Feminist ethnography: Storytelling that makes a difference

For millennia, women have carried culture across time and space. They have been the traditional custodians of folklore and fable. Women are expert at conducting rituals, holding secrets and telling stories. Yet the meanings they ascribe to situations, events and processes have often gone unheard or unheeded outside the safety of the 'sisterhood'. Even there, women's voices can be silenced. Ethnography would appear offer the perfect window through which to access women's wisdom and experience. Yet even with the advantage of thick descriptions and conversational narratives there are major challenges to 'giving women voice'. Patriarchy continues to cast long shadows across even the most gender sensitive of qualitative research methods. In this article two studies are sourced to illustrate opportunities and challenges associated with feminist ethnography as social work research.