Epistemology, methodology and social evolution of research about women's health

The aim of this paper is to offer some reflections on the conditions which make it possible (or impossible) to formulate a research problem and to describe the connections between questions of epistemology and method, on the one hand, and the social changes, on the other. As a common thread running through the analysis, I shall adopt a model developed by a French epistemologist and philosopher of science, Gaston Bachelard. More specifically, I wish to show that, to be applied at the scientific level, this epistemological thinking needs to be underpinned by changes in society by grass-roots political movements such as feminism. The examples I give are mainly taken from research on the effects of male violence on women's health.