The anthropological study of women has recently developed into an intellectual discipline which investigates women's relationships to themselves, men, and society. The creation of this new subject of inquiry poses important demands upon anthropological theory and method. The nature of the subject demands a reassessment of potential bias derived from the male-oriented nature of traditional anthropological studies. Persons involved with the anthropology of women suggest that there is a need to identify social determinants and conditions of theory in order to clarify existing anthropological bias. In extreme form, this bias is represented by the anthropological tradition of a male anthropologist looking at male-dominated institutions through the eyes of a male informant and assuming his results to be representative of the entire fabric of social reality. Less extreme forms of bias include unconscious acceptance of hierarchical thinking or an unquestioned culture specific or class based consciousness. In each case--identification of theoretical bias and specification of ideological determinants of theory and observed reality--the anthropology of women demands a focus upon specific problems whose resolution is important to the entire discipline of anthropology. (Author/DB)