August 25, COST workshop, Tartu

GENDER IN RESEARCH: METHODS

KADRI AAVIK,TALLINN UNIVERSITY

PhD candidate and lecturer in sociology at Tallinn University

PhD thesis: “Intersectional Disadvantage and Privilege in the Estonian Labour Market: An Analysis of Work Narratives of Russian-Speaking Women and Estonian Men” (2015)

Research areas and interests: sociology of gender, feminist research, intersectionality, critical studies of men and masculinities, gender and work, qualitative methods, narrative inquiry, feminist and intersectional methodologies, microsociology, critical animal studies

Active in the Estonian civil society since 2007: gender equality, social equality more broadly, animal rights

ABOUT ME

Overview of some useful concepts and distinctionsFeminist critique of “malestream” epistemologies and

research practiceFeminist epistemology and methodology, feminist

research practiceGender on diff erent analytical levelsBroad focus points and areas of inquiry in

contemporary feminist research - intersectionality

New directions in feminist researchQuestions and discussion

STRUCTURE OF THIS SESSION

Would you make a distinction? What kind?Not necessarily equivalent. For instance, research

aiming to document diff erences between men and women in some area of life might help to reproduce the gender division and the category of gender

Feminist sociology tends to be explicit about its epistemological positions and values, agenda of social change

A question of aims of the research and the kinds of questions asked, epistemological and methodological approaches

How is gender understood? Social constructionism vs essentialism

GENDER RESEARCH = FEMINIST RESEARCH?

Ontology: what is reality and how do we understand being?

Epistemology: what is knowledge and how can we know?

Methodology: research design and strategy stemming from ontological and epistemological positions

Method: specific techniques or procedures used in research

ONTOLOGY, EPISTEMOLOGY AND METHODOLOGY, METHOD

Since 1970sHow does the category of gender inform our

understanding of knowledge, knowers and the process of gaining knowledge?

The aim is to rethink and change dominant epistemological and methodological positions in a discipline

FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGY

Gender binary - emphasising gender diff erences, (re)producing the binary gender system

Failing to take into account structural and insti tuti onal conditi ons that contribute to systemic privi lege of some groups over others

Andocentricism – conducti ng research from an implicit male perspecti ve, women are rendered passive and their agency denied

Implicit biases – researchers’ tacit assumpti ons on what is appropriate and “natural” for men and women

Essenti alising the category of gender Drawing a clear disti ncti on between research and politi cs Generalisati ons – research results using male subjects are

generalised to apply also to women (for instance, in medical research)

Values and interests distort and limit the producti on of knowledge : for example, sexist, racist, heterosexist and Anglo-American-centered values have led to the constructi on of knowledge from certain perspecti ves. Gaps in knowledge

FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF TRADITIONAL RESEARCH PRACTICE

Ignoring the contribution of women (both as subjects of research and authors of sociological texts), selecting and legitimising only certain perspectives and values

Social construction of the sociological “canon of classics”, sociology as a colonial project (Connell 1997)

Positivism, objectivity, neutral valuesMasculinity as a central category defining the socialThe centrality and privilege of the male subject in

sociological theoryClassical sociological texts marked women as

gendered beings, whereas men appeared as non-gendered humans, generic people

FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF CLASSICAL SOCIAL THEORY (MARSHALL & WITZ 2004)

Classical sociology constructed gender diff erences, located these in biology

Women associated with bodies, men with minds Women in the texts of classical sociology: strategic

absence Men in texts of classical sociology: absent presence

(always present, but not gendered)Masculine ontology: implicit gender diff erence,

masculine values

CONTINUED..

How does implicit masculinity shape the understanding of the social?

