore a general consensus in modern, materialistic, society is that money and power are the most important entities. Typical research on equality reflects this idea. The Equal Opportunities Commission found that women receive, on average, 20% less money than men. The wage gap is especially evident in single parent families where women are the primary earners (Parekh, McInnis and Kenway, 2010). The pay gap cannot be attributed to education as females have finished high school with better grades than males since 1938 (Powney, 1996). The sustained increase in female certification by all logic should have reflected in the employment market. Given this, the cause is assumed to be gender discrimination. Pay inequality restricts women professionally and leads to women being forced to choose between a career and motherhood. Families that choose to have a child have to look at childcare. It is generally financially

Scandinavians attach their ideals and perspectives to their fictional narratives. As literature also entails, Scandinavians value egalitarianism in their society. In order to achieve an equal society, Scandinavians attempt to first instill equality amongst genders. Through Scandinavian literature and films, it has been evident that society has made successful progress towards removing traditional views. However, instead of reaching equality for both sexes the Scandinavians have evolved more towards the other side of the spectrum – feminism. So through what mechanisms does Scandinavian fiction portray the rise of feminism as the step away from masculinity? In their pursuit of gender equality, Scandinavians seem to merely deviate from male dominated perspectives and alternatively rise towards feminist ideals. Instead of leaning toward gender–neutral perspectives, some Scandinavian authors establish plotlines based around women rights. They attach feminist values to their narratives by employing mechanisms such that of undermining the patriarchy. Through the depiction of female protagonists, authors are able to successfully advocate for women rights, but at the same time they end up patronizing the opposite sex. For example in the Swedish play, The Father, traditional views of male domination are lifted through the examination of patriarchal doubts. Instead of a collective view on gender, the play portrays the superiority of women and it questions the fatherhood aspect in most

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Just seeing more of life, just recognizing that there are an awful lot of things that are common among people. There are certain things that you come to learn promote a better life and better relationships and more personal fulfillment than other things that in general tend to do the opposite, and the things that promote these things, you would call them morally right.[1]

The normative questions that come to fill one's life, in this woman's account, presume goals and methods that are inseparable from the history that creates a person as s/he is. However, that, over time, people change in moral thinking does not mean that everyone develops along a single track to moral enlightenment in a set ethical system....show more content...

Against these systems and instances of domination, feminists rally for what is "morally right". But what if the very concept of what is morally right is itself a part of the vast interlocking system of domination that keeps women in the subordinate roles feminists try to oppose?

The recognition of a complex system of political, economic, ideological, and social domination is considered, while never sufficient, at least, hopefully, a first step towards change and a new, better, world. The merry equation of knowledge of the wrong with its correction presumes the neutrality of the omnipresent medium of ethical evaluation and moral action. In an effort to avoid the theories that drive women's oppression, various feminists have endorsed standpoint theories rooted in women's experiences as strategic ways to rethink the world with the ultimate goal of opposing domination and crafting some sort of better society. What I want to consider is the particular standpoint reworking of the ethical that calls for 'ethics of care' in the stead of ethics of pure reason. Ethics are, in a sense, at least presently the basis for critiques of moral wrongs (and women's domination in particular), and maybe inevitably so. If alternative ethics, based on care rather than Reasoned Laws, fail to meet the criteria that originally validate the feminist endorsement of feminine standpoints to begin Get