INTRODUCTION
Contemporary
social issues are highly complex, globally interrelated, and dynamic. Social
workers have contradictory roles when dealing with them: they have to act as
instruments of government (the social control function) and as advocates of
people oppressed by the policies of government and other authorities (the
social change function). Under the present circumstances social workers must be
able to draw upon many sources of information and different knowledge
traditions. Accomplishing this requires them to break out of the truths of
objectifying knowledge and the traditional meta-narratives of the profession.
For social
work it is important to understand primarily the mechanisms that produce and
reproduce social inequalities, and for the purpose of the current paper the
inequalities between the genders. The discourse on women is still trapped in a
binary understanding of the differences between nature and culture, body and
mind, private and public, civil and political, emotional and rational, and so
forth, where the first binary pole is said to belong to women and the other to
men.
Gender is
undoubtedly among the most important issues, without critical reflection on
gender in everyday practices, social workers are likely to encourage the
reproduction of traditional gender-specific family roles in circumstances in
which the constant questioning of them would be more appropriate
Gender
Aware Social Work theory and practice has much to offer the practitioners who
can adapt its principles for professional practice. The existence of gender
aware social work is testimony to their capacities to do so. Gender aware
social work has encouraged the assumption of a gender-sensitive stance in
working with women and insisted on valuing women’s knowledge, talents and
contributions to the profession.
The
insights provided by this paradigm have been incorporated into a wide range of
social work activities.
The
current paper shall deal with the Concept of Gender and placing it at the
Centre of the Social Work practice. The paper aims to further discuss the
various theoretical and practical issues regarding Gender Aware Social Work. This paper
is by no means a thorough description of Gender Aware Social Work, but instead
is a humble attempt to familiarise and understand the importance of Gender in
Social Work theory and practice.
UNDERSTANDING GENDER
For
many people, the terms “gender” and “sex” are interchangeable. Yet biological
sex and gender are different; gender is not inherently connected to one’s
physical anatomy. Sex is
biological and includes physical attributes such as sex chromosomes, gonads,
sex hormones, internal reproductive structures, and external genitalia. At
birth, it is used to identify individuals as male or female. Gender on the other hand
is far more complicated. Along with one’s physical traits, it is the complex
interrelationship between those traits and one’s internal sense of self as
male, female, both or neither as well as one’s outward presentations and
behaviours related to that perception.
The French
Feminist Simone de Beavoir who is considered as a precursor of gender theories,
had analyzed that biological determinism confines women to the sphere of
reproductive and nurturing roles. She pointed out the difference between
"natural and cultural sex" by saying that a "woman is not born
but made" This later on became the basis for gender theories.
Ann Oakley
who was among the first few feminists to use this concept says, " Gender
is a matter of culture, it refers to the social classification of men and women
into masculine and feminine." "Male-ness and female-ness are not
biological givens, but rather the result of a long historical process.
Gender
refers to the socio-cultural definition of man and woman, the way in which they
are differentiated and assigned socially acceptable roles. These are
maintained, sustained by multiple structures like family, community, society,
ethnicity, and through tools like culture, language, education, media and
religion.
For ages
we have been socialized into believing that the different categories, roles and
status accorded to men and women in society is determined by biology i.e. sex,
that they are natural and constant and therefore not changeable. In a way,
women and their bodies are held responsible for their specific roles and
subsequently their subordinate status in society.
When
biological determinism has been accepted as natural, there is obviously no need
to address the gender inequalities and injustice that exist in society.
However, if biology alone determined our roles, every woman would be only
cooking washing sewing etc. But this clearly is not the case because most
professional cooks, launderers and tailors happen to be men. The roles also
change with time, culture, and region.
Therefore,
neither sex nor nature is responsible for the unjustifiable inequalities that
exist between women and men. Like the inequalities that exist between classes
and races, inequality between women and men are also created by historical
constructs and therefore they can be questioned, challenged and changed.
In short,
Gender refers to
·
The social differences between men and
women
·
Gender is a learned and enforced
behaviour
·
Gender varies with culture
·
Gender varies within culture
·
Gender changes over time.
