Feminist empiricism This aims to make feminist political goals internal to empiricist research, and uses methodology grounded in what the senses can know and what the methods can measure. It gives a critique to the practices and output of the traditional scientific establishment. Through empirical research, positivist approaches and methodology acceptable to mainstream researchers, women’s experiences and perspectives become visible. As such this approach seeks for the following:       Women’s experiences and perceptions lead to knowledge that is more comprehensive and less biased Emphasis on how gender and other power relations affect women’s lives Knowledge that benefits women and accurately represents their experiences Make better by correcting for male bias and not questioning the research values of objectivity and value-neutrality in traditional research Use of feminist lenses and a critical perspective to produce more objective knowledge Inclusion of gender, culture, context in quantitative survey methods, the social and political context is measurable and observable. The feminist empiricism approach, however, are wrought with the following issues: (1) accounts of experience are not always reliable and are affected by social position (2) conflicts with empiricist assumption that subjectivity of the knower does not affect experience, that knowers are interchangeable (3) women’s experiences as reported are also interpreted by the researchers – what if there is a conflict between the researcher and subject. Feminist standpoint This is inspired by the Marxist standpoint which assumes that the (1) working class is epistemically privileged; (2) knowledge as constructed in specific historical circumstances, by particular social groups, and embodying those groups’ values and interests. Standpoint is not equated with existing beliefs and attitudes, and can be distorted by dominant systems of knowledge and structures. It therefore challenges us to see the world through the eyes of oppressed women and their concrete experiences as starting point for building and applying knowledge towards social change. The feminist standpoint approach assumes that:     Knowledge is discovered through collective political struggle. There are multiple and overlapping identities. Particular social locations confer epistemic advantage only with respect to particular research projects. The oppressed are not infallible even on their own oppression or are authorities on everything. Feminist postmodernism As an approach, this rejects the possibility of a truth about reality. All observers are “situated” in a particular social, political, economic, cultural, historical context and all perspectives are partial. Researchers can only tell one story acknowledged to be partial and perspectival. It carries the position of deep skepticism about universal claims, a commitment to plurality; rejects totalizing, grand narratives or social theories as some of which contribute to the marginalization of women and essentialize difference. Instead of grand narratives, postmodernism proposes a study of the 22