Feminist Research: Overview and Outlook

Carolyn Hlus was a lecturer in English literature at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.

This bilingual publication, from an institute dedicated to publishing “topical, provocative, issue-oriented papers and essays exploring many aspects of women’s experiences and concerns,” contains two essays reporting on the state of women’s studies in Quebec. “Assessment and Challenges of Women’s Studies in Quebec,” by Francine Descarries-Belanger, proves the compatibility of the two terms, scientific research and feminism. The study concludes that, using the three processes of consciousness raising, acquisition of knowledge, and formulation of theory, women have moved from being only objects of study to being as well subjects of feminist discourse. The second essay, “Prospects for Feminist Research: Towards a New Paradigm?,” by Micheline de Sève, questions how feminists can, first, alter the androcentric scientific community and, second, curb the encroachment of new technologies on the domain of motherhood. Although both articles, the first from a sociologist, the latter from a political scientist, are too brief, they report adequately on the current place of feminist research in Quebec.