Knowledge of an individual's
gender provides information that ultimately influences how people behave,
think, and react to individuals. Hoffman and Pasley assert there are five
cognitive structures influenced by gender:
·
Perceptions about men and
women
·
Attributions, or
explanations based on being male or female
·
Expectancies, or
predictions based on whether one is male or female
·
Assumptions regarding the
nature of men and women
· Beliefs or standards, or
the underlying systems that define how men and women "should be"
All five of these cognitive
structures are dynamic, interrelated, and influenced by gender as a social
category.
Gender stereotypes are beliefs or
assumptions about men's and women's roles and characteristics; however, they do
not necessarily correspond to reality. They have strong prescriptive effects on
individuals' responses. Gender stereotypes can lead to prejudice and
discrimination. For example, an employer might hold a belief that women are too
emotional (a gender stereotype), leading to dislike and prejudice (a negative
attitude) toward female employees. Ultimately, this could lead to
discrimination (a biased behaviour), as the employer will not hire women for a
particular position based on this gender stereotype
GENDER IN SOCIAL WORK
Social
work provides a site in which sexual politics are played out so that dynamics
endorsing male supremacy operate within social work as well as outside it.
Social
work is defined as a ‘women’s profession’. Although numerically dominant, women
do not control it. The historical development of Social Work occurred in the
tradition of middle class philanthropy, whereby the women of the middle class
were active in the works of charity. This trend is argued to be an extension of
“caring and nurturing” by these women from the households to their communities.
Prof.
Anjali Gandhi argues that “as social work grew into a visible profession with
reasonable remuneration and opportunities for career progression, it paved way
for the entry of men. While women worked largely at grassroots level, men
occupied middle or managerial positions.”
Men are
abandoning direct work with ‘clients’. Men have become even more reluctant to
join the practitioners’ ranks during the past decade. Unlike women, they use
practice as a steppingstone to a management career.
Decision-making
processes and policy formulation remain firmly under men’s control. Women
practitioners are likely to be managed by men and take this as the norm. Women
occupying these positions appear as aberrations because managerial skills are
associated with men and their unusualness is remarked upon.
Thus, one
could argue that that the current Social Work practice maintains the existing
gender order i.e. women as care givers and men working at the level of policy
making and administration. It is
crucial to point out at this juncture that male dominations is visible not only
in the practice but also in the theories and literature of Social Work.
The historical backdrop of the feminist movement and the
different waves of feminism provides a context to understand how feminist
social work grew. As stated, with women gaining voices and visibility by their
activism in the 1960s, feminism challenged the existing gender biases. They were
concerned with the lack of representation of women in counseling training
programs and in research and the lack of recognition of the role of gender.
Many clinical and counseling
theories are based on socially constructed norms of healthy male development.
For example, Erik Erikson's developmental theory delineates life-span tasks
from birth to death. The goal of every developmental task is for the individual
to begin individuating and achieving autonomy in order to develop a healthy ego . One of the main feminist criticisms of Erikson's
theory is that the notions of autonomy and independence are based on male norms
in Western society. Women, on the other hand, are more relational and strive to
be connected in relationships. If women do not fit into
this developmental cycle, will they develop pathological symptoms?
The notion of
abnormality is heavily influenced by social and cultural norms. Early
philosophers have depicted women as irrational beings. Harris and Lighter
assert that, historically, when women were the focus of attention in the mental
health fields, they were "in the role of patient or repository of
psychopathology, not as exemplar of healthy personality development". In
the 1700s and 1800s, women's mental illness was linked to sin and vice, and
later, women's mental illness was tied to the "weaker" female
constitution due to menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. Some even argued that a woman's womb moved
aimlessly throughout the body, causing insanity and draining life energy.
Some have argued that the negative
construction of women's bodies and behaviors essentially functioned as social
control. Women's roles were maintained by labelling socially unacceptable behaviours
as "hysterical," "insane," or "neurotic.
Thus, there is a need for a
paradigm of Social Work theory and practice that takes into consideration the
constructions of gender and is more sensitive towards women and their context.
Feminist movements have been the
pioneers in bringing forth the critique of the arbitrary construction of
gender. Thus, for the understanding that feminists hold regarding Gender,
Feminism is an appropriate tool to develop Gender- sensitive Social Work or
Gender Aware Social Work.
Therefore, the following
discussion of Feminist Social Work seems essential.
