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  • Research made simple: an introduction to feminist research
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  • Gillian Wilson
  • School of Nursing and Midwifery , University of Hull , Hull , UK
  • Correspondence to Gillian Wilson, University of Hull, Hull, Kingston upon Hull, UK; gillian.wilson{at}hull.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2023-103749

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Writing an article for ‘Research Made Simple’ on feminist research may at first appear slightly oxymoronic, given that there is no agreed definition of feminist research, let alone a single definition of feminism. The literature that examines the historical and philosophical roots of feminism(s) and feminist research is vast, extends over several decades and reaches across an expanse of varying disciplines. Trying to navigate the literature can be daunting and may, at first, appear impenetrable to those new to feminist research.

There is no ‘How To’ in feminist research. Although feminists tend to share the same common goals, their interests, values and perspectives can be quite disparate. Depending on the philosophical position they hold, feminist researchers will draw on differing epistemologies (ways of knowing), ask different questions, be guided by different methodologies and employ different methods. Within the confines of space, this article will briefly outline some of the principles of feminist research. It will then turn to discuss three established epistemologies that can guide feminist research (although there are many others): feminist empiricism, feminist standpoint and feminist postmodernism.

What makes feminist research feminist?

Feminist research is grounded in a commitment to equality and social justice, and is cognisant of the gendered, historical and political processes involved in the production of knowledge. 1 It also strives to explore and illuminate the diversity of the experiences of women and other marginalised groups, thereby creating opportunities that increase awareness of how social hierarchies impact on and influence oppression. 2 Commenting on the differentiation between feminist and non-feminist research, Skeggs asserts that ‘feminist research begins from the premise that the nature of reality in western society is unequal and hierarchical’ Skeggs 3 p77; therefore, feminist research may also be viewed as having both academic and political concerns.

Reflexivity

The practice of reflexivity is considered a hallmark of feminist research. It invites the researcher to engage in a ‘disciplined self-reflection’ Wilkinson 9 p93. This includes consideration of the extent to which their research fulfils feminist principles. Reflexivity can be divided into three discrete forms: personal, functional and disciplinary. 9 Personal reflexivity invites the researcher to contemplate their role in the research and construction of knowledge by examining the ways in which their own values, beliefs, interests, emotions, biography and social location, have influenced the research process and the outcomes (personal reflexivity). 10 By stating their position rather than concealing it, feminist researchers use reflexivity to add context to their claims. Functional reflexivity pays attention to the influence that the chosen research tools and processes may have had on the research. Disciplinary reflexivity is about analysing the influence of approaching a topic from a specific disciplinary field.

Feminist empiricism

Feminist empiricism is underpinned by foundationalist principles that believes in a single true social reality with truth existing entirely independent of the knower (researcher). 8 Building on the premise that feminist researchers pay attention to how methods are used, feminist empiricist researchers set out to use androcentric positivist scientific methods ‘more appropriately’. 8 They argue that feminist principles can legitimately be applied to empirical inquiry if the masculine bias inherent in scientific research is removed. This is achieved through application of rigorous, objective, value-free scientific methods. Methods used include experimental, quasi-experimental and survey. Feminist empiricists employ traditional positivist methodology while being cognisant of the sex and gender biases. What makes the research endeavour feminist is the attentiveness in identifying potential sources of gendered bias. 11

Feminist standpoint

In a similar way to feminist empiricism, standpoint feminism—also known as ‘women’s experience epistemology’ Letherby 8 p44—holds firm the position that traditional science is androcentric and is therefore bad science. This is predicated on the belief that traditional science only produces masculine forms of knowledge thus excluding women’s perspectives and experiences. Feminist standpoint epistemology takes issue with the masculinised definition of women’s experience and argue it holds little relevance for women. Feminist standpoint epistemology therefore operates on the assumption that knowledge emanates from social position and foregrounds the voices of women and their experiences of oppression to generate knowledge about their lives that would otherwise have remained hidden. 12 Feminist standpoint epistemology maintains that women, as the oppressed or disadvantaged, may have an epistemological advantage over the dominant groups by virtue of their ability to understand their own experience and struggles against oppression, while also by being attuned to the experience and culture of their oppressors. 11 This gives women’s experience a valid basis for knowledge production that both reflects women’s oppression and resistance. 13

