Feminist Social Work Theory and Practice

This essay discusses the application of feminist theory in social work practices, with a focus on liberal feminism. It critiques different concepts of feminism and their application to current practices. The essay also includes a case study as an example.

Running head: FEMINIST SOCIAL WORK THEORY AND PRACTICE
FEMINIST SOCIAL WORK THEORY AND PRACTICE
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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FEMINIST SOCIAL WORK THEORY AND PRACTICE
Feminist Social work theory and practice
The word feminism is an old fashioned word in today's so called post modern world. In
the westernized countries it is being claimed that we have entered a post feminist era. But the
dilemma lies in the truth of this statement (Adams et al., 2009). The world is progressing but
women are still experiencing discrimination in terms of sexuality, welfare state benefits,
employment, and social status. Development of the professional identity and identification
within the social work practice is much common within the feminist and the theory of
empowerment (Payne, 2015). The theories of feminism have their own history and concepts. The
theories emphasize on the role expectations and power differences. Feminism emphasizes on the
importance of the political, social and the economic structures shaping the human societies that
stresses on the fact that gender should be considered while looking at the effects of domination,
oppression. the main core of the feminist theory is that the inferior status given to women are due
to the inequality in the society and the political, economic and the social power relations shape
the personal status of the woman (Payne, 2015).
This essay aims to focus on the application of feminist theory in social work practices.
The liberal concept of feminism has been considered for this essay. The essay has critiqued
different concepts of feminism and had depicted the application of this theory to current
practices. Finally a case study has been provided as an example that has been included in the
appendix.

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Some of the main features of feminist practice are creating egalitarian and dialogical
relation, valuing diversity between men and women and understanding the relations between
them, focusing on the identity of women and finally seeking opportunities to use groups for
promoting awareness or understanding of the oppression and the strategies for responding to it.
The feminist analysts help a woman to understand that they are being oppressed and dominated.
It is the feminists that assist a woman to bring about a greater social change by making them
understand their value in the society, to develop confidence and self efficacy (Payne, 2015).
Feminism and social work is associated. Although many female social workers are working from
the feminist perspective, the social work system still favors the patriarchal concept.
History
The first wave of feminism emerged in the late 19th century in the 19th century and was
then primarily a middle class movement concerned with the right of women to vote. however it
was not only the with women who were actually struggling for the right to vote, but the struggle
of black women electrified the Women convention meeting in Ohio 1851 (Adams et al., 2009).
After the voting issue the second wave of feminism arose because of the patriarchal society. The
second wave of feminism took place in the post world war II era that focused on sexuality,
workplace, family and the reproductive rights (Rottenberg, 2014). The feminists started to fight
for the access to affordable child care, equal pay, sexual and the reproductive rights. The women
joined the groups that were raising the consciousness and shared their experiences. The upsurge
of feminism took place in Australia in the mid 1800 to 1900. The concerns were centering round
the preservation of the basic human rights for the women, such as the right to vote, right to
participate in the parliamentary election and protection form sexual abuse and exploitation
(Rottenberg, 2014).

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A wide range of feminist theories are used to address the oppression over many years and
even centuries. There are certain theories of feminism such as liberal feminism, Radical
feminism, Marxist and socialist feminism and black feminism (Payne, 2015).
Liberal feminism
Liberal feminism focuses in the empowerment of the women by gaining the same opportunities
as men. The core concept of this theory is to provide equal opportunities to women (Saulnier,
2014). liberal feminism have always attacked the patriarchal limitations on women's educational
and employment chances and have always demanded for equal opportunities for women
(Donovan, 2012).
Marxist feminism mainly focuses on the methods how the women are oppressed through
capitalist system and private property (Donovan, 2012). As per the Marxist ideology of
feminism, economic inequality, unhealthy social relations and political confusion are responsible
for the oppression in women. The idea was laid by Engels (Fraser, 2012).
Radical feminism on the other hand believes in the concept that men use violence in order
to control women. Men's display of power through violence is one of the primary views of
radical feminists (Saulnier, 2014). Black feminisms on the other hand is much different from that
of the other theories of feminism which is an umbrella term surrounding a number of factors
such as class oppression, gender identity and racism (Payne, 2015).
The choice of feminism theory for this essay is liberalism feminist theory. This is the
most widely known theory in to practice. The liberal feminism got its wide spread expression in
the western country as early in the nineteenth century (Donovan, 2012). The idea emerged at the
time of the Renaissance. The movement for liberal feminism took place in the late 1800s and

