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The Feminist Standpoint Approach

Since women approach learning differently than men, the gender of the instructor would affect their teaching style, which in turn would effect female student’s academic performance. A male meet women and a female teacher of the same subject matter would be recruited. At the beginning of the semester, female students would be informed of the purpose of the project and asked to volunteer.

The teachers, the female participants, and the female researcher would get together and discuss there past experiences with the teacher/student gender issue. They would be asked to fill out a questionnaire to determine there past experiences and attitudes and determine what they hope to gain from participating in the current research project. Several build a shed times throughout the semester, the participants would gather and share their thoughts and experiences to determine any changes that might have resulted from their participation to date.

At the end of the semester, everyone would be asked submit a written analysis of their lifetime experience with the teacher/student gender issue, and the impact the current project meet people might have had on their thinking. The researcher would compile the information and share her analysis and conclusions with the participants, and seek their opinion of the results, for a final consensus. This final consensus would be communicated to other students and educators in the hope of improving women’s overall academic experience.

The Postmodern Feminist Approach

The postmodern feminist wouldn’t actually do the research. Instead, they would question it. They might ask what the purpose of the research is, who is funding it and what do they intend to do with the results? Since shed plans the academic world is defined in male terms, of what value is it to compare female performance to male performance? Who’s end will the research serve? Why must women continue to be compared to men in male defined categories and standards?

This research wouldn’t discover a thing; it would simply label. It is the interpretation what people place on the outcome that confuses the issue. What you get in the end is a function of what you set out to find. It simply identifies, labels, and reinforces one version of reality, to the exclusion of all others.

Conclusion

As demonstrated, feminist theory is not a single meet men. monolithic ideology. Instead, it is a loose association of divergent ideas, a patchwork-quilt as Gatens (1991) suggests, with the collective purpose of advancing basic feminist principles.

References

Gaten, M., (1991). Feminism and philosophy: Prospectives on cheap sheds differences and equality. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.

Gergen, M.M. Toward a feminist metatheory and methodology in the social sciences. In T. Roberts (Ed.), The Lanahan readings in the psychology of women (pp.503-514). Baltimore: Lanahan Publishers, Inc.

Riger, S. (1992). Epistemological debates, feminist voices: Science, social values, and the study of women. American Psychologist, 47, 730-740.

Rollins, J. H., (1996). Women’s minds women’s bodies: The psychology of women in a biosocial context. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Tong, R. (1989). Feminist thought: A comprehensive introduction. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.