Feminist standpoint epistemology works on the premise that there is no single reality, 11 thus disrupting the empiricist notion that research must be objective and value-free. 12 To shed light on the experiences of the oppressed, feminist standpoint researchers use both quantitative and qualitative approaches to see the world through the eyes of their research participants and understand how their positions shape their experiences within the social world. In addition, the researchers are expected to engage in strong reflexivity and reflect on, and acknowledge in their writing, how their own attributes and social location may impact on interpretation of their data. 14

Feminist postmodernism

Feminist postmodernism is a branch of feminism that embraces feminist and postmodernist thought. Feminist postmodernists reject the notion of an objective truth and a single reality. They maintain that truths are relative, multiple, and dependent on social contexts. 15 The theory is marked by the rejection of the feminist ideology that seeks a single explanation for oppression of women. Feminist postmodernists argue that women experience oppression because of social and political marginalisation rather than their biological difference to men, concluding that gender is a social construct. 16

Feminist postmodernists eschew phallogocentric masculine thought (expressed through words and language) that leads to by binary opposition. They are particularly concerned with the man/woman dyad, but also other binary oppositions of race, gender and class. 17 Feminist postmodernist scholars believe that knowledge is constructed by language and that language gives meaning to everything—it does not portray reality, rather it constructs it. 11 A key feature of feminist postmodernist research is the attempt to deconstruct the binary opposition through reflecting on existing assumptions, questioning how ways of thinking have been socially constructed and challenging the taken-for-granted. 17

This article has provided a brief overview of feminist research. It should be considered more of a taster that introduces readers to the complex but fascinating world of feminist research. Readers who have developed an appetite for a more comprehensive examination are guided to a useful and accessible text on feminist theories and concepts in healthcare written by Kay Aranda. 1

  • Western D ,
  • Giacomini M
  • Margaret Fonow M ,
  • Wilkinson S
  • Campbell R ,
  • Wigginton B ,
  • Lafrance MN
  • Naples NA ,
  • Hesse-Biber S

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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Handbook of Feminist Research

Handbook of Feminist Research Theory and Praxis

  • Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber - Boston College, USA
  • Description

This Handbook presents both a theoretical and practical approach to conducting social science research on, for, and about women. It develops an understanding of feminist research by introducing a range of feminist epistemologies, methodologies, and emergent methods that have had a significant impact on feminist research practice and women's studies scholarship. Contributors to the Second Edition continue to highlight the close link between feminist research and social change and transformation.

The new edition expands the base of scholarship into new areas, with 12 entirely new chapters on topics such as the natural sciences, social work, the health sciences, and environmental studies. It extends discussion of the intersections of race, class, gender, and globalization, as well as transgender, transsexualism and the queering of gender identities. All 22 chapters retained from the first edition are updated with the most current scholarship, including a focus on the role that new technologies play in the feminist research process.

Discover the latest news from Author Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber:  Visit  http://www.fordham.edu/Campus_Resources/eNewsroom/topstories_2397.asp

ISBN: 9781412980593 Hardcover Suggested Retail Price: $195.00 Bookstore Price: $156.00
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'The Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory and Praxis is a well-developed contribution to the body of feminist literature. It effectively highlights the connection between feminist research and social change by drawing upon the range of existent feminist epistemologies, methods, and practices, all of which adopt different means of conceptualising, researching, and ultimately representing the lived experiences of women, varied across the lines of race, class and/or other demographics. The text, while accessible for both research and teaching purposes, perhaps most importantly draws our attention to the need to be critically aware in the process of conducting feminist research. One must address the challenges, research developments, and, crucially, the diversity amongst women, that may be incurred in attempting to research, understand, and accurately represent the lived experiences of all women'