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early 1900s. This earlier concept of feminism believed that no custom or government can
actually prohibit the women for practicing their freedom (Fraser, 2012). The early liberal
feminist had to struggle with the concept that it is only the white people that actually have the
right to be full citizens. Later on due to the undue struggle of early feminists that women won the
right to vote (Saulnier, 2014).
According to Goodman et al., (2009), liberal feminism supports the affirmative action
legislation requiring the employers and the institutions to empower the women to employ in the
pool of the applicants. Liberal feminism supports the concept of gaining workplace recognition
and equality. Women never get the recognition of their role as mothers and are not provided the
basic benefits directly in to their hand (Sturgeon, 2016). Liberal feminism supports the
recognition for the work as mothers through the advantages like family allowances, child
benefits. An important plank of liberal feminism is securing the recognition for the women’s
contribution to the family, especially because of their caring role. The Equal rights amendments
have been a key for the liberal feminists. As per the author Fraser, (2012) there can be biological
differences between men and women but the liberal feminists does not consider as adequate
justification for the inequality (Pedwell & Whitehead, 2012). Critics often try to justify or judge
women or their success by the standards set up by the male. “White feminism’ is a kind of a
liberal feminism that guesses that the kind of issues faced by the white women is the issues that
all women face, keeping aside the concept of racial discrimination (Payne, 2015). In liberal
feminism the feminist goal is more important than that racial discrimination or other such goals.
In recent times the concept of liberal feminism is conflated with equity feminism that opposes
the legislation and emphasizes on the developing skills and the capability of the women to
compete better in this developing world (Adams et al., 2009). One of the core values of this type

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of feminism is that it opposes the law to give privileges to both men and women and mainly
focuses on individual talents. Liberal feminism does not believe in the view that males cannot be
involved in the struggle for the women’s right (Saulnier, 2014). There had been liberal men right
from the beginning, although very few who had played pioneering role in the formulation of the
policies for better life for the women, for example John Stuart Mill (Sturgeon, 2016).
Professional beginning of social work fits the framework of the liberal feminists as it had
focused on the capacity of the women as a mother and how to enhance the mothering skills of a
client or how to take care of the mother if they are working (Berridge & Portwood-Stacer, 2015).
Liberal feminism may be applied at the work place by the fact that women practitioners attempt
to break the bars and have secure more managerial positions, which exemplifies the liberal
feminism as applied to the work place (Sturgeon, 2016). The liberal feminism applied to social
work with the clients aim to encourage the women for getting financial independence through
waged work (Adams et al., 2009). The feminist approach to social work is mainly based on the
guesses that the client's problems are not within the female psych, but is inside the societal
framework, which patriarchal and oppressive in nature. The goal of the society is to preclude
equality rights for the women (Pedwell & Whitehead, 2012). Practitioners who use the principles
of feminism in theory social work practice tries to create this equality by connecting the political
and the personal experiences of women. The feminist social workers associate the experiences
faced by the women to the oppressive structure of the society, the sex role norms and the
discriminatory regulations (Berridge & Portwood-Stacer, 2015). As stated by Thompson, (2016)
although social workers and the feminists have the same values, there are certain differences
between them. Feminist social workers have argued that social work mainly focuses on the
family nation model. She has suggested that by emphasizing on the importance of the family, the

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social workers can perceive a woman in a subordinated or oppressed position and effect their self
determination by emphasizing their role as caretaker. Most of the feminists have supported the
argument that a feminist approach would change the situation rather than changing the individual
(Payne, 2015).
It has been found that the feminist social workers often use the slogan ' the personal is the
political', for illustrating the fact that experiences of an individual can only be understood by
referring to the social cultural, political and the economic context of the experience (LeGates,
2012). Another value of feminism is to validate the non rational traits, that are normally
considered to be female trait, like spirituality, healing and multidimensional thinking
(Thompson, 2016). It has to be remembered that these are the qualities that a caregiver should
posses irrespective of their gender.
Good use of feminist social work approach
Post modern feminism theory is mainly based on establishment of identity through
relationships, merging of the gender boundaries (LeGates, 2012). According to this modern
concept the feminism conceives freedom as the personal autonomy. They should live their life of
their own choice. The paternalistic view poses unfair restrictions over the choices of women
(Berridge & Portwood-Stacer, 2015).
Women had been playing the main role for defining the appropriate role for the social
work in the society. Although most of the legislations and the policies are made by men, yet
women undertake the major portion of the caring tasks which is the base of the social work
(LeGates, 2012). The arguments regarding the use of the social work are entangled with the
disputes over the position of the woman in the social hierarchy (Thompson, 2016). The concept

