'Feminist analysis of science and the implications for higher education'

Feminism(s) as practice(s) in the world of the women's movements have frequ ently either rejected science and scientific approaches or utilised scienti fic evidence in support of arguments, positions and campaigns. This has hap pened with some degree of contradiction. Problems of how feminist theory de als with questions about the nature and role of science and scientific tech niques and information still remain. The debates that are taking place are complex, and have rarely been utilised or applied in the situation of how h igher education might utilise them. This paper attempts to examine current philosophical and feminist ideas about the nature of science, to assess if it is possible to theorise about the possibility of a feminist science. Equ ally problematic is the application of these ideas to the context of higher education,and providing more women or feminist orientated educational prac tice. This paper draws links between theory about science, and issues in re lation to the higher education curriculum. It argues the case that although this theorising may appear difficult to apply, there are several ways by w hich it may be used to guide thinking about how education courses may be st ructured in order to allow students to learn in ways that may not be as lim ited as previously. These debates are new, ongoing, and yet not fully explo red and so this paper provides a position from where this might be explored , and therefore demonstrates some areas for further exploration.