The Numbers Question in Feminism: Bridging the Disciplinary Divide

Sonalde B. Desai, University of Maryland
Susan Greenhalgh, University of California, Irvine
Nancy E. Riley, Bowdoin College

One of the most striking developments of the past decade is an increased distance between scholars working within women’s studies programs and publishing in such journals as Signs and Feminist Studies and those working within more empirically grounded disciplines like sociology and demography. We argue that much of this distance can be attributed to a move away from “numbers” in women’s studies. This is exacerbated by the inability of demographers to make their work relevant to feminists from other disciplines. Co-authored by feminist scholars in demography, sociology, and anthropology, this paper describes the developments in demography and women’s studies that led to this disjunction. It suggests ways in which fields like demography might increase their relevance to feminist studies as well as ways in which feminist scholarship might broaden itself to regain the lost ground.