Feminist empiricism

Feminist empiricism is a practice that is mindful of how individual, cultural, and societal contexts can reproduce sexist and gendered thought in science, particularly during the research process . Feminist empiricists argue that by considering the social context which the research is conducted, as well as the researcher’s social identities, interventions on bias and prejudice can be made if the researcher(s) are aware of them . Taking action against potential bias is a part of feminist empiricism methodology as much as being aware of these biases. Feminist empiricists argue that pushing back against these biases makes the research and findings even richer. Ultimately, feminist empiricists acknowledge how rampant sexist and gendered bias are in research, and go against the idea that the value-free system is enough to prevent the isms of the social world in doing science . Feminist empiricism is typically connected to mainstream notions of positivism. Positivism is the idea that if a claim can be proven true by the scientific method, then it must be true. Feminist empiricism critiques what it perceives to be inadequacies and biases within mainstream research methods, including positivism. Feminist empiricism is also one of three main feminist epistemological perspectives. The other two are standpoint feminism and post-structural/postmodern feminism.