The fallacy of easy access

Abstract

This article explores both ethical and methodological issues arising from feminist research which seeks to highlight diversity among women. Differences between women influence all aspects of the research process,including access. The article questions assumptions that female researchers' access to other women is unproblematic and draws on the author's experience of in-depth interviews with mothers of primary school children. It raises questions around the availability of women's time and the ethics of pursuing reluctant respondents, as well as the influence of complex and shifting differentials of power, which flow between researcher and researched. The article argues that it is important to recognise and articulate one's own subjectivity as a feminist researcher in order to more fully understand the research process.