Pre-Feminist and Feminist Methodologies

1. Pre-Feminist and Feminist Methodologies

2. "The overt ideological goal of feminist research in the human sciences is to correct both the invisibility and distortion of female experience" (Lather, 1988, p. 571)

3. “-isms” “-isms” can be personal or institutional Racism Heterosexism Ageism Sexism Personal = prejudicial or discriminatory behavior toward individuals or groups Institutional = build into the structure of the social organization so that the system perpetuates discriminatory treatment of individuals or groups

4. Gender as an Institution • Process of creating distinguishable social statuses • We rank these statuses unequally (stratification) • We build social structures based on these unequal statuses (eg. Status of housewife leads to organizing society in a certain way)

5. “-isms” “-isms” can be consciously or unconsciously perpetrated Explicit “-isms” = conscious and intentional discrimination Implicit “-isms” = unconscious and unintentional discrimination

6. Cultural knowledge and beliefs shape Perceptions Focus and Priorities Assumptions Blind spots Institutions and traditions Sexism and Culture

7. Assumption that what goes for men goes for women Assumption that what men do is what is interesting and central and what women do is trivial and peripheral to society Assumption that gender roles in modern industrialized society are natural and universal Assumption that gender stratification is natural and universal Patriarchy & the Research Process

8. Predominance of males in academia Defining what should be researched Designing research projects Collecting data Analyzing and Interpreting data Patriarchy & the Research Process

9. Example through Ethnography C.W.M. Hart (1928-1929) Arnold R. Piling (1953-1954) The Tiwi of North Australia vs Jane Goodale (1954, 1962, 1980-1981, 1986-1987) Tiwi Wives Patriarchy & the Research Process

10. Example through Evolutionary Analysis: 1968 Richard B. Lee Irven Devore Man the Hunter Vs 1981 Frances Dahlberg Woman the Gatherer Patriarchy & the Research Process

11. Four stages of feminism 1. Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Suffrage and Temperance 2. Early 1960’s into the late 1980’s Recognition of and reaction to a sexist power structure in Western society. 3. Early 1990’s to present Recognition of differences in women’s experiences due to ethnicity and diversification of perspectives 4. Contemporary Post Feminism Reaction against earlier stages and assertion that feminism is no longer necessary. The Feminist Approach

12. Patriarchial beliefs, traditions and institutions Gender politics, power relations, and sexuality The promotion of women's rights and interests Discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, oppression The Feminist Focus

13. Beginning with the standpoints and experiences of women Focusing on women and gender in research design Actively seeks to remove the power imbalance between research and subject (researcher as expert vs informant as expert) Politically motivated with a major goal of changing social inequality by empowering women Focusing on qualitative methods and data to describe women’s experiences and positions Challenging patriarchial assumptions and logic about the nature of society and gender relations Feminist Methods

14. Example: Redefining Basics Matriarchy = The word matriarchy is coined as the opposite of patriarchy. Most modern anthropologists and sociologists assert that there are no known examples of human matriarchies from any point in history,and Encyclopedia Britannica describes their views as "consensus", listing matriarchy as a “hypothetical” social system. The Britannica article goes on to note, "The view of matriarchy as constituting a stage of cultural development is now generally discredited. Furthermore, the consensus among modern anthropologists and sociologists is that a strictly matriarchal society never existed.” Patriarchy = A society where women are dominated by men. S. Walby (1990) has distinguished six locations of patriarchal relations: sexuality, the household, male-on-female violence, paid employment, cultural institutions, and the state.

15. 2002Peggy SandayWoman Centered: Life in a Modern Matriarchy Matriarchy = A system based on cultural symbols and practices associating the maternal with the origin and center of the growth processes necessary for social and individual life.