FEMINIST APPROACH TO SOCIAL WORK
Feminist
Social Work could be defined as a form of social work practice that takes
women’s experience of the world as the starting point of its analysis and by
focusing on the links between a woman’s position in society and her individual
predicament, responds to her specific needs, creates egalitarian relations in
‘client’–worker interactions and addresses structural inequalities.
Meeting
women’s particular needs in a holistic manner and dealing with the complexities
of their lives – including the numerous tensions and diverse forms of
oppression impacting upon them, is an integral part of feminist social work.
Its focus on the interdependent nature of social relations ensures that it also
addresses the needs of those that women interact with – men, children and other
women.
Feminist
social workers have been first to root women’s troubles in their social
positions and roles as women. In creating feminist social work, women activists
have drawn on feminist insights more generally and woven these into their own
unique patterns of theory and practice
Feminist
social workers have challenged gender-blind theories and practices that have
treated women as offshoots of men under the guise of the universal human being
that although un-gendered resounds to men’s ways of thinking, living and
working. In social work, these have been replaced with woman-centred approaches
that advocate sensitive gendered responses to the needs of women ‘clients’ and
women workers. More recently, feminist social work has incorporated men more
fully into its theory and practice.
By placing
gender on the social work map, feminist social workers have challenged the
gender neutrality regarding this social division usually upheld in traditional
professional social work theories and practice. Feminists have questioned
traditional practitioners’ reliance on a Universalist discourse that uses men
as the yardstick for measuring (all) women’s experiences because locating women
in these spaces denies women’s specific experiences in the routines of daily
life and presupposes their dependent status.
According
to Domineli, Feminist social workers have examined the contexts in which social
work practice is undertaken by both relocating social work within a patriarchal
capitalist global social structure and focusing on the gendered nature of
social relations which are locality specific and differentiated across multiple
social dimensions.
Whilst
social work is understood within its legislative frameworks and specific
national and cultural contexts, feminists attempt to identify those elements
that women share with other women. Hence, feminist social workers seek to
bridge gaps amongst women by examining the commonalities they share with each other
alongside the specificities of their particular positions.
However,
their focus on similarities between women has been criticised by postmodernists.
The postmodernists questioned the validity of the Feminist approach as one that
treats women as a singular, uniform category. She terms these ‘essentialist’
for ignoring the impact of ‘race’, disability, age, sexual orientations and
other social divisions upon gender relations, despite their commitment to
examining women in their social situations. Nevertheless, the importance of the
Feminist Approach to Social Work is not undermined by such arguments.
Gender
Aware Social Work is not exclusively women centric. However, since women have
been victims of systemic oppression, women are the apparent focus of Gender
Awareness Social Work. This approach has a crucial role to play in working with
men also.
The
importance of social workers responding to men’s needs, particularly in
relation to assisting men in the tasks of improving their psycho-social
functioning and re-education regarding the formation of non-abusive intimate
relationships with less socially powerful women and children, has been
identified and acted upon. The scope of
this approach for working with men shall be discussed later in the course of this
paper.
Feminist
social work has shed important insights on this issue because it takes women’s
well-being as the starting point, though not necessarily the end of its
analyses and has made creating egalitarian social relations an integral part of
practice.
According
to Harding, Feminist Social Work has the following features:
1)
challenging men’s experiences as the
yardstick for measuring women’s;
2)
unpacking universalist standards and
exposing their failure to describe, understand or value women’s diverse
lifestyles and contributions to society;
3)
critiquing dualist thinking and the
concepts that formulate knowledge as binary categories operating in opposition
to each other;
4)
recognising identity politics as a
central dynamic in how social relations are organised and reproduced;
5)
respecting women’s multiple and fluid
identities;
6)
acknowledging the significance of
gendered power relations in shaping the opportunities available for men and
women to build their lives in accordance with their views of their needs; and
7)
recognising the capacity of women to
take action on their own behalf and to demonstrate solidarity across a range of
social divisions.
IDEOLOGICAL
ORIENTATIONS
Feminist
theory has impacted not only Individual and collective lives but ways In which
knowledge about Individuals and society is developed and used. Feminism is
transforming both social thought and social action.
Social
work has also been influenced by and influencing feminist thought and action.
