ABSTRACT
Do realism and/or essentialism constitute positions from which feminists ought to distance themselves? These are the more fundamental questions raised by Irene van Staveren’s comments. Her thoughtful contribution contains two basic parts. In the first, she critically reviews a debate or dialogue in Feminist Economics between myself and various feminist economists and philosophers over the relevance of an ontological orientation to feminist theorising. In this part of Staveren’s chapter, the topics of realism and especially essentialism come to the fore. In the second part, Staveren offers support for a feminist approach to econometrics. In each part, Staveren takes a position somewhat different from my own on the issues raised. In my response, I address the topics both of realism and essentialism and of feminist econometrics, starting with the latter.
