Feminist Evaluation

Feminist evaluation, like other evaluation approaches, is concerned with measuring the effectiveness of programs, judging merit or worth, and examining both formative and summative data to promote change. The difference between feminist approaches and other evaluation models lies in the attention paid to gender issues, the needs of women, and the promotion of change. Feminist evaluation approaches are specifically interested in promoting social justice, particularly for women, but not only for women. Attention is also paid to race, class, and sexual orientation. As a result of this concern for women and other oppressed groups, the methods used in a feminist approach are usually collaborative and inclusive and have an action orientation.

Feminist evaluation is a natural outgrowth of the influence of the feminist movement, feminist theory, and feminist research on the evaluation field. As feminists and feminist researchers have questioned and expanded the boundaries of what it means to do research, these ideas have influenced the way women and men with feminist attitudes approach evaluation. Feminist researchers such as Reinharz, Stanley, and [Page 155]Wise; Fonow and Cook; Harding; hooks; and Collins have contributed to expanded and entirely different views of what it means to do research, to question authority, to examine gender issues, to examine the lives of women, and to promote social change. Feminist research has evolved over the years from feminist empiricism (using traditional research methods to examine women's issues) to feminist standpoint theory (which argues that women approach research with different perspectives and therefore different abilities to see problems than men) and finally to postmodern feminism. Postmodern feminist thought argues against the creation of new versions of an approach that is implicitly sexist, racist, and classist, that is, another grand theory of absolute truth. Feminist postmodernism advocates attending to multiple perspectives and multiple realities in the process of research and avoids the creation of grand narratives or theories.

In the evaluation field, collaborative and emancipatory evaluators and theorists have addressed some of the issues of concern to feminists and have also contributed to the development of alternative approaches to evaluation. Evaluators such as Egon Guba, Yvonna Lincoln, Jennifer Greene, David Fetterman, and Michael Patton have contributed much to the debate surrounding what is acceptable evaluation practice, what questions should or can be asked, how they should be asked, who should be included, and what methods can be used to answer questions. In spite of the inclusiveness of collaborative or empowerment-oriented evaluations, however, these can still fall short of the requirements of a feminist evaluation. Research studies have shown that even collaborative approaches can be co-opted by powerful or cultural interests and thus will not adequately represent the voices of those with less power (which often means women).