Recent literature calls for a re-examination of social work learning and
practice based upon new knowledge about women as well as new interpretations of
previously existing theories and beliefs about women's roles in society.
Feminist
theory forms the basis for the study of the experiences of women in society, specifically
of women's status and position within that society, on the premise that women's
experience emerge from
its social, political and economical structure.
Feminist
thought assumes
that women's interests and perspectives are valid in and of themselves, are
not inferior or secondary to those of men's, nor should they be defined only
in relation to or as a deviation from men's experiences. The absence of these
assumptions in traditional sociological, psychological, historical and
philosophical scholarship is one of the criticisms which have emerged in
feminist scholarship.
While
feminism is grounded in these fundamental premises, there is no single or
universally accepted version of feminism. Each framework yields a different
interpretation of the social world and influences the assumptions, observations,
and conclusions that are made regarding women's experiences in society as well
as the change strategies that are employed to alter that status and those
experiences.
The main
currents of Feminist theory are briefly described below:
Liberal feminism locates the
origins of women's oppression in women's lack of equal civil rights and equal
opportunities as well as in past tradition and learned psychology associated
with the sex role socialization process. Based upon this analysis, liberal
feminism purports that women's liberation will be achieved with the removal of
sexist discrimination so that women have the opportunity to pursue their
potential for individual development just as fully as men do.
This
feminist perspective emphasizes social and legal reform through pol1cies
designed to create equal opportunities for women and to establish individual
civil rights so that no one is denied access to the existing social-economic
system because of sex, race, or class. Liberal feminism further assumes that the
re-education of the public concerning the sex role socialization process is a
means towards achieving more liberated and egalitarian gender relations.
Socialist feminism locates the
origins of women's oppression in the interaction of the capitalist system based
on class inequalities, with the patriarchal system based on gender inequities.
As a result of this interaction, women are subordinated and exploited through
misuse of their labor In the marketplace, for which they are persistently
underpaid, and of their labor in the home, for which they are not paid at all.
Current reality is viewed in terms of an economically based class system
reinforced by sexist attitudes and practices.
According to this
analysis, feminism aims to abolish both capitalism and male dominance in order
to end women's oppression. In contrast to the reform-oriented liberal feminist
perspective, socialist feminism emphasizes the necessity for revolutionary
societal changes in order to eliminate the existing unequal distribution of
power.
Equality
is viewed not only in terms of opportunity but, more crucially, in terms of
rewards. This perspective necessitates and facilitates an understanding of the
experiences of women of all classes and races as a means of understanding
oppression. An essential feminist strategy for achieving the liberation of
women involves al1gnment with other oppressed groups in order to find their
common grounds of oppression and to resist women's subordination in the
marketplace and in the home.
Radical feminism locates the
origins of women's oppression in the patriarchal control of female sexuality
and female fertility. This perspective Identifies male power and privilege in
patriarchal relations as the essential determinant of women's subordination.
Radical feminism emphasizes that in the existing social order women are
oppressed and exploited primarily in sexual and procreative relations in the
home, which is the sphere of life defined by the male culture as personal
rather than as political.
Just as with
socialist feminism, radical feminism challenges society's basic structure and
identifies the need for revolutionizing its existing organization. An essential
strategy for eliminating women's oppression is the establ1shment of a woman
culture separate from the lives of men, thus redefining social relations and
overthrowing or undermining the present dominant patriarchy.
Some of
the other popular feminist theories are mentioned below:
Cultural feminism argues that certain qualities or characteristics
(e.g., nurturing) are more prevalent in women. Cultural feminists believe these
characteristics should be honored and valued as opposed to focusing on the
similarities between men and women.
According to this school of feminism, society should be restructured in such a
way that emphasizes cooperation rather than aggression
Women-of-color feminism asserts that many of the other feminist perspectives do not take into
account other factors of female diversity, such as race, ethnicity, social
class, and sexual orientation, although these dimensions affect the lives of
women as well . For example, a
lesbian woman's life experiences will be uniquely different from a heterosexual
woman's due to the different experiences and forms of discrimination.
Postmodernist feminism: Postmodernism is an intellectual movement that argues against the
traditional and universal ways of theorizing and reasoning and Western notions
of science. Postmodernists are also opposed to the language of binary opposites
(e.g., male/female, white/black, etc.). Postmodernist feminists emphasize the
importance of deconstructing discourse to identify sexist and patriarchal tones
and biases in Western culture.
