Introduction

In a review article published in 1993, Linda McDowell remarks on the extent to which feminist geography has evolved, both theoretically and empirically, in the decade since its inception. Such reflections, in many ways, underpin our intentions here. Having been involved in producing some of the research which has constituted, shaped and made feminist geography over the past ten or so years, and having invested considerable time and resources in designing and teaching courses which reflect these research interests, many of those active within the Women and Geography Study Group (henceforth WGSG) ¹ feel that now is an appropriate time in which to produce a teaching text which does justice to the breadth, diversity, intellectual vibrancy, debate and difference currently to be found in feminist geography. This has been our primary objective in writing this book, and we certainly hope that in the pages which follow we manage to communicate to you something of the excitement which we feel characterises feminist geography in the 1990s.