‘It’s great to have someone to talk to’: the ethics and politics of interviewing women

This chapter explores some of the ethical problems involved in interviewing women. It argues that discussions of the ‘ethics’ of research are commonly conducted within a framework which is drawn from the public domain of men. The structural position of women, and in particular their consignment to the privatised, domestic sphere, makes it particularly likely that they will welcome the opportunity to talk to a sympathetic listener. Male interviewers of course may also be ‘placed’. The effectiveness of in-depth interviewing techniques when used by women researchers to study other women is undoubtedly a great asset in creating sociological knowledge which encompasses and expresses the experiences of women. The prospects for doing that clearly are magnified when (as is so often the case) women interviewers are not themselves the people who will handle and use the data they have created. Women, with perhaps very few exceptions, can never be regarded as fair game.