Feminist Research Methodology Research Articles

Enacting Feminist Methodologies in Research Toward Reproductive Justice

Reporting on the development of an ongoing qualitative research project with clients of midwifery care in New Brunswick, Canada, this article details the ways that methodology is complexly interwoven with political praxis. Working through the development of this project, this article models one way to enact politically engaged feminist research at each stage of the research process, from developing the research question, through research design, data collection, analysis, and theory generation. In the process, three core principles of feminist research methodologies are extended: co-construction of knowledge, researcher reflexivity, and reciprocal relationships in research. This research is caught up in and responds to a fraught political context where supports for reproductive healthcare are limited, and midwifery, abortion, and gender-affirming care are all framed as “fringe” services that exceed the austerity budget of the province. Participants engaged in this study with a clear understanding of this political terrain and approached interviews as an opportunity to share their experiences, and to advocate for the continuation and expansion of midwifery and related services in the province. Through the research process, it has become evident that midwifery must be understood as part of the struggle toward reproductive justice in this province. These reflections will direct further stages of the project, including ongoing research and dissemination.

Confronting myself

In this paper I illustrate how auto/biography, drawing on feminist research methodology, enabled me to chronicle and theorise the lived experience of class relations in the academy. I explain how auto-diegetic auto/biographical doctoral research has provided me with ‘both a mode of representation and a mode of reasoning’ (Richardson, 1997, p. 28) which was therapeutic, reflexive, as well as agentic to help me understand the sense of displacement in the academy and how I used my doctorate to redress that.

Historicizing Feminism in Pakistan

This paper is historisization of feminism/feminist movement in Pakistan which has been influenced by national and global rearrangement of power, nationalism, dictatorship, democracy and the War on Terror (WoT). It presents the evolution and transformation of feminism in Pakistan since its inception; also gives an overview of the issues, challenges and achievements of the feminism and how it has evolved to its recent form passing through over seven decades of its journey. It also tries to address the question, where it goes from here, whether the feminist movement expands its scope, or shrivels into little niche pockets of identity-based resistance, is a question for the future. The article heavily relies on desk review of literature produced on feminism in Pakistan. Additionally, a qualitative research was carried out to explore subjectivities, realities, and opinions of women who have been part of feminist movement through in-depth interviews. The second part of in depth interviews included opponents of feminism both men and women belonging to religious right. A purposive and judgement sample was selected keeping in mind the research questions as well as consideration of research resources available. In-depth interviews method of inquiry of Feminist Research Methodology (FRM) was utilised to gain insights and opinions of preselected research participants.

Acts of Agency: Exploring a Feminist Approach to Abortion Research in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, abortion continues to be a criminal offence under the Penal Code of 1883. Several attempts have been made to challenge the colonial-era law since the 1990s with no success thus far. This study documents and centres the knowledge of women and transpersons in accessing abortion and sexual health and reproductive health services in Sri Lanka in order to contribute to the conversation on abortion law reform as well as research and advocacy. Our data suggest that the existing legal reforms proposed to the abortion law would be unresponsive to the needs of women and transpersons in Sri Lanka, and that in additional to legal changes, we would need significant social and cultural changes. This study uses feminist research methodologies, building towards a feminist ethics in abortion research.

Queer Theory and Feminist Methods: A Review

Feminist research methodologies seek to conduct research that aligns with the political and social project of feminism. These research methodologies specifically focus on women's voice, experiences, and contributions, center a feminist perspective and adopt premises and assumptions of a feminist worldview. Some of these premises—raising critical consciousness, encouraging social change, and emphasizing a diversity of human experience related to gender at the intersection of race, sexuality, and other categories of identity—align with the premises and assumptions of queer theory. Since both feminist and queer research methods aim to centralize the experiences of people marginalized under racist, sexist, heterosexist, patriarchal, and imperialist conditions, both methods seek decentralization of and liberation from such experiences in research methodologies. While this paper will briefly discuss these important points of alignment between feminist methods and queer theory, the main purpose will be to distinguish these two broad approaches and to outline what queer theory additionally brings to the table.