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of feminism helps the social workers to identify the stressful condition in women, the traumatic
events, physical health problems, stigma, substance abuse and social isolation in women. The
feminist social work theory helps in examining the struggle of the poverty stricken single
mothers. The competing demands of low wages and single parenting can leads to depressive
disorders and emotional difficulties in these women (Gray & Webb, 2010). The social work
theory helps to address other issues like substandard housing, work place discrimination,
unemployment, inadequate access to health care, lack of child care and many more. It is the
concept of the feminist social work theory that encompasses a social worker to look after the
physical, mental and spiritual needs of a woman (Hekman, 2013). The social workers can
actually help out a woman to fight the social isolation and strive to change the socio-cultural
condition (Berridge & Portwood-Stacer, 2015). The social work practices now covers a huge
number of aspects such as mitigating domestic violence, preserving the women’s right, reducing
work place discrimination such as low wages, addressing rights of girl child, trafficking of girl
child, preventing marital rape and child abuse, irradiating racial discrimination among the black
women, preserving the rights of the LGBTQ population (Hekman, 2013). People belonging to
the LGBTQ community experience significan barriers in receiving the educational opportunities,
food , housing, medical care and access to mental health care. Social workers should understand
that they are in greater needs than the normal youth. According to Humm, (2015) women's
access to the options is restricted due to the economic deprivation. Stereotyping and sex
discrimination in employment are also the other sources of reduced options. Some critics argue
that sometimes women choose the limiting conditions. This can be explained by the social
stigma. Till now the society had been imagining women to be home makers or confined

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creatures. A sudden shift in the predetermined notion is not acceptable in many societies thus
deterring the women from choosing the advantageous conditions.
Application in to practice: Case study (Appendix)
In order to improve the quality of life of the Casey and his partner, A social worker should
take extra care while addressing problems of these people as this section of people is always
been deprived of their basic rights. With the help of the social workers, these people might be
able to defeat the fear of rejection or bullying.
 A social worker should be able to reach to the grass root level of the problem.
 The first aspect that has to be managed is the binge drinking. A one- on -one interview
can be conducted with Casey to have an open conversation.
 Casey's family should be educated for changing the psychological perceptions about the
LGBTQ communities. They should be taught about their rights and the principles.
 Casey and her partner can be included in community programs advertising about
abstinence from alcohols and drugs.
 A social worker will be able to provide a non hostile environment for Casey, such that
she can express the problems going on between her partner and her.
 Additional support services can be provided to both Casey and her partner.
 There are community groups for the LGBTQ communities where individuals are trained
for getting proper job opportunities.
 Casey and her partner should be informed about the LGBTQ regulations and the policies.

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Advantages, disadvantages and Criticism
Clearly some of the advantages of liberal feminism are that- women have gained equality. They
have achieved the right to vote, they have got the right to speak up against any kind of
oppressions. Women are now able to demand for their basic rights.
According to Thompson, (2016), some group of woman are modifying or exploiting the
concept of feminism, in the name of liberal feminism. One such example is the genital
difference. Few women are of the concept that women and man should be equal in everything,
including their physiques (Humm, 2015). They tend to forget the differences in their role in the
families. Some of the forms of liberal feminism are extremely sexist that is contradictory to the
actual concept of feminism (Hirsch & Keller, 2015). Many women believe in the anti-male
concept and hence consider physical intimacy as an act of violence or sin and thus they choose
for inseminate. Some feminists also argue regarding the order of the authors in writing and tend
to forget that the essence or the principle of feminism is not so shallow to be argued over petty
issues (Hirsch & Keller, 2015).
The disadvantage of feminism is that, the concept is nowadays used largely as a tool of
exploitation rather than mitigating the oppression on women. In many culture it is considered to
be dangerous if a man sees a women and is regarded as an act of disregard or harassment, or if
man accidentally rubs a women in a crowded place, then the woman can sue to man for a sexual
harassment. According to Humm, (2015) male and female should be equal under the law albeit
they are distinguishable biological creatures. It is unwise to wish away all the sex differences and
create imaginary account regarding the power of socialization in designing the sex differences.
Humm, (2015) have argued on the fact that the concept of feminism has lead many women
unsatisfied, if they do not become the breadwinner (Hirsch & Keller, 2015). Wives having this

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type of mentality may leave their children in the care of others, instead of taking care of the
children themselves. Many radical feminists may misunderstand the domestic responsibilities. It
has to be remembered that a mother's role in the care of a child can never be replaced.
The feminist theory and practice provides the base with the help of which a feminist
practitioner can improve his/ her professional practice. the feminist social work have helped the
feminist practitioners to assume a stance that is gender sensitive, in working with women It also
help the social workers to value the contribution of the women in domestic as well as
professional fields. It is due to the feminist concept that women have been acknowledge as
beings that can be part of the professional just like men, instead of just devoting the life in
household chores. The feminist theories play a greater role to mold the social work practice to be
more anti-oppressive and inclusive. The essay also could focus on the criticism related to liberal
feminism. The concept of anti- male or wishing away the biological differences between a man
and a woman is an example of acute sexism and generally destroys the underlying concept of
feminism. It has to be remembered that incorporation of feminism in social work practices ,is
largely due to alleviate the oppression on women and provide them with their basic human rights
or in other words to foster gender equality in public spheres and not exploit the policies and
woman rights in the name of feminism.

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Appendix
Case study