Durkheim and Simmel: modernity was based on gender distinctions, women did not experience modernity, were not granted the status of modern subjects

In defi ning modernity, boundaries between the private and the public became crucial, with the latter established as the centre of sociological focus

Women thus did not experience the institutional dimensions of modernity, which were tacitly gendered (seemingly gender-neutral concepts such as worker, citizen, consumer etc. entered sociological theory)

Dualisms: private/public, universal/particular were created

CONTINUED…

Placing gender at the centre of inquiryValue free research is impossible and unnecesssary Social ly engaged research, which is ethical ly and politi cally

responsible Starti ng point: the situati on and opportuniti es of women (and other

marginalised groups) are worse than those of men (and other privi leged groups) in most areas of social l i fe

Women’s l ives and experiences have been considered less worthy Aims: identi fying the structures and conditi ons that uphold a social

order that privi leges men Raise awareness of the existence and functi oning of these structures Off er soluti ons to miti gate the problem Empowering and giving voice to marginalised groups Advancing non-exploitati ve research practi ce Knowledge producti on must be useful to women and other

marginalised groupsAiming for social change (Sarantakos 2005: 55)

FEMINIST RESEARCH PRACTICE (1)

No specific “feminist methods” – various methods can be used, epistemological and methodological questions are relevant

Using traditional methods to approach new topics, using research results to empower marginalised groups and advance social equality

Aiming to minimise power relations between researcher and research participants

Research aims to be inclusive, collaborative, empowering marginalised groups and useful to them, challenging hierarchies

Self-reflexivity of researchers (positioning in relation to research participants)

Does not necessarily imply qualitative methodology. Quantitative approaches are useful in documenting large-scale gender inequalities (i.e. gender pay gap)

FEMINIST RESEARCH PRACTICE (2)

“Feminists (and others) have argued that being objecti ve and value-free is not only impossible, since we all carry experiences and values that shape our vision and interpretati on […]Indeed, Pat Caplan (1988) suggests that objecti vity is simply a form of male subjecti vity.” (Wolf 1996: 4)

The material and lived experience of an individual structures his/her understanding of his/her social environment

Example: The perspective of a worker is more comprehensive than that of a capitalist. In order to survive, the worker must understand his/her own world, as well as the capitalist’s.

Placing marginalised perspectives at the centre of knowledge production

Situated knowledge: knowledge is inseparable from experience, knowledge is always produced in a specific time and space, contextualised knowledge

STANDPOINT-EPISTEMOLOGY (HARDING, SMITH)

“There are important things to learn from taking seriously the perspectives of all marginalized groups—not just of various groups of women, but men and women in postcolonial societies, men and women of color, gay men, and so forth. A system of knowledge that draws on their insights and starts from their predicaments will be richer than one that draws only on the insights and starts from the predicaments of privileged groups alone” (Harding 1993).

CONTINUED..

An academic and political approach to studying the society

Feminist sociology (Smith 1989) – reformulation of social theory in such a way that it would systematically take into account ways in which the category of gender impacts the perception of reality; recognition that gender is a basic dimension of social life, a central category of analysis in sociology, without which it is not possible to understand central areas of research in sociology and social institutions (work, education, religion etc.)

Reading classical social theory from the gender perspective (Marshall & Witz 2004; Connell 1997)

FEMINIST SOCIOLOGY

Gender operates on diff erent levels of social life: individual, group, institutional or micro, meso, macro

Individual level – binary gender system, all individuals are classified into men or women

Gender in social interactionsGender in institutionsThese levels of analysis complement each other

LEVELS OF RESEARCH/ANALYTICAL FOCUS

Psychological approaches: focus on individuals, gender is seen as an innate, fixed and stable characteristic

Social constructionist approaches: gender as socially constructed, manifested in individual accounts

STUDYING GENDER ON THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

Focus on individuals in social interaction, context in which they interact, microsiociology

Meaning is produced in these interactions“Doing gender” (West & Zimmerman 1987) gender

is not a stable category, not a characteristic, but created in everday social interactions, so that it appears “natural”

“doing diff erence” (West & Fenstermaker 1995) other social categories also produced in interaction

Critique, problems: emphasis on the fluidity of gender, not good at explaining social interactions which challenge gender diff erence

INTERACTONIST APPROACHES

Interactions take place in institutions and organisations Emphasis on those aspects of social l ife that are organised,

regular, seem permanent and often remain unchallenged Structures, patterns, routines and meaning systems of

institutions Gendered institution – gender is part of the processes,

practices, ideologies and power relations in the organisation (Acker 1990)

Institutions shape people’s beliefs and values about the social world, including about gender. These in turn shape institutions

Focus on social structure Gender is not a property of individuals, but an aspect of social

organisation Critique, problems: how does gender become part of social

organisation, how do gender norms and gendered practices come into being and get (re)produced?

INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE: GENDERED INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANISATIONS (WHARTON

2012)

Not simply adding new knowledge, but transforming existing knowledge by taking into account gender

Gender analysis of institutions and practices traditionally considered gender neutral (work, law, organisations etc.)

International comparative researchCritical studies of men and masculinities“Studying up”

BROAD FOCUS POINTS AND AREAS OF INQUIRY IN CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH

Interdisciplinary field, part of gender studiesFocus on men as gendered beings, “naming men as

men” (Hearn 2004)Focus on historical and cultural constructions of

masculinity, male privilegeCritique of men’s rights movementsGender as relationalMasculinities and their hierarchy, hegemonic

masculinity (Connell 1987)

CRITICAL STUDIES ON MEN AND MASCULINITIES

Diff erences within the categories of woman and man, femininities and masculinities

Gender and its interaction with other social categories and divisions (intersectionality)

BROAD FOCUS POINTS AND AREAS OF INQUIRY IN CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST RESEARCH

(CONTINUED)

Gender is not the only or primary category through which social inequalities are sustained and reproduced

Other categories of identity and diff erence are also important: age, sexual orientation, ethnicity/race, class etc.

These categories intersect in diff erent social contexts and these intersections help to produce experiences of marginalisation or privilege

All identities are intersectional, also privileged onesGender acquires its meaning in interaction with other

categoriesCategories cannot be separated in people’s identities

and experiences, they are fused into one experience for people

Example: ways in which black women experience racism is aff ected by sexism they experience and vice versa

INTERSECTIONALITY

"People experience race, class, gender and sexuality diff erently depending upon their social location in the structures of race, class, gender and sexuality. For example, people of the same race will experience race diff erently depending upon their location in the class structure as working class, professional managerial class or unemployed; in the gender structure as female or male; and in structures of sexuality as heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual” (Veenstra 2011)

Intersectionality works on diff erent levels: not enough to focus only on individual identities, but also important to look at ways in which institutional systems produce and represent these categories

Social categories diff er ontologically (methodological implications):- visibility (sexuality vs gender and race)- choice (religion)- change/durability (gender vs age)

Michael Kimmel „On Gender“

CONTINUED..

Assumptions: - people’s experiences are structured by being positioned diff erently in terms of diff erent social categories and their intersections- categories should be visible in people’s accounts of their lives and experiences

Challenges and questions:- which categories are relevant in a given account?- how to understand the relationship between them?- what to do with accounts lacking explicit references to social categories?

INTERSECTIONAL METHODOLOGIES

“Undoing gender” (Deutch)New materialism (Fausto-Sterling, Grosz, Barad)Posthumanism (Haraway etc.)

NEW DIRECTIONS IN FEMINIST RESEARCH

Starting point - the concept of “doing gender“ (West & Zimermann 1987): gender produced in everyday interaction, dynamic, not fixed

Critique: universality of doing gender, no exit from the existing gender system, few possibilities for change. People participate in doing gender even if they challenge existing gender norms. Creating diff erence instead of reducing it. Gender takes precedence over other categories, eclipsing other statuses and roles

UNDOING GENDER (DEUTSCH 2007)

“How can we undo gender”?Under what conditions and how do social interactions

become less gendered? (men and women increasingly working in similar areas, change in attitudes over time)

In which social interactions does gender not play a role? (situations where other categories can be more important)

Do all social interactions entail/ lead to gender inequality? Diff erence = inequality?

How do the structural and interactional levels interact to contribute to change? (quota system, fathers’ parental leave can contribute to the emergence of more egalitarian attitudes)

Interaction as a locus of change – need to study interactions which challenge prevalent gender constructions

Undoing gender – social interactions which diminish gender diff erence

CONTINUED…

An area of social science, which critiques antropocentric thinking and rethinks subjectivity

How does human activity interact with objects and matter (inanimate objects)?