Global feminists emphasize the issues of oppression, marginalization,
and discrimination among all women globally. They focus on oppression as it
relates to neo-colonialism (economic structures created by former colonial
powers to maintain colonies' dependencies) and global capitalism. Issues such as education, prostitution,
and access to health care are important topics for global feminists.
FEMINIST SOCIAL WORK- THEORY AND
PRACTICE
Social
work occupies an interesting position within the nation-state as the collective
expression of its desire to care for others in difficult circumstances, and as
a professional activity whose practitioners work in the interstices between the
national and local levels, and between the personal and political planes.
Social workers as public officials who represent the public’s wish to intervene
in the private lives of fellow citizens, if necessary without their consent in
cases of mental illness or child protection, engage with the contradictions
encapsulated by this divide. Consequently, the division between the public and
private sphere is crossed at a number of different points in practice.
Feminist
insights about the nature of the public–private divide can contribute to
reconceptualising it. In social workers’ encounters with women, the division of
women’s lives into public and private domains is important. Many ugly secrets
about the horrific abuse of women and children within the privacy of family
settings become routine knowledge within the social work domain. Ironically,
this knowledge becomes privately appropriated by remaining ‘confidential’
information between practitioners and ‘clients’, rarely being shared beyond the
realm of supervisory relationships and case files. Feminists have pressed for
government action in subverting the public–private divide by passing
laws
against domestic violence and child abuse in the home proposing laws against
rape in marriage, building women’s shelters; and providing resources to help
men desist from abusive behaviours.
In the
context of the traditional Social Work practice with families provides sites in
which patriarchal relations can be reproduced. Social workers engage in their
perpetuation by enforcing women’s roles as mothers and nurturers whilst
excluding men from being involved in these.
Feminist
social work has sought to identify the inadequacies of this approach to women,
children and men within family settings and provided principles on which more
egalitarian relationships can be established.
Working with men
Feminism
is not against men’s well-being, but it is firmly against sexism and
privileging men’s welfare over women’s. This includes privileges emanating from
practices that: endorse the preferential treatment of men over women on sexist
grounds in any arena; give preference to boy children over girls; require women
to subordinate their needs to those of the men in their lives; and exert
unilateral forms of control over women’s sexual and reproductive capacities.
Social workers cannot support a sexist status quo be anti-sexist,
feminist, pro-feminist or woman-centered. Feminist social workers would address
questions of which interventions best ensure the well-being of women, men and
children. Instead of conceptualising women’s welfare as being gained at the expense
of men or children or vice versa, they think of how to end gender oppression
and affirm the wellbeing of all as an outcome of the process of empowering
women.
The
internalisation of the sexism implicit in hegemonic social relations between
men and women may result in women practitioners colluding with sexist
assumptions held by male ‘clients’. A woman social worker may relate to a man
on a stereotypical basis if she is not aware of gendered power. Moreover, in
their relationships with men ‘clients’, women practitioners should not think of
power as existing only along gender lines. Social workers can impose power
over relations on men ‘clients’ along other social divisions such as ‘race’
and class.
The
principles of solidarity and social worker’s legal remit suggest that feminist
theoretical formulations and principles of practice ought to include men,
albeit on a different, though not unequal basis, to women. Whilst allowing for
this opportunity, the space for women to work with women must remain protected.
This is to facilitate women’s growth as women and enable them to establish
their own agendas for change.
Working
with men requires a re-conceptualisation of masculinity in accordance with
feminist insights and a holistic approach to men and the relationships in which
they engage. Men’s emotional needs, have to be brought centrally into the
equation. Moreover, the social positions of both men and women as they are
currently defined have to change.
Problematising
masculinity has been an important feminist contribution that has prompted a
reconsideration of men’s roles in society and redefinition of their
relationships with women and children. Progress in this arena also requires a
reformulation of men’s relationships with other men. Securing changes in all
these directions means that women and men have to work to support each other’s emancipator
endeavours. To facilitate this, feminist social workers have to dialogue with
men social workers to identify areas in which women can work with men and those
that men are solely responsible for addressing. Men social workers will also
have to reconsider the nature of the relationships to be established between
men social workers and men ‘clients’ if feminist principles are to be upheld.
