Doing Femininst Ethnography in Male Dominated Board Rooms. Mehodological Reflections on Challenges and Dilemmas

Doing Feminist Ethnography in Male Dominated Board Rooms. Methodological Reflections on Challenges and Dilemmas Feminist theory of science discusses how researchers contribute to the construction of social and cultural realities through their production of knowledge. This approach represents an alternative to mainstream sociology, where the researchers agree among themselves to leave out of play their own game and their own stakes. I will in this paper describe and reflect on some methodological strategies used in an ethnographic study examining gender relations and gender/ power dynamics in board rooms of powerful Norwegian sport organizations. The field work consisted of participatory observations of board meetings and lasted about two years. The paper will exemplify and discuss methodological strategies emphasizing 1) practices of self- reflexivity in the data collecting process 2) challenges related the researcher’s embeddings in the field and 3) sensitivity of arenas for inclusion and exclusion. The strategies discussed are mostly concentrated around the researchers abilities to analyse how the gendering of the field and her positioning limit and open access to relevant information as well as create several methodological dilemmas.