Current feminist theory, in validating women’s own stories of their experience, has incouraged scholars of women’s history to view the use of women’s oral narratives as the methodology, next to the use of women’s written autobiography, that brings historians closest to the “reality” of women’s lives. Such narratives, unlike most standard histories, represent experience from the perspective of women, affirm the importance of women’s contributions, and furnish present-day women with historical continuity that is essential to their identity, individually and collectively.
Scholars of women’s history should, however, be as cautious about accepting oral narratives at face value as they already are about written memories. Oral narratives are no more likely than are written narratives to provide a disinterested commentary on events or people. Moreover, the stories people tell to explain themselves are shaped by narrative devices and storytelling conventions, as well as by other cultural and historical factors, in ways that the storytellers may be unaware of. The political rhetoric of a particular era, may influence women’s interpretations of the significance of their experience. Thus a woman who views the Second World War as pivotal in increasing the social acceptance of women’s paid work outside the home may teach that conclusion partly and unwittingly because of war Time rhetoric encouraging a positive view of women’s participation in such work.
女性传记能使历史学家最大限度地接近女性生活的实质。当今的女权主义理论鼓励了从事女性历史研究的学者将女性的口头叙述当做仅次于传记的方法来证实女性自身经历故事。与大多数普通的故事不同，这种叙述是从女性观点出发的经历故事，申明了女性所作出贡献的重要性，还为当今女性作为个体和集体的身份提供了重要的历史性衔接。
但是，研究女性历史的学者应该注意不能像以往以表面价值接受“写下来的记忆”那样来接受口头叙述。口头叙述不像书面叙述那样客观地评价人或事，而且在人们讲述自己的故事时，可能会无意识受到叙述技巧，风俗习惯以及其它文化历史因素的影响。例如，某个特殊时期的政治言论可能会影响女性对自我经历意义的理解。如果一个女性把第二次世界大战看做引起社会越来越认可女性外出工作的关键性事件，她可能在一定程度上稀里糊涂地认为这是因为战时宣言鼓励女性参加这些工作。
