EPISTEMOLOGICAL DEBATES, FEMINIST VOICES - SCIENCE, SOCIAL VALUES, AND THE STUDY OF WOMEN

Feminist criticisms of the neglect, distortion, and exclusion of women in psychological research reflect three epistemological positions:feminist empiricism, feminist standpoint epistemologies, and postmodern feminism. On the basis of these criticisms, some argue that there is a need for a uniquely feminist method. This article critically examines these claims and calls for a new vision of the psychological study of women that construes gender as a product of social interaction and links women's agency with the shaping power of the sociocultural, historical, and political context.