Key Features of the Second Edition

  • Expands the base of scholarship into new areas , with new chapters on the place of feminism in the natural sciences, social work, the health sciences, and environmental studies
  • Extends discussion of the intersections of race, class, gender, and globalization , with new chapter on issues of gender identity
  • Updates all chapters retained from the first edition with the most current scholarship , including a focus on the role that new technologies play in the feminist research process
  • Includes research case studies in each chapter , providing readers with step-by-step praxis examples for conducting their own research projects
  • Offers new research and teaching resources, including discussion questions, and a list of websites as well as journal references geared to each chapter's content

We continue to reach out to two primary constituencies. The first is researchers, practitioners, and students within, and outside the academy, who conduct a variety of research projects and who are interested in consulting "cutting edge" research methods and gaining insights into the overall research process. This group also includes policymakers and activists who are interested in how to conduct research for social change. The second edition's audience continues to include academic researchers who, it is hoped, will use the Handbook in their research scholarship, as well as in their courses, at the upper-level undergraduate and graduate levels, as a main or supplementary text.

The second edition of the Handbook also includes a range of new research and teaching resources for both these readership groups with a list of websites as well as journal references that are specifically geared to each chapter's content. In addition, the second edition has an enhanced pedagogical feature at the end of each chapter that provides a set of key discussion questions intended as a praxis application for the ideas and concepts contained in each chapter.

The second edition's Handbook structure contains three primary sections that that represent a more finely tuned focus on theory and praxis, including the an enhanced set of case study research examples for each chapter that provide readers with a step-by- step praxis examples for conducting their own research projects.

Section one, "Feminist Perspectives on Knowledge Building,"

traces the historical rise of feminist research and begins with the early link of feminist epistemologies and perspectives within the research process. We trace the contours of early feminist inquiry and introduce the reader to the history, and historical debates, of and within feminist scholarship. We explore the androcentrism (male bias) in traditional research projects and the alternative set of questions feminist researchers bring to the research endeavor. We explore the political process of knowledge building by introducing the reader to the link between knowledge, authority, representation and power relations.

The chapters in Section One, introduce the unique knowledge frameworks feminists offer to enhance our understanding of the social reality. We explore some of the range of issues and questions feminists have addressed and the emphasis of feminist epistemologies and methodologies on understanding of the diversity of women's experiences, the commitment to the empowerment of women and other oppressed groups.

We examine a broad spectrum of the most important feminist perspectives and we take an in-depth look at how a given methodology intersects with epistemology and method to produce set of research practices. The Handbook's overall thesis is that any given feminist perspective does not preclude the use of specific methods, but serves to guide how a given method is practiced in the research process. While each feminist perspective is distinct, it sometimes shares elements with other perspectives. We discuss the similarities and differences across the spectrum of feminist perspectives on knowledge building.

Section two of the Handbook , "Feminist Research Praxis," examines how feminist researchers utilize a range of research methods in the service of feminist perspectives. Feminist researchers use a range of qualitative and quantitative as well as mixed and multi methods, and this section examines the unique characteristics feminists researchers bring to the practice of feminist research, by by maintaining a tight link between their theoretical perspectives and methods practices.

This section includes three new chapters. Deboleena Roy's chapter titled, "Feminist Approaches to Inquiry in the Natural Sciences: Practices for the Lab," tackles how feminist researchers go about their work within a natural science laboratory setting. She notes the importance of being reflexive of the range of ethical conundrums that are contained within practicing the scientific method. Roy suggests the importance of infusing laboratory research with a sense of "playfulness" and what she terms a "feeling around" in the pursuit of feminist laboratory knowledge building, that privileges a reaching out to other scientists in order to build a community of "togetherness" among researchers.