Balancing generosity and critique: reflections on interviewing young men and implications for research methodologies and ethics

Feminist research methodologies have challenged power imbalances in qualitative interviews and gendered inequalities more broadly. We explore the methodological and ethical complexities of, and implications for, doing feminist research with young men. We draw on two studies in which narrative interviews with young men were conducted: one in 2014 and 2015 with 28 middle-class men between the ages of 20 and 31 living in Australia and Germany; and one a longitudinal study beginning in 2009 in the south-east of England with 24 working-class men between the ages of 18 and 24. We explore the production of narratives in interviews with young men, rapport-building, and interactional issues. Balancing generosity and critique emerges as a key ethical and methodological consideration for research conducted with young men. We suggest that negotiating the tensions of this balance can hold key possibilities for research and for proliferating alternative modes of masculinity.

Photovoice: documenting lives in aquaculture and fisheries through a gendered photo lens

Photovoice is a research approach in which participants use photography to tell stories of issues important to them. Is Photovoice a suitable feminist research method for gender in fisheries and aquaculture? Literature on feminist research methodologies was reviewed to establish four criteria, namely, does Photovoice: (1) embody feminist research approaches? (2) use safe methods and sharing of results? (3) enable inclusion and empowerment for women? (4) reach decision makers as a potential vehicle for change? Forty articles on Photovoice based research were assessed for their relevance to the four criteria and 24 of these selected for detailed review. The evidence is that Photovoice can engage and empower women – as researchers - to gain insights into their own worlds, widen their community networks, reflect on current reality, and portray through photos and explanations what would be a preferred better reality. It also provides the primary researcher an ‘inside looking out’ perspective. Photovoice methods are aligned with feminist research approaches because they consider ethical issues to safeguard and potentially empower participants. Participants can gain empowerment by accessing decision makers who are normally beyond their reach, although action and change is not guaranteed. In developed, and developing countries, where the majority of women are employed, Photovoice research is applicable to fisheries and aquaculture.

Speculative Archiving of a Potential Future Literary Award: Embedded Publishing Studies Research

Over the course of my doctoral research in publishing studies, I have become curious about the kind of embedded live collaborative study I am undertaking, which is working towards the potential creation of a new literary prize. This article will add to existing scholarship by examining how research can be conceived of as an active part of evidence-based prize creation. To do so, it will draw on feminist research methodology and record formation scholarship, and examine how other awards and literary organisations conceptualise their archives. The article will then present the original findings of the study, beginning with the conceptualisation of the researcher as inhabiting three distinct roles, moving on to modelling the relationship between the researcher and the prize project, concluding with an exploration of these relationships through autoethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews. The article will conclude asserting what these findings mean for this kind of live award scholarship.

Researching women’s leadership in Asia and the Pacific – reflections on feminist research approaches in design and in practice

ABSTRACTThis article explores how the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) and partners have navigated the complexities and, sometimes competing, priorities, of feminist research methodology and values, in our practice. It demonstrates how, ultimately, decision-making processes along the way have been guided by the feminist values that underpin the research designs and the assertion that the process is as important as the outcome. We reflect in particular on the design and practice of two research projects undertaken by IWDA with partner women’s rights organisations in Asia Pacific. Under the Women’s Action for Voice and Empowerment programme, the projects – the Women’s Leadership Pathways research project and the Public Perceptions of Women as Leaders research project – explore the enablers and barriers to women’s leadership, from both public and private perspectives. The designs of both projects are mindful of hierarchies of authority and knowledge within the research processes that reinforce the status quo and power dynamics between the ‘expert’ and the ‘subject’ of the research. They also challenge the dynamics of power around the production and ownership of knowledge in academic spaces. They do this through collaborative designs that are locally led and owned, and through a strong valuing of women’s voices in research.

GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH

Researching women’s experiences of business ownership has historically been met with methodological challenges (Stevenson, 1990). Biological sex was used in entrepreneurship research to explain the differences in rates of activity between male and female ventures (Gupta et al., 2009). The use of gender as a lens enables the exploration of how gender and entrepreneurship is constructed within society and the impact of such on rates and types of entrepreneurial activity (Gupta et al., 2009). So, the question is no longer focused on whether gender impacts business ownership but how (Ahl & Marlow, 2012). Analyzing feminist research methodologies it is important to consider poststructuralist feminist theory. According to Ahl (2002) poststructuralist feminist research avoid essentialism and polarizing men and women and sees gender including the body as a socially constructed phenomenon that is culturally historically and locally specific. Gender is used as an analytical category, but instead of taking it for granted, using qualitative methods one can look at how it is constructed.Instead of looking at physical men and women and using their sex as an explanatory variable, one may look at how gender is accomplished in different contexts.

Understanding Feminist Research Methodology in Social Sciences

For the purpose of analysis and assessment of the great literary and non-literary argumentations, the research methodology has always been a vital concern in today’s scenario. Women’s perspective has been always taken into account in feminist research as the base of the research. The commencement of feminist research is emerging from the viewpoint that values women’s experience, needs, and perception of the social world. Feminist research also aims at bringing transformation and phasing out the gender asymmetry in the world. The deliberate discrimination of women at household level which results in a higher level of unhappiness and morbidity among women can be easily understood and unpacked from the perspective feminist lens. This research is prerequisite and essential for achieving the goal of equitable social and economic development. The present piece of work tried to give the backdrop on understanding the meaning of feminist research and the origin of feminist research methodology for conducting the research from the gender perspective. This paper also envelopes the pivotal standpoints on how feminist research is differentiated from social science research. Since, the social science research generally omits and overlooks the manifold aspects of gender relations resulting in incomplete and biased research, which in turn leads to the construction of incomplete development policies and programs. So, this work will also try to scrutinize the approaches that feminist methodologies have been used in the development of gender-sensitive indicators and measurements of change. The focus has also been given to highlight the use of feminism in the indigenous Indian context for addressing Indian issues. It suggests that before the onset of feminist studies, social scientists had not engaged critically with patriarchal and androcentric structures which oppress and dominate women. Lastly, an attempt has been made to discuss various methods used for feminist research and the main focus has been given on the understanding of feminist action research and its emergence.

Doing research and ‘doing gender’ in Ethiopia’s agricultural research system

This article presents data from an experimental gender audit that was completed of the national agricultural research system in Ethiopia. The results show how agriculture researchers understand and practice gender in Ethiopia and what the research outputs say about Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture Research (EIAR)'s ability to incorporate gender across the research process. The article applies gender mainstreaming theory and feminist research methods and methodologies to frame the analysis. This body of scholarship highlights crucial questions that go beyond the counting of male and female participants in research surveys and the recruitment of female informants, a problem at EIAR. The article argues that focusing on gender mainstreaming ignores the power relations that currently maintain the status quo and prevent a substantial approach to ‘doing gender’ from evolving. In order to improve gender equality in Ethiopia’s agriculture sector, EIAR needs to expand the methodologies currently used and include and raise awareness for feminist methods. This study adds to the emerging literature on Ethiopian women studies, gender mainstreaming, institutional reform, and gender research methods.

