This Special Issue proposes to explore the multiple entanglements of women, phenomenology, and the social sciences. It begins by focusing on the contributions women have made to the development of a “phenomenological gaze” in the social sciences, which—although substantial—have not always been sufficiently recognized or systematically examined. Our aim is to highlight and value the work of women whose engagement with phenomenology has opened new perspectives within sociological inquiry. This includes sociologists who demonstrated a distinctive sensitivity to phenomenological approaches (e.g., Benita Luckmann, Brigitte Berger, Anne Honer), phenomenologists who reflected on the social world (e.g., Edith Stein, Gerda Walther), as well as women who played a decisive role in the transmission and circulation of phenomenological traditions in sociology—through archival research, editorial initiatives, and the cultivation of intellectual networks (e.g., Ilse Schutz).
The Special Issue also seeks to recover the voices of women who engaged with phenomenology from subaltern positions, especially those whose intellectual contributions have been obscured, marginalized, or silenced by processes of racialization and coloniality. In doing so, the Special Issue aims to broaden the horizon of recognition and bring into focus trajectories that have remained outside canonical accounts. We likewise invite analyses inspired by intersectionality (e.g., Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins), examining how gendered exclusion interacts with other forms of oppression, as well as by standpoint theory, which emphasizes how knowledge is shaped by social positions and lived experience (e.g., Dorothy Smith, Nancy Hartsock, Sandra Harding, Donna Haraway).
We further welcome contributions that address conceptual and methodological innovations developed by women scholars, particularly those that have brought phenomenology into closer dialogue with empirical research. Contributions may explore how such conceptual and methodological innovations have opened new pathways for phenomenology in dialogue with the social sciences, and how they continue to be relevant for contemporary debates.
The Special Issue also proposes to address how gender has been approached from phenomenological perspectives. In this sense, it invites contributions that recover and examine gender both as an empirical topic and as a theoretical problem within phenomenological research.
Finally, the Special Issue aims to foster dialogues and disciplinary intersections that bring into focus the contributions of women and the perspectives opened by a gendered approach to phenomenological research. At stake are the connections between phenomenology and other fields of inquiry, including anthropology, gender studies, and political philosophy. Of particular interest are contributions that examine resonances with critical traditions such as Marxism, Critical Theory, and cultural studies, highlighting how these dialogues have expanded and challenged the scope of phenomenological research.
These lines of inquiry are not intended to be exhaustive, and we welcome all submissions that, in one way or another, reflect on the relations between women, phenomenology, and the social sciences.
We kindly invite authors to submit full papers in accordance with the Guidelines for Authors. Please keep in mind the following schedule:
Full papers due: April 1, 2026
Decisions on papers: mid-June 2026
Revised versions due: August 1, 2026
Publication: December 2026
Papers should be sent to sr@zetabooks.com.