Stephanie Wahab, Ben Anderson-Nathe, and Christina Gringeri's new chapter, "Joining the Conversation: Social Work Contributions to Feminist Research," provides exemplary case studies of the practice of feminist research within a social work setting. Wahab et al. suggest that social work history of being grounded in praxis, ethics and reflection, can contribute to feminist knowledge building. In turn, social work's engagement with feminist theory, may help to disrupt the assumptions of knowledge contain in social work practice. Kristen Intemann's new chapter, "Putting Feminist Research Principles Into Practice," suggests that research principles of feminist praxis can benefit scientific research. Intemann proposes that scientific communities need to tend to issues of difference in the scientific research process by including diverse researchers (in terms of experiences, social positions, and values), that will serve to enhance a critical reflection on scientific research praxis with the goals of enhancing the perspective of the marginalized, and working towards a multiplicity of conceptual models.

Section III of the Handbook, "Feminist Issues and Insights in Practice and Pedagogy" examines some of the current tensions within feminist research and discusses a range of strategies for positioning of feminist research within the dominant research paradigms and emerging research practices. Section III also introduces some feminist "conundrums" regarding knowledge building that deal with issues of truth, reason logic and ethics. Section III also tackles the conceptualization of difference and its practice. In addition, it addresses how feminist researchers can develop an empowered feminist community of scholars across transnational space. Section three also focuses on issues within the practice of feminist pedagogy that includes a discussion of how feminists can or should convey the range of women's scholarship that differentiates it from the charge that women's studies scholarship conveys only ideology not knowledge.

A new chapter added to this section is Katherine Johnson's contribution titled, "Transgender, Transsexualism, and the Queering of Gender Identities: Debates for Feminist Research." Johnson examines some of the core issues of contention within queer studies with the goal of identify those theoretical perspectives that have particular relevance to feminist researchers. Johnson argues that feminist researchers need to be cognizant of the range of identity positions with regard to gender identities. Johnson encourages feminist researchers to explore definitions, terminology, and areas for coalitions in order to promote the crossing of identity borders. Johnson's work analyzes the dialogues between feminism and transgender, transsexual, and queer studies and at how the fields may work together to more robust research.

Sharlene Hesse-Biber and Abigail Brooks' introduction to this section remind us that "There is no one feminist viewpoint that defines feminist inquiry." But rather "feminists continue to engage in and dialogue across a range of diverse approaches to theory, praxis, and pedagogy" (Hesse-Biber & Brooks, this volume).

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Chapter 1: FEMINIST RESEARCH

Chapter 2: FEMINIST EMPIRICISM

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Feminist inquiry has affected the nature of research in ail the social and natural sciences over the past decade, but much contemporary writing on feminist methods simply offers a critique of traditional methods. This book, one of the first to offer a practical guide to conducting research informed by feminist methods, is based on the premise that abstract discussion of methodological issues is most meaningful and instructive in conjunction with examples of actual research. A comprehensive and far-reaching introduction defines feminist research and explains how it differs from traditional methodology in the social and natural sciences. In a beautifully clear style, Dr. Nielsen guides the reader through a number of philosophy of science, history of science, and sociology of knowledge issues that are fundamental to understanding the nature of scientific method in its traditional sense and the role of feminist scholarship in the larger intellectual movement that is transforming and redefining scientific methodology. Part One presents the best of feminist commentary on both feminist and traditional methods. Part Two consists of readings that illustrate particular feminist methods, including oral history, linguistic analysis, feminist anthropology informed by feminist literary criticism, and reinterpretation and reanalysis of empirical data from a feminist perspective. Substantive issues addressed in the readings include women's suffrage in the United States, women as shamans, sex differences in suicide rates, sex differences in cognitive abilities, gender dominance through conversation, gender and public policy, and public-private sphere dichotomies.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter | 37  pages, introduction, part one | 74  pages, chapter 1 | 17  pages, gender and science, chapter 2 | 11  pages, feminist criticism of the social sciences, chapter 3 | 25  pages, knowledge and women's interests, chapter 4 | 19  pages, beginning where we are, part two | 148  pages, exemplary readings, chapter 5 | 32  pages, laura ellsworth seiler, chapter 6 | 27  pages, the vision of a woman shaman, chapter 7 | 19  pages, between two worlds, chapter 8 | 14  pages, women and suicide in historical perspective, chapter 9 | 17  pages, how large are cognitive gender differences, chapter 10 | 14  pages, interaction, chapter 11 | 23  pages, a new approach to understanding the impact of gender on the legislative process.