Infl uences from physics, biology, philosophy etc. Starting point: the existence of the material body has been

problematic for feminists (historical association of women and other marginalised groups with the body, biological essentialism), hence focus has been on the social construction of gender

The existence or impact of matter to the social should not be ignored, including in knowledge production

Traditional feminist research is interested in the ways in which “bodies are inscribed by culture” (Frost 2011:70): this assumes that we understand what these bodies are and how they are opened up to cultural inscription

“Feminists have been more comfortable with ‘denaturalizing nature’ than ‘deculturalizing culture’ or admitting that biology might have a form of agency or force that shapes, enhances, conditions, or delimits the agency of culture” (Frost 2011: 76)

NEW MATERIALISM

“In turning to culture to evade the determinism implicitly associated with the biological body, feminists recapitulate the modern fantasy of freedom, autonomy, and self-determination that they have otherwise so carefully dismantled” (Frost 2011: 76)

Culture and biology are mutually constitutive, this interaction should be explored

“Nature is open to any kind of culture, to any ‘artificiality’, for culture itself does not find pre-given biological resources, but makes them for its own needs, as does nature itself” (Grosz 2004, 72)

Exploring “how the forces of matter and the processes of organic life contribute to the play of power or provide elements or modes of resistance to it” (Frost 2011: 70)

CONTINUED…

Posthumanism: critique of traditional humanism, decentering the human, human life is one out of many. Challenging the ideals of disembodiment, and autonomy (Wolfe 2010) - human-animal studies, critical animal studies

Donna Haraway “A Cyborg Manifesto” (1991): shifting boundaries between humans, animals and technology

GENDER AND POSTHUMANISM

Neoliberalisation and corporatisation of universities, the implications of this for our research agendas (critical university studies)

Self-reflexivity about our academic lives and everyday practices

How are gender researchers (mostly women) positioned in the academy? What obstacles do they face in their career tracks? In what ways is the occupation of a scientist gendered, so that it tends to fi t better to male life paths and career tracks? Etc.

THE BROADER CONTEXT WE AS RESERACHERS ARE SITUATED IN

Aims: supporting the career tracks of young female academics

Activities: mapping the current situation in Estonian universities, overview of practices other countries, developing measures to support female academics

Partners: Tallinn University, Tartu University, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonian Business School

Donor: Estonian Ministry of Social Aff airs, Norway Grants

www.tlu.ee/eneke

PROJECT “SUPPORTING THE CAREER TRACKS OF FEMALE RESEARCHERS”

How do you understand and use the category of “gender” in your research?

What epistemological/methodological/ethical dilemmas have you encountered when using gender as an analytical category in your research?

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Acker, J. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of gendered organizations . Gender & Society , 4, 139-158 Connell, R. (1987). Gender and power . Sydney: Allen and UnwinConnell, R. (1997). Why is Classical Theory Classical? The American Journal of Sociology, 102 (6), 1511-1557Deutch, F. (2007). Undoing Gender. Gender and Society 21: 106, 106-127Fenstermaker, S., West, C. (2002) (Eds) Doing Gender, Doing Difference: Inequality, Power and Institutional Change. New York: RoutledgeFrost, S. (2011). The Implications of the New Materialisms for Feminist Epistemology. In Grasswick, H.E. (Ed.), Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Power of Knowledge. New York: Springer, 69-83Grosz, E. (2004). The nick of time: Politics, evolution, and the untimely . Durham: Duke University Press

LITERATURE

Haraway, D. (1991), ‘A cyborg manifesto: science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century’, in D. Haraway, (ed.), Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature , New York: Routledge. 149–181 Harding, S. (1993). Rethinking standpoint epistemology: What is “strong objectivity”? In L. Alcoff & E. Potter (Eds.), Feminist epistemologies. New York: Routledge, 49-82Hearn, J. (2004). From hegemonic masculinity to the hegemony of men. Feminist Theory, 5(1), 49-72Marshall, A., Witz, A. (2004). “Introduction: feminist encounters with sociological theory” In: Marshall, B., Witz, A. (Eds.). Engendering the social. Feminist encounters with sociological theory . Open University Press, 1-11

LITERATURE

Sarantakos, S. (2005). “Feminist Research”. In: S. Sarantakos (Ed.). Social Research. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 53-71Smith, D. (1987). The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology. Northeastern University PressVeenstra, G. (2011). Race, gender, class, and sexual orientation: intersecting axes of inequality and self-rated health in Canada. International Journal of Equity Health, 10(3)West, C., Zimmerman, D. (1987). Doing Gender. Gender and Society 1(2): 125–51Wolfe, C. (2010). What is posthumanism? Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

LITERATURE