WOMEN IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES - METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

In this paper, I draw from my fieldwork in Iran and raise questions re garding our methods of data collection and theoretical concepts in stu dying women in developing countries. First, I outline the shortcomings of quantitative gendered methods of social science inquiry. Second, d rawing from the experience of women in Iran, I join the feminist liter ature, particularly Third World feminism, on diversity and difference and oppose the homogenization of Third World women. This article uses an alternative approach which not only goes beyond the traditional soc ial science methodology, but also beyond the pitfalls of simple femini st essentialism.