Feminist Social
work well placed to work with men in anti-sexist or pro-feminist ways. To begin
with, social workers are obliged to work with whoever asks for their services.
Its value orientation endorses self-determination, respect for the person, and
non-judgmental attitude. These values are useful when working with men.
PRINCIPLES OF FEMINIST SOCIAL WORK
Whilst
there is a great deal of diversity in feminism and feminist approaches to
social work / welfare, there are some principles which are common to many forms
of feminism and which writers in this area have suggested are consistent with a
feminist approach to practice, both individually and organizationally.
The
Personal is Political: This is obviously one of the most
significant phrases to come out of the feminist movement. The
"guts" of the statement is probably quite obvious. It is a
worthwhile and I think, enlightening experience to actually explore in
some detail the ways in which our personal experiences are actually
linked to the political, social system. It is certainly suggested here
that one of the ways that change to the social system has been avoided
is through the separation of this connection between the individual and
the social.
Valuing
Process and Product: The idea that the way that you go
about something is just as (if not more important) than the actual end product
or goal that you might achieve, is one of the strong messages that has come
from feminism to social work. In many ways this seems to be a key principle for
(my) social work practice. Part of this includes the importance of relationships,
learning to value the simplest things (like listening and simply being there
for someone), and processes that value and affirm people. It seems to be those
process issues - the issues about how we go about our interactions with people
- that often really make a difference in people's lives.
Reconceptualising
Power: The whole notion of power as it is currently
understood by mainstream society seems to be about power over others rather
than the power to live one's life in the way that we might choose. Feminism has
had a great interest in exploring the ways that power has been used as an oppressive
force in women's lives, as well as developing ideas about ways in which women
can reclaim some sort of power in their own lives. In terms of social work
practice I think the notions of empowerment and choice really need to be
explored and clarified so that we avoid perpetuating people's powerlessness by
putting them in positions of impossible empowerment.
Challenging
Separations: Feminism suggests that our whole way
of living is characterised by dualisms. We are either male or female, black or white, good or bad, right
or wrong, rational or emotional, and soon. The separations between things such
as theory and practice for example, seem to be more about keeping apart things
that actually need to be considered together. It is this wholistic, integrated
aspect to feminism that is being stressed here.
Valuing
Difference: One of the ways in which we have been able to
perpetuate a social system that values some over others, is through a culture
of intolerance of difference. One of the significant contributions of feminist
theory has been a reconceptualisation of difference so that difference might
come to be seen as a positive and enriching thing to be celebrated rather than
a justification for oppressive behaviours and fears. Given that women are
obviously all different, and that women have been subjected to oppressive
experiences primarily because of their constructed differences from men, it
would seem that there is a lot to be gained through the celebration of
difference.
Feminism
as Ontology: Feminism is often considered to be a
world view. By this I mean that people who feel committed to the ideas of
feminism tend to attempt to live these views in all aspects of their lives. In
this sense, I question whether feminism can be something that you only
incorporate into your working life for example. It seems to me that most
feminists would recognise the importance of striving for some sort of consistency
between what we ask of others and what we ask of ourselves. Needless to say,
this is a hugely difficult thing to achieve and given the dominant social
pressures in our lives it's not surprising that we often find ourselves acting
or thinking in ways that seem inconsistent with our beliefs.
Women’s Experiences: Women's experiences have been traditionally underrepresented and
devalued in the sciences and social sciences. In the feminist clinical context,
clients should feel that their voices are heard and placed within the context
of women's, not men's, experiences.
Focus on Change: One
of the predominant goals of traditional therapy is to reduce symptoms and bring
the client back to a state of equilibrium. The goal of feminist therapy is not
to simply reduce symptoms but to bring about long-lasting positive change. One
aspect of this change is an engagement in skills development . According to the APA, contemporary
feminist counseling is conceptualized by "a shift from focusing the
'microscope' on individual change and responsibility to the more balanced focus
on identifying and working to effect environmental and institutional
change"
Empowerment and Social Change: Because gender stereotypes, discrimination, prejudice, and other
forms of oppression are rooted and reinforced at institutional levels, social
action is needed to bring about change.
