An attempt is made here to critically appraise the dominant assumptions of psy chology from the feminist perspective. The aim is to illustrate how feminist inquiry with its advocacy of critical reflection, change and activism has posed an incipi ent challenge to an uncritical acceptance of some of the prevailing premises and procedures of psychology. Feminist analysis has questioned the adequacy of assumptions and methods of conventional psychological research such as univer sality of behaviour, value-free neutrality, and decontextualisation of variables that reflect the ideological concerns of thefield. These concerns have implications for how gender is constructed, what strategies are devised to help women achieve autonomy, and in the larger analysis, what kind of a conciliation is possible between the individual and society.
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