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In this chapter, I look at two examples of research which bear on gender relations and which try to contribute to shifting stereotypical conceptions thereof (Woldegies in Economic empowerment through income generating activities and social mobilization: the case of married Amhara women of Wadla Woreda, North Wollo Zone, Ethiopia, 2014, Woldegies in South Afr Rev Sociol 47(1):58–80, 2016; Ssali & Theobald in South Afr Rev Sociol 47(1):81–98, 2016). In the first example, the research concerned women's empowerment via income-generating activities and social mobilization in a region of Ethiopia. In the second example, the research was around gendered experiences of the civil war in Northern Uganda and post-war reconstruction. I discuss in some detail Woldegies's account of research exploring (and trying to strengthen) women's experiences of empowerment. I draw out and extrapolate from his exposition the responsibilities he assumed in trying to make a constructive difference to the life-worlds of participants (in their communities) and to wider audiences via the research. I concentrate on how one might judge research in terms of considerations of the involvement of the research endeavor in the becoming of the "realities' being explored. I move on to discuss (in less detail) Ssali and Theobald's research—in this case, drawing out additional issues relating to the responsibilities of researchers, especially when conducting research asking people to recall and recount traumatic experiences.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-74386-8_4

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