El debido proceso con enfoque de género en Colombia

El derecho fundamental al debido proceso ha sido una de las principales conquistas jurídicas en la protección de los individuos frente al abuso del poder y la injusticia. Este macro derecho reúne una serie de etapas, procedimientos y conjunto de garantías que tras ser respetadas permite culminar con una decisión jurídica y socialmente valorada como justa. No obstante, las dinámicas y modus operandi que rodean las violencias de género, principalmente en el ámbito privado y sin testigos válidos, desafía la manera en que hasta hace poco era entendido el material probatorio adecuado para evidenciar la vulneración de los derechos. En este artículo se analiza cómo en virtud de los desarrollos de los derechos humanos de las mujeres a una vida libre de violencias, y de conformidad con las convenciones internacionales como la CEDAW y la Convención Belém do Pará, el enfoque de género aplicado al debido proceso alberga un triple contenido sustancial, procedimental y metodológico. Así se exige a las y los funcionarios judiciales prestar atención a cómo los estereotipos sexistas afectan a las mujeres en el acceso a la justicia; que las pruebas tradicionales sean acompañadas de un nuevo material como perfiles psicológicos y psiquiátricos; la aplicación de metodologías investigativas que den cuenta del contexto que produce la violencia y las relaciones de poder que gestan las situaciones de subordinación entre los géneros. Además, se precisa que en los Estados reposa la carga de investigar, sancionar y reparar a las víctimas de conformidad al principio-derecho a la debida diligencia. Por último, se propone crear puentes teóricos entre las metodologías feministas y el derecho, para lo cual se analiza el método del posicionamiento planteado por la académica estadounidense Katharine Bartlett.

Students’ narratives on gender and sexuality in the project of social justice and belonging in higher education

Student protests in South Africa flag the well-documented lack of progress in transforming universities which mirror deeply entrenched inequalities. The imperative to challenge a system of higher education that continues to rationalise and reproduce injustice is even more keenly felt. Efforts to understand the lived experiences of young people within diverse higher educational contexts are arguably especially important in this context. This paper draws on research with students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) who engaged in a participatory photovoice research project in a feminist research methodology module. Students were asked to take photos on and around campus that represented un/safe spaces for them and to write short narratives on these. The paper unpacks key emerging themes that speak to how gender, intersecting with sexuality, informs experiences of belonging, while arguing the value of student voice in the project of social justice in higher education.

Feminist Digital Research Methodology for Rhetoricians of Health and Medicine

This article argues that rhetoricians of health and medicine can benefit from new methodological orientations that more fully account for conducting digital research within vulnerable online communities. More specifically, this article introduces a feminist digital research methodology, an intersectional methodology that helps rhetoricians of health and medicine contend with the overlapping rhetorical, technological, and ethical frameworks affecting how we understand and collect health information, particularly within vulnerable online communities. The author considers methodological shifts in Internet research ethics, rhetorics of health and medicine, and feminist rhetorics as well as definitions and conceptions of online communities and vulnerability. The author next draws from a 5-year case study of an online childbirth community to demonstrate how a feminist digital research methodology offers an alternative methodological orientation that helps researchers navigate ethical decision-making practices that arise from conducting health research within vulnerable online communities. Finally, the author outlines the broader implications of this methodology by suggesting three ways that scholars can use it within and beyond the field.

A century of Grace; restorative spatial justice, pedagogy, and beloved community in twenty-first century Detroit

This article poses feminist biographical investigation as a dialectical approach to situated knowledge, and as a potential avenue for a feminist theorization of space and place. By exploring biography as a departure from canonical epistemological structures, the attempt here is to credit, contextualize and identify key places and people of origin in the evolution and production of theory and knowledge without such heavy dependency on the usual resources that legitimize theoretical and pedagogical contributions; such as academic publications, teaching contributions and references. The biographical focus of this article is the life and work of Grace Lee Boggs, an important contributor to urban studies whose theoretical and pedagogical contributions have gone largely unacknowledged by geographers and spatial thinkers. What can a biographical investigation teach us about feminist knowledge production relating to the production of space? What does feminist biography offer epistemologically to our understandings of space? These questions are examined here through the theoretical contributions of Grace Lee Boggs, a long-time resident of Detroit, second generation Chinese American, civil rights and feminist activist and working class philosopher, as a means of exploring biography as a feminist research methodology.

New vintages and new bottles: The “Nature” of environmental education from new material feminist and ecofeminist viewpoints

ABSTRACTFifteen years ago we explored the implications of adopting a poststructuralist feminist research methodology in environmental education research and practice. We argued that speaking the world into existence provides multiple ways of thinking about and comprehending environmental knowledge and the way we experience ourselves in space, time, and place. In the intervening years, feminist new materialism has emerged, ecofeminism has had an enlivening resurgence, feminist scholarship in environmental education has expanded, and “nature” seems to have declined within dominant discourses, supplanted by a more anthropocentric agenda. The positioning of body/nature in this scholarship has become a point of contention, difference, and convergence. Here, we explore the “nature” of environmental education as informed by new material feminist, ecofeminist, and other viewpoints, interrogating their similarities and differences, their relationship to feminist poststructuralism, and their implications for environmental education research and practice.