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Understanding Feminist Research Methodology in Social Sciences

15 Pages Posted: 15 Jun 2019

Ramandeep Kaur

Punjabi University, Department of Economics

Sangeeta Nagaich

Punjabi University-Department of Economics

Date Written: March 15, 2019

For the purpose of analysis and assessment of the great literary and non-literary argumentations, the research methodology has always been a vital concern in today’s scenario. Women’s perspective has been always taken into account in feminist research as the base of the research. The commencement of feminist research is emerging from the viewpoint that values women’s experience, needs, and perception of the social world. Feminist research also aims at bringing transformation and phasing out the gender asymmetry in the world. The deliberate discrimination of women at household level which results in a higher level of unhappiness and morbidity among women can be easily understood and unpacked from the perspective feminist lens. This research is prerequisite and essential for achieving the goal of equitable social and economic development. The present piece of work tried to give the backdrop on understanding the meaning of feminist research and the origin of feminist research methodology for conducting the research from the gender perspective. This paper also envelopes the pivotal standpoints on how feminist research is differentiated from social science research. Since, the social science research generally omits and overlooks the manifold aspects of gender relations resulting in incomplete and biased research, which in turn leads to the construction of incomplete development policies and programs. So, this work will also try to scrutinize the approaches that feminist methodologies have been used in the development of gender-sensitive indicators and measurements of change. The focus has also been given to highlight the use of feminism in the indigenous Indian context for addressing Indian issues. It suggests that before the onset of feminist studies, social scientists had not engaged critically with patriarchal and androcentric structures which oppress and dominate women. Lastly, an attempt has been made to discuss various methods used for feminist research and the main focus has been given on the understanding of feminist action research and its emergence.

Keywords: Feminism, Feminist Research, Feminist Research Methodology, Indian Primitive Feminism, Feminist Action Research, Social Transformation, Gender Inequality

JEL Classification: B00, B5, B54

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Ramandeep Kaur (Contact Author)

Punjabi university, department of economics ( email ).

Patiala India

Punjabi University-Department of Economics ( email )

Patiala India Patiala, IN Punjab 147002 India

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Feminist research: definitions, methodology, methods and evaluation

Affiliation.

  • 1 University of Manchester, England.
  • PMID: 8450137
  • DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1993.18030416.x

The literature relating to feminist research both within and beyond nursing is reviewed in this paper. Feminist research is located within a post-positivist paradigm, and various definitions are considered. The distinctive methodological approach of feminist research is discussed, and interviewing and ethnography are evaluated as suitable methods for use in feminist research. Oakley's (1981) paper on interviewing women is subjected to criticism. A final section examines attempts by three sets of writers to propose evaluation criteria for feminist research. The review concludes that a number of paradoxes and dilemmas in feminist research have yet to be resolved.

