Women developing as researchers

What do the notions of independence and group membership mean in relation to those who have been traditionally marginalised?

Women developing as researchers has to do with the apparently conflicting notions of the researcher as, on the one hand, an independent, autonomous, original thinker and, on the other hand, a member of a scholarly community, research culture, and sometimes member of a research team. The notions of independence and group membership are especially sensitive in relation to those who have been traditionally marginalised. When is independence isolation? When does originality bring exclusion from the mainstream? When is membership in a community oppression by the group? There are no clear-cut answers here, but the questions are, I think, important ones.