Gender Risk and Femininity: Personal Political Branding of Female Politicians in the Strong Political Dynasty Feature of South Sulawesi

Personal political branding becomes an important element in political contestation under the new direct democracy in Indonesia. In the male-dominated political atmosphere, it is interesting to analyze creation and development of personal political branding by female politicians. This paper explores stories of the two female politicians, each a candidate for the district head of Gowa (Tenri) and North Luwu (Indah) in the 2015 direct local election in South Sulawesi Province, where a strong political dynasty is the primary feature. This is qualitative research employing feminist research methodology by interviewing the two female politicians. This paper reveals that the use of femininity element in the tagline SAYANG IBU (love your mother) as Tenri’s personal political branding contains of what I call ‘gender risk’ which disadvantaged her. Within a strong political dynasty feature of South Sulawesi which is patriarchal, her opponent created a counter narrative to weaken her and pointed out centrality of a male politician. On the other hand, a successful female politician candidate for the district head of North Luwu, Indah, used PINTAR (smart) as her personal political branding which did not resemble her femininity and did not exclusively target women. By doing so, this paper offers different findings from those of the previous research which suggest that femininity can help all candidates to stand out. In a strong political dynasty feature, it is important to pay attention to the subconscious element such as patriarchal ideology which often plays or is used to weaken or against female politicians.

Field, ethics and self: negotiating methodology in a Hindu right wing camp

ABSTRACTThere is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution. (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray)Feminist research methodology has made a strong case for emotionality as a legitimate part of not only the research process but also, as a valid addition to the data gathered. Research in risky environments presents tangible threats in the form of physical and mental exhaustion, and harm. It also becomes an avenue to confront emotions that go beyond the encounter with change. These emotions are extremely personal but contain within them the potential to threaten the researcher's mental well-being (in the form of trauma or shock), the ethics guiding the research or abandonment of the research project. This article concurs with Lal's [Lal, J. (1996). Situating locations: The politics of self, identity, and ‘other’ in living and writing the text. In D. L. Wolf (Ed.), Feminist dilemmas in fieldwork (pp. 185–214). Boulder, CO: Westview Press] assertion that we need to go beyond reflexivity during the research process and use it for ‘political action’. By using data collected during participant observation at a camp that was conducted by the women's group associated with the largest Hindu nationalist organisation in India, the article attempts to situate the emotion of guilt as an inseparable part of the research experience and makes a case for utilising it not only for more ethically sound research but also, an honest and empowering research process.

Embodying Métissage: Entangling Memory, Identity and Difference in Feminist Intercultural Storymaking

ABSTRACTThis paper attempts to unpack some of the dominant understandings of memory, identity and difference in intercultural lifewriting. The paper draws from my research in embodied lifewriting and narratives of resistance in marginalised women’s lives, and the works of Trinh T. Minh-ha and Karen Barad to unpack, unsettle and reconceptualise the notions of memory, identity, hybridity and difference in intercultural lifewriting. I am particularly interested in how the métissage of embodied, mythological and diffractive narratives function as an important feminist research methodology. The paper is framed within contemporary materialist feminist thinking and gestures towards an ontological and epistemological shift in the reconceptualisation of identity and difference that underpins how we craft and read intercultural lifewriting. Implicit in the hybridised process of storymaking is the interweaving of memory, imagination, identity, gender, race, history and culture. Memory, in this sense, becomes a loose and messy network of multiple strands that continually interweave, thread and hold the tapestry of storytelling and storymaking together. If personal stories are to be powerful tools for agency and resistance through the re-scripting of dominant cultural themes and identities, then we need to examine the many different ways a story can be told and retold.