ABSTRACT
It would be unrealistic to expect feminism to be different. Feminism speaks with one voice in characterizing the world it experiences as a patriarchal world and the culture it inherits as a masculinist culture, but this unity is short-lived. Unlike liberal feminism, Marxist feminism is revolutionary, not merely reformist. Liberal feminism may be led to address issues of structure but this is less a matter of principle than a means to an end. Tong’s categories have led the people on a long journey. There would appear, then, to be two rather disparate strands within feminist theory, both invoking the concept of ‘feminist epistemology’ and its associated themes, and both of compelling interest from the viewpoint of research methodology. To all outward appearances, feminist researchers may share methodologies and methods with researchers of other stripes; yet feminist vision, feminist values and feminist spirit transform these common methodologies and methods and set them apart.
