I

Feminists are amongst the fiercest of critics of the Cartesian definition of objectivity. Objectivity is central to positivism. Philosophically, it relies on the Cartesian notion of the self as a conscious, unitary and rational being; this assumption influenced the development of the humanities more broadly. Feminist geographer's use of the concept of oppression has been as a descriptor of women's unequal condition. Marxist-feminists attempted to refine and broaden Engel's analysis of women's oppression. Radical feminist's analyses of women's oppression priorities non-economic sites of suppression biology, psychology and sexuality. Several feminist writers have taken up the emphasis on the maternal within object relations theory but have supplemented it with a more critical account of gender roles. Object relations theory has many important ramifications, both theoretically and practically, about which feminists have had a great deal to say. Feminists have prioritised empirical and theoretical analyses of the ways in which women have been suppressed and repressed.