Feminist Identity Development Scale
The Feminist Identity Development Scale (FIDS), developed by Adena Bargad and Janet Hyde in 1991, is a 39-item self-report instrument that operationalises Downing and Roush's (1985) five-stage model of how women develop a feminist identity. Its five subscales correspond to the stages of passive acceptance, revelation, embeddedness-emanation, synthesis, and active commitment, capturing where a woman stands in the process of recognising and responding to sexism.
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Sources
- Bargad, A., & Hyde, J. S. (1991). Women's studies: A study of feminist identity development in women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 15(2), 181–201. DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1991.tb00791.x ↗
- Downing, N. E., & Roush, K. L. (1985). From passive acceptance to active commitment: A model of feminist identity development for women. The Counseling Psychologist, 13(4), 695–709. DOI: 10.1177/0011000085134013 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Feminist Identity Development Scale (FIDS). ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/gender-studies/feminist-identity-development-scale
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