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The Routledge International Handbook of Transdisciplinary Feminist Research and Methodological Praxis

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The Routledge International Handbook of Transdisciplinary Feminist Research and Methodological Praxis is organized around ways of doing fair and just research, with deliberate transdisciplinary overlap in each of the sections so as to share and demonstrate potential opportunities for lasting alliances. Authors and artists address topics that include the doing of original transdisciplinary research and engaging multiple communities in research; mentoring from both academic and community-based perspectives; creating and maintaining collaborative relationships; managing personal, professional, and financial challenges; addressing writing blocks and feelings of being overwhelmed; and experiences of care and joy. The range of feminist work invoked in this volume include, but are not limited to: intersectional feminisms, abolitionist feminism, Black feminism, Womanism, Chicana feminism, Latina feminism, BIPOC feminisms, Indigenous feminism, decolonial and postcolonial feminism, transnational feminism, gender and sexuality studies, queer feminism, trans feminisms, poststructural feminism, posthuman and more-than-human feminism, materialist feminism, crip feminism, feminist disability studies, quantum feminism, sonic feminisms, feminist science studies, science and technology studies, or STS, and more. From advanced graduate students to seasoned scholars, this volume presents timely knowledge and will be useful as a substantive guide to round out understandings of multiple approaches to feminist research.

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Feminist theory.

  • Pelagia Goulimari Pelagia Goulimari Department of English, University of Oxford
  • https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.976
  • Published online: 19 November 2020

Feminist theory in the 21st century is an enormously diverse field. Mapping its genealogy of multiple intersecting traditions offers a toolkit for 21st-century feminist literary criticism, indeed for literary criticism tout court. Feminist phenomenologists (Simone de Beauvoir, Iris Marion Young, Toril Moi, Miranda Fricker, Pamela Sue Anderson, Sara Ahmed, Alia Al-Saji) have contributed concepts and analyses of situation, lived experience, embodiment, and orientation. African American feminists (Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Hortense J. Spillers, Saidiya V. Hartman) have theorized race, intersectionality, and heterogeneity, particularly differences among women and among black women. Postcolonial feminists (Assia Djebar, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Florence Stratton, Saba Mahmood, Jasbir K. Puar) have focused on the subaltern, specificity, and agency. Queer and transgender feminists (Judith Butler, Jack Halberstam, Susan Stryker) have theorized performativity, resignification, continuous transition, and self-identification. Questions of representation have been central to all traditions of feminist theory.

  • continuous transition
  • heterogeneity
  • intersectionality
  • lived experience
  • performativity
  • resignification
  • self-identification
  • the subaltern

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Anti-democratic maneuvers and state feminism in Jordan: lessons for research in an autocratic context

  • Published: 08 July 2024

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feminist research

  • Summer Forester 1  

This research note presents three lessons, drawn from the case of Jordan, for studying GEMs in autocratic countries. I discuss three interrelated points: (1) the relationship between state feminist institutions and “autocratic genderwashing” (Bjarnegård and Petterberg 2022); (2) the connections between GEMs and independent feminist movements; and (3) the enduring/emerging salience of “traditional family values” as an obstacle for gender equality pursuits. I argue that, while GEMs in autocratic contexts can advance gender equality measures, they are constrained by state power and interests. Moreover, rather than enhancing democratic performance, GEMs in illiberal states can become part of the autocratic playbook for sidestepping democratic reform. As such, the global research agenda on GEMs should include rigorous empirical analyses of how GEMs, democrats, and women’s rights activists work with (or against) authoritarian regimes, as well as analyses of how gender equality efforts might enable the entrenchment of autocratic power.

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Forester, S. Anti-democratic maneuvers and state feminism in Jordan: lessons for research in an autocratic context. Fr Polit (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-024-00257-0

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The LASERs (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) are an international program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversation with an audience. This evening, chaired by cultural historian Piero Scaruffi, will feature three talks:

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Patricia Alessandrini teaches at Stanford CCRMA. She is a composer/sound artist, educator and researcher actively engaging with notions of canonicity, representation, interpretation, perception and memory, often in a social and political context, through work which is for the most part interactive and/or intermedial. She will speak about her work as a composer/sound artist, from the design of interfaces and instruments for inclusive performance to the development of the Piano Machine, a system that mechanically excites piano strings using Machine Learning processes in response to live performance. She will also discuss her new project employing soft robotics in a cyberfeminist, futurist installation and performance.

