Available via license: CC BY 4.0
Content may be subject to copyright.
EDITORIAL
Are men from Mars and women from Venus?
In all types of research it has become common to
accept that men and women have different life-
worlds. Outside the research world this conviction
really gathered momentum with the publication
in 1992 of ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from
Venus’, written by the American author and relation-
ship counselor John Gray. The book and its central
idea have had a major impact on popular culture.
We accept the existence of a gender difference that
makes it both necessary and acceptable from time to
time to separate girls from boys during their school
years to optimize their learning. In addition, package
holidays, hotels, and courses adjusted to a specific
gender are gaining popularity. This gender segrega-
tion is generally regarded as common sense, but has
it come under sufficient critical scrutiny?
In empirical research literature, men and women
are commonly separated into specific gender groups,
and this may be well-founded as there are clearly
biological differences. However, this tendency seems
to have entered qualitative research and this may
conflict with ontological and epistemological beliefs.
A brief survey of some papers containing qualitative
studies shows that while some researchers provide
a rationale for dividing groups along gender lines,
others do not appear to question or provide justifica-
tion for this in their research. In most cases, the
division is made with reference to earlier studies
using gender division, for example: ‘‘Since allergy to
gluten has only been studied among women so far,
this study provides insight into men’s experiences
of this life condition’’. Attempting to establish the
necessary niche in the existing body of knowledge,
the researcher fails to question whether a gender
division is suitable in this particular study.
The question is whether there is a clear difference
in the lifeworlds of men and women or if we tend to
transfer the assumption of gender diversity from our
daily life into the research world. If we as qualitative
researchers want to separate men and women in our
studies, it is crucial that we make an effort to identify
sources that justify this division. If not, I am afraid
we risk contaminating qualitative studies with ideas
that are merely cultural rather than theoretical.
In other words: If there are any plausible reasons
that men may experience gluten allergy differently
from women, they have to be outlined. If this is
not possible, I think we should start to give due
consideration to potential differences but at the same
time go beyond them and avoid automatic dichoto-
mies sneaking into our qualitative studies.
Bente Martinsen
Co-Editor
(page number not for citation purpose)
Int J Qualitative Stud Health Well-being
#2012 B. Martinsen. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncom mercial 3.0 Unported
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided
the original work is properly cited.
1
Citation: Int J Qualitative Stud Health Well-being 2012, 7: 17464 - DOI: 10.3402/qhw.v7i0.17464