The notion of empowerment is key when working with women in this feminist
context. Empowerment results when individuals are assisted to develop skills
and enhance their inner capabilities.
FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS AND STRATEGIES
Gender Role Analysis: The goal of gender role analysis is to assist clients to identify
the specific gender role expectations and messages that influence their
behaviours. Five steps are necessary in true gender role analysis. First, the
Worker helps the client to identify various gender role beliefs and
expectations experienced from early childhood.
Second, the clinician and the client discuss how these expectations have
affected the client's life negatively and positively. Third, the client works
to identify internalized beliefs based on these gender role expectations.
Fourth, with the help of the clinician, the client will decide which of the
internalized beliefs he/she would like to address. Finally, a specific plan is
developed to implement and monitor changes.
Assertiveness Training: Sharf defines
assertiveness as behaviors that involve standing up for one's rights without
violating the rights of other. Many feminist practitioners argue that women may
need to be taught assertiveness skills due to the fact that assertiveness is
not usually considered a desirable female attribute. The underlying assumption
of assertiveness training is that after women are educated about their personal
rights and taught skills to overcome perceived barriers, other positive
outcomes (e.g., enhanced self-esteem) will follow.
Balancing
Power: Feminist practitioners work with clients to promote awareness
of the differences in power relations between men and women in society. The
first step is to explore definitions of power with the client and to assist
clients to identify which definition of power best fits within the client's
value orientation. Subsequent steps involve helping the client to recognize
internalized messages about power and to alter them. In order to model
egalitarian relationships, the therapeutic environment becomes crucial. As
discussed, in feminist social work the relationship between client and worker is
collaborative.
It is important to remember that the heart of feminist Social
Work is changing the larger community in which the client exists. In other
words, it is not enough to simply work with a couple in conducting a
gender-role analysis in how traditional gender role socializations have
influenced their domestic decisions. Working in an advocacy and consultant
capacity in the community to educate and raise awareness about gender issues in
order to promote change in areas such as child care, education, and
occupational policies is equally as important.
CONCLUSION
Feminist theory and practice has much to offer
feminist practitioners who can adapt its principles for professional practice.
The existence of feminist social work is testimony to their capacities to do
so.
Feminist social work has encouraged the
assumption of a gender-sensitive stance in working with women and insisted on
valuing women’s knowledge, talents and contributions to the profession. It has
already had a substantial impact on social work theory and practice (Dominelli,
1992). Consequently, women have been acknowledged as beings with their own
interests; specific aspirations
for themselves, their families and close
others; and their own ways of knowing; valuing and doing things Despite feminist social work’s failure to
become the dominant paradigm in the discipline, its insights have been
incorporated into a wide range of social work activities
Feminist theories have the capacity to play a
greater role in enabling social work practice to become more effectively
anti-oppressive and inclusive. For this
to occur, academics and practitioners have to validate women’s lives by
incorporating into their work the conceptual frameworks and experiential
knowledges that feminists have highlighted. These include the differentiated
concepts of interdependence, mutuality, reciprocity and citizenship.
Additionally, they have to recognise women as agents with the ability to
determine their own futures.
REFRENCES
·
Adams, R., Dominelli, L. and Payne, M.
(1998) Social Work: Themes, Issues and Critical Debates (London:
Macmillan – now Palgrave).
·
Basu, M. (1997) The Challenge of
Local Feminisms: Women’s Movements in Global Perspective (Boulder: Westview
Press).
·
Brandwein, R. (1986) ‘A Feminist
Approach to Social Policy’, in N. Van Den Berg and L. Cooper (eds) Feminist
Visions for Social Work
·
Dale, J. and Foster, P. (1986) Feminists
and State Welfare (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul).
·
Dominelli, L. (1997) ‘Feminist Theory’
in M. Davies (ed), The Blackwell Companion to Social Work (Oxford:
Blackwell).
·
Dominelli, L. (1997c) Sociology for
Social Work (London: Macmillan – now Palgrave).
·
Gandhi, Anjali
‘Mainstreaming Gender in Social Work Education’
·
Mazumdar K (1998) Gender Awareness in
field instruction, Indian Journal of
Social Work. Vol 59, issue 4 pp 969-980
·
Pease, B. (1981) Men and Feminism.
Paper presented at Women and Social Work Seminar.
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