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Joon Sung Park is a computer science PhD student in the Human-Computer Interaction and Natural Language Processing groups at Stanford University. His work introduces the concept of, and the techniques for creating generative agents -- computational agents that simulate human behavior. His work has won best paper awards at UIST and CHI, as well as multiple best paper nominations and other paper awards.

Richard Lowenberg has spent over 50 years creatively integrating understandings and grounded involvements in non-profit .org development, architecture, environmental/ecosystems design, interspecies communication, rural community + networked society planning, performance, new media and eco-arts/sciences practices. He has dedicated his creative life to realization of works exploring and setting examples for an ‘ecology of the information environment’ and resulting opportunities for growing a vibrant cultural economy.

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The LASERs (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous), chaired by cultural historian Piero Scaruffi, are an international program of evening gatherings that bring together artists, scientists, inventors and scholars in a variety of disciplines for informal presentations and conversation with an audience.

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French Women & Feminists in History: A Resource Guide

Simone veil.

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feminist research

A celebrated civil servant, women’s rights figure and Holocaust survivor, Simone (Jacob) Veil (1927–2017) was the driving force behind French womens’ access to contraception and abortion in the twentieth century. As Health Minister between 1974 and 1979, Veil advanced what would come to be known as the Loi Veil , the 1975 law which legalized abortion.

Born into an atheist Jewish family in Nice in 1927, as a young teenager Simone Jacob (Veil) was separated from her family during the German occupation of France under the Vichy regime. The day after obtaining her baccalaureate in 1944, she was arrested by the Gestapo alongside her family and deported first to Drancy, then to Auschwitz, where she was separated from her father and brother, and finally to Bergen-Belsen. Her father, mother, and brother died in Nazi death camps in 1944 and 1945, while Simone and her two sisters survived until the camps were liberated and were reunited after the war. Within a year, Simone had enrolled in the law program at University of Paris, then the Institut d'études politiques , where she met her husband, Antoine Veil, with whom she had three children.

After practicing law for several years, Veil passed the national examination to become a magistrate of the French state in 1954 and began her career as a state official. Working first in the National Penitentiary Administration, then in Civil Affairs, by 1970 she had worked to improve incarcerated women’s rights as well as French women’s adoptive and parental rights and had become the secretary general of the Supreme Magistrate Council. Veil is best known for improving access to contraception with a 1974 law (the contraceptive pill had been legalized seven years earlier in 1967), followed by the fight to legalize abortion in 1975, which would become known informally as the Loi Veil . The campaign against the legalization of abortion came down aggressively on Simone Veil on the Parliament floor, as well as in public and at her home. Many of these attacks were personal and anti-Semitic, and were directed at Veil and her family. Despite these challenges, the right to abortion was written into French law in 1975 and Veil went on to work as a Member of the European Parliament between 1979 and 1993 before returning to work as Minister of Health, Social Affairs and the City in the 1990s. During this time, she advocated for women’s rights, disability rights, and the rights of HIV-positive individuals. Over the course of her career Veil was a staunch advocate for both the European project and for women and underrepresented groups.

Veil was recognized for her contributions to women’s health and to the European project with many honors, including the Legion d’honneur in 2016, and the year after her death in 2018, when she and her husband were interred in the Panthéon. Veil is just the fifth woman to be interred at the Panthéon.

For digitized sources on women of this time period see Digitized Sources:Feminism in the 20th Century .

You can identify additional material by searching the Library of Congress Online Catalog using the following headings:

Veil, Simone

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  26. Anti-democratic maneuvers and state feminism in Jordan ...

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  29. Simone Veil

    Bernard Gotfryd, photographer.Simone Veil [French politician]. [between 1980 and 1990]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. A celebrated civil servant, women's rights figure and Holocaust survivor, Simone (Jacob) Veil (1927-2017) was the driving force behind French womens' access to contraception and abortion in the twentieth century.