Feminism in the Social Sciences of Health and Illness

Abstract

When feminism informs and shapes social scientific thinking, it often yields strongly applied perspectives. The business of engaging in the application, however, presents challenges to both feminist practice and the academic disciplines. These issues are further complicated when they are played out in an interdisciplinary setting. I offer a personal reflection on the highly ambiguous situation in a part of what has been called the ‘diaspora’ of social sciences practiced not within any particular ‘home’ discipline, but in a particular sub-field or inter-discipline such as urban studies, criminology or—in this case—population health. The emphasis in this discussion is on the mutual influences of the academic and the applied.

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Notes on contributors

Dorothy H. Broom

Dorothy H. Broom is Professor Emerita at The Australian National University from the National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health, and before that, Convenor of the Women's Studies Program. She is author of over 100 scholarly articles and several books, including The Weight of Modernity (Springer) 2012 (with Cathy Banwell, Anna Davies and Jane Dixon). Throughout her academic career, she has focussed on health and illness with particular emphasis on health inequalities including gender and health.