Feminist research deals with theories about oppression, power relations, and inequality. It challenges traditional assumptions in research and knowledge creation. Feminist methodology combines both traditional and contemporary research methods and can utilize both qualitative and quantitative data. Contemporary feminist research in India is characterized by conscious partiality where researchers identify with respondents, action research that seeks social change, and valuing diversity and differences among women. The goal of feminist research is empowerment, overcoming inequity, and representing marginalized voices.

1. Dr. Poulami Aich Mukherjee
mepoulami@gmail.com
FEMINIST METHODOLOGY
&
CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH IN INDIA
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2. FEMINIST RESEARCH
• Deals with theories about oppression, power-
relations, inequality & imbalance
• Challenges traditional assumptions about
research and processes of knowledge creation
• Connects Theory & Methods
• Questions asked
• Interpretations
• Use of research
• Written text
• Connects Scholarship & Activism
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3. FEMINIST RESEARCH
Basic Terms
Methods
-Techniques for gathering data
Methodology
-Theory and analysis of how research should
proceed
Epistemology
-Theory of acquiring knowledge
(roles, ethics, interpretation, assumptions)
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4. FEMINIST RESEARCH 1970S’ ONWARDS
• Modern & Positivist Ideas to Postmodern & Post-
positivist Ideas
• General Arguments to Specific Suggestions
(based on laws, rules, truth, verifiable, reality)
• Objectivity of Researcher to Subjectivity of
Researcher
• Narrative to Experience & Experimentation
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5. FEMINIST RESEARCH 1970S’ ONWARDS
• Introduction of specific measurement &
prediction process
• Single truth to Multiple truths of experience
• Women’s perspectives
• Feminine experiences in production of
knowledge
• Making women central to research as
researchers and as subjects
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6. FEMINIST RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
• Asks research questions from a woman’s point of view
• Challenges universality of scientific fact or truth
• Challenges sexism, racism, class, and colonialism
-Representing Diversity
• Questions power imbalance between researcher and
researched (self-reflexive)
• Focuses on emancipation & liberation
-Movement for Social Change
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7. APPROACHES TO FEMINIST RESEARCH
• Through a distinct methodology, feminist research is
premised on the belief that traditional ‘rules’ of research are
imbued with unacknowledged and unaddressed male bias
i.e. ‘androcentricity’ & ‘patriarchy’
• Exploring women as a cultural group by discovering,
understanding, describing & interpreting from a
ethnographic point of view
• Exploring descriptions of lived phenomena as they present
themselves in direct experience in which descriptions
emerge through a dialogic process and are synthesized to
offer a range of distinct possibilities for the experience of a
particular phenomenon
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8. APPROACHES TO FEMINIST RESEARCH
Feminist researchers are committed to
• Empowerment of women
• Overcoming inequity
• Diverse representation of humanity
• Empowerment of marginalized voices
• Lessening the distinction between researcher
and researched
• searching for multiple, subjective and partial
truths
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9. FEMINIST METHODOLOGY
• Combined method (Traditional + Contemporary)
traverse traditional divides and helpful for capitalization of
the best of both traditions
• Combined method (Qualitative + Quantitative)
approaches can be premised in the quantitative tradition
with acceptance of qualitative data; the qualitative tradition
with acceptance of quantitative data; or be driven by the
questions themselves
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10. CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH IN INDIA
• Conscious Partiality
feminist researchers are not objective –they are conscious
of patriarchy and they identify with their respondents
• Action Research
research seeks to change the world not just to understand
it –research is part of a broader struggle
• Research must take the ‘view from below’ and be non
hierarchical
• Research must be ‘consciousness raising’ for both
researcher and respondent
• Research must be for the good of all women
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11. CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH IN INDIA
Equality & Diversity
(Regional/Social/Cultural)
• Equality
• Equal rights and treatment to all as an
individual
• Diversity
• Difference from what is normal or expected
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12. CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH IN INDIA
• Diversity means valuing the differences between
women in political, social, cultural & Economic
spheres and the ways in which those differences
can contribute to a richer, more creative and more
productive feminist research.
• Diversity is about respecting individual-race,
culture, regional origin, religion, marital status,
ethnicity, disability, family structure, health values,
politics etc.
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13. CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH IN INDIA
Inequalities to be considered…
• Natality Inequality
• Mortality Inequality
• Basic Facility Inequality
• Special opportunity Inequality
• Professional Inequality
• Ownership Inequality
• Household Inequality
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14. FEMINIST METHODOLOGY
&
CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH IN INDIA
Conclusion…
• A distinct dynamics: More participatory, experiential &
diverse
• Centred in and around society & culture
• Scholars are encouraged to view their peers as
additional sources of knowledge
• A critical approach to knowledge rather than a common
set of facts
• Typically share a commitment to grounding the
investigations within interdisciplinary frameworks
• Diversity is at the heart of the current intellectual
agenda
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15. FEMINIST METHODOLOGY
&
CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH IN INDIA
Conclusion…
• Posit an alternative to the single notion of men as the
norms against which everyone else is judged and
compared
• Integrating scholarship on women and gender into the
general curriculum enhances feminist research
• A move from voice to self-empowerment to social
responsibility
• Confidence to improve things not only for themselves
but for other people
• Transformation of the sense of empowerment into
citizen action
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16. FEMINIST METHODOLOGY
&
CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH IN INDIA
Conclusion
• Linking the ‘intellectual’ and the ‘experiential’
• Creating personalized learning
• Incorporate new knowledge into their life style
• A research culture built on trust and mutual
respect
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