Feminist Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from fieldwork in Southern Bangladesh

Abstract

As a feminist researcher, I recognize the importance of understanding the experiences of marginalized groups and challenging existing power structures. However, conducting feminist research in a patriarchal, heterosexual, and Muslim context presents unique challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the research process, as it has made it difficult to reach study subjects and capture their lived experiences. In this presentation, I will discuss the challenges I encountered while conducting feminist research in Southern Bangladesh during the pandemic, and the initiatives I took to minimize these challenges. I adapted my research design several times, which included a year of desk research and key informant interviews, before conducting in-person fieldwork during the pandemic. This presented new challenges for co-producing knowledge from female respondents in a patriarchal, heterosexual, and Muslim context. I outline the challenges I faced in accessing female respondents and engaging in meaningful conversations with them, and illustrate how women are often excluded from the knowledge generation process. I highlight four major challenges encountered during the fieldwork: social and gender norms that restrict women’s mobility and visibility in public spaces; the need to inform household members, such as husbands, in-laws, and children, when interviewing women inside their homes; the time it takes to build trust and address women’s hesitation and confusion when speaking to researchers; and the challenge of understanding women’s perspectives when they present a “fake reality”. I provide examples of these challenges and discuss the initiatives I took to minimize them. Having illustrated the challenges, I stress the need for gender and diversity research in understanding the ‘double crisis’ (climate change and Covid 19 pandemic), while offering a perspective and challenges of conducting feminist research in the pandemic time. This presentation contributes to the ongoing discussion on feminist research in the global south during COVID-19, and highlights the need to prioritize and amplify the voices and perspectives of marginalized groups.