RESEARCH TOPICS IN FEMINIST AND GENDER GEOGRAPHY FROM 1975 TO 2021. A BRIEF ASSESSMENT OF ROMANIA’S STATUS

Feminist and Gender Geography witness a tremendous development since 1975 until 2021, both through the diversification of research topics and international spatial expansion. This paper aims to review and analyse this development worldwide, aiming to provide a new perspective on the matter. A set of 8,376 Web of Science published research is investigated and 32 main topics of study are derived, as well as a spatial extension breakdown. Further analysis highlights three main stages of development of the field based on the emergence of new topics of study: the substantiation stage (1975-1989), the diversification stage (1990-2009) and the ‘boom’ stage (2009-2021). A distinct section is reserved for reviewing Romania’s status, a former communist country, currently lacking substantial feminist geographical research; this section provides a brief assessment of the existing Romanian literature, as well as of the scientific and historical background for the current status. Part of the authors’ PhD thesis, this paper hopes to hearten fellow geographers to approach their research through the lens of feminist philosophy and gender paradigm.