ABSTRACT
This chapter is an outcome of my initiative to create a space in the academy where feminist voices could be heard and strengthened. In it I describe the processes involved in the recent development of a feminist research group at the university where I teach. I am a full-time senior lecturer in social work in an English university where, after 10 years in temporary and short-term contracts, I occupy a permanent post. This experience of having been in a marginal position for a long period has made me very conscious of the power and privilege I now have as a permanent member of staff. I have tried to maintain this ‘outsider-within’ consciousness (Collins, 1991) and to challenge the hierarchical and elitist norms of higher education and am helped by my continuing marginal position as an out lesbian and feminist. In writing about the process of setting up the feminist research group I make no claim to speak for all members of the group. It is inevitably my own perspective. However, the process of writing has included a discussion in the group and circulation of the drafts for critical comment.
