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Feminist Approaches To Social Work Essay

1631 Words7 Pages

This work is going to set out to investigate the relevance of feminist approaches to social work in today’s society. It will first look at the different types of feminism that are present in society. It will then trace and highlight the emergence of feminism in society. This essay will then delve deeper into the different types of approaches that were taken on by feminists within the field of social work. It will discuss what effect these approaches had on society especially women. According to Hooks (2000) as cited in Considine and Dukelow (2009:141) “Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression”. It is necessary to explain the different types of feminism that are present in society first. Freedman (2001:5) states that there are many …show more content…

According to Collins English Dictionary, “social work” means “social services that give help and advice to the poor, the elderly, and families with problems.” (www.collinslanguage.com). It is very hard to define social work as its work is so varied and sparse within society today. Feminist social workers tend to work more with women and help them to understand and alleviate their problems. Dominelli (1997: 246) postulates “ I define feminist social work as a form of social work practice which takes gendered inequality and it’s elimination as the starting point for working with women whether as individuals, in groups or within organizations and seeks to promote women’s well-being as women define it”. This quote illustrates the difference between mainstream social work which deals with both genders and feminist social work which concentrates on women within society. Feminist social workers work with women in many different areas of their lives. Orme (2002) as cited in Payne (2005: 256) highlights four distinctive areas in which feminist social workers can help to create change, these are as

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Social workers’ efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination and other forms of social justice. Social workers should avoid discrimination against people on the basis of age, gender, race ethnicity, sexual orientation and so on. The NASW Code of Ethics further identifies the social workers ethical responsibilities to the boarder society by listing the following

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We have those definitions. Lets reclaim them.” She defines feminism as a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. In the essay Feminist Politics: Where We Stand by Bell Hooks, bell hooks

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At times they must be in disciplinary and liberatory position which makes it difficult for them to do their job (Weinberg, 2008). The reason the social worker is put in this type of situation is because the old structural social work related personal problems with the inequalities from dominant groups such as capitalists. Now, new structural social work allows social work professionals to see the gaps within systems and focuses mainly on oppression (Mullaly, 2007). Structural social work was seen as outdated and full of negative outcomes but with this new approach to it, it seems as though society may benefit from the perspective because the first way to solve a problem is admitting there is one and addressing the issue. This is something new structural social work allows professionals to do and this has a positive impact on a societal

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According to Eastern Kentucky University on women and gender studies, “feminism is the issue of equality based on gender, gender expression, gender identity, sex, and sexuality as understood through social theories and political activism”. Feminism

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“Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires”(I, 4, 52-53) This is exactly what the stars did in Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Macbeth wanted Happiness in his life but to get that he used moral sacrifices that led to his demise and no purpose of living. This is demonstrated in the dagger speech and the Tomorrow speech that will be discussed showing his ambition for power and happiness to his demise. In the dagger speech (II, 1, 33-64)

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Social Workers are advocates for populations that are oppressed, marginalized and vulnerable populations. Often times those populations are underrepresented in the dominant society, and their beliefs, values, and traditions are ignored or not fully understood. As Social Workers it is our responsibility to represent for those populations and to help integrate their value system into dominant society while increasing education on the social problems they may face. It also aligns with the Social Work profession National Code of Ethics which elaborates on the importance of being culturally competent.

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Introduction The goal of social justice is to combat oppression by focusing on equitable treatment and equal opportunities (Benner, 2022). The social work profession values advocacy and service as methods to combat oppressive practices. Oppression is apparent in all aspects and systems of our society (Hatcher et al., 2022). The existence of oppressive practice within the social work profession is debated, with many supporting the existence of oppression in social work practice.

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3.First of all, let me give you an introduction of the brief history of social work. First of all, The emergence of social work as a profession in the late 19th century Social work as a profession emerged in the late 19th century as a response to the social problems that arose during the Industrial Revolution. The establishment of settlement houses, such as Hull House in Chicago, provided a space for social workers to address issues such as poverty, inequality, and urbanization (Addams, 1910). In addition, the 20th century saw the development of various social work theories, such as the strengths perspective and empowerment theory. Additionally, social work became more diverse, with greater representation of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+

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Practice based on empirical knowledge helps reduce bias, enables workers to study interpretations, perspectives or alternative solutions, and makes social workers more accountable for their decisions JD Hudson (1997). The dialogue between theory and practice In the past and present, there is hesitation among practitioners in social work to adapt theory and research because they feel that the reference to theory is the loss of connection with reality when practicing social work. In order for the social worker to be an effective practitioner, man must have a sound theoretical basis and this is not easy to achieve.

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In the late 1970s and early 1980s, feminist scholars became the main architects of the care perspective. Care scholarship can be viewed a feminist because it pursues avenues to challenge and promote change regarding gender inequities entrenched in the historic and current practices of care. Burnier, (2003) posits that it has been commonly women, working at home without pay or outside the home at low pay, who have been expected to perform society’s care work. Baines, Evan, and Neysmith states (as cited in Burnier, 2003, p. 532), that feminist scholars envision a society where care work would be accomplished “without reproducing and perpetuating gender inequality” and that care work becomes “everyone’s work,” which means “redistributing

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Modern social workers are frequently tasked with certain objectives by their agencies, which leave little room for any work beyond specific treatments and timeframes (Gitterman & Knight, 2016). Although social workers are bound to the set of ethics put forth by the NASW, practitioners are often limited to focusing on the issues of the individual rather than the larger societal issues that may be behind those concerns. Additionally, many social work students end up working in direct practice, rather than macro work. There is a need for social workers to engage at the macro level in order to facilitate community organization and empowerment. Critics suggest this theory may not take into account the unique experiences of each individual and perhaps key characteristics of the individual or group are not taken into consideration (Sadan, 1997).

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INTRODUCTION This is a key framework of sociological theory. It depend on symbols and their meaning. The words we use to describe our behaviour and the behaviour of others is very important. To elaborate further and get into detail about this theory, firstly the theory and key terms have to be defined, secondly the major proponents and tenets, thirdly the history of the theory, fourthly the purpose of the theory, fifthly the significance of the theory for social work practice, followed by the epistemology, consistency with social work values and ethics, implication of the theory, position of the theory on the population served by the social worker, strength and weakness, relevance of Intersectionality, critical perspective on contemporary issues

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