Feminist Theory and Social Work

Essay on Feminist Theory and Social Work.

 

 

[FEMINIST THEORY & SOCIAL WORK]

Introduction

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The word feminism is considered as an old-fashioned in terms of relating to the postmodern world. The media engaged in the Western Countries are able to confidently assert if the feminism is passé with respect to the post-feminist era. Considering the perceptive of the women all the feminization of poverty, along with increasing sexual violence or the issues pertaining to the loss of welfare state benefits are considered with respect to the women have a certain past, it is more related to the threatened loss of statehood (Wright, 2018).  The feminist claims have been realized with respect to the women who are no longer treated as girls. The position of the women is more under conflict under the conditions of the realities of the everyday life, with respect to the women who belong to industrializing or low-income countries.  There can be a poverty which is considered as endemic or may have many children, in which both the women and men are trying to sustain basic necessities such as food, shelter or water. There has also been a possibility of having an equal share of responsibility towards the family care and managing the children along with taking care of the dependent older people. In the modern era, the women are trying to gain market in terms of the economic independence and also ensuring steps towards acquiring a highly skilled manufacturing job, which has deeply impacted men due to the lost opportunities. All this has also resulted in the men's drifting from the sheer responsibilities and indulging more in the criminal activities. The women who are overburdened with responsibilities with respect to the family care & the employment opportunities have only resulted in the sense of alienation and hardship. With all the ceaseless work, it has made the women stronger to fight against the odds and make a mark towards a brighter day (Shepard, 2016). Women's are able to maintain their bright & dignity even in the periods of despair & despondency. The women's optimism and survivor technique have enabled the women to sail from the tough social situation =, inspire a new vision and promote more of the feminist social work. This task also enables the women to be naive and to show a deterministic self while being part of such system.


History of feminist theory / About Theory 

 
The social worker has often been criticized for being part of the oppressive system in the modernist project of the given nation-state. often the criticism has been part to impose a bureaucratic form in terms of the social control which are able to consider the poor people who are living in the working class communities. It has also considered the new social movements which are able to associate with the reproduce oppressive social relations and under it under the providing care. Contrary to this there has also been ideologies which have often complained related to social workers who are able to throw money upon the social problems leading to producing desired results.  Al this has established to bring in a securing the families and ensuring they are not breaking up along with the proper care of children and older people. Women's have been the central part of modern society system along with finding an appropriate role in social work. All this has resulted in making the women's position stronger in terms of the social order. The feminist social work has also enabled to secure the women's position to be considered as a well-being starting point along with ensuring a balanced egalitarian social relation in terms of an integral part of practice (Luke, 2014).
 
There have been  different perspectives of the Feminism such as the below-:
 

Liberal Feminism  -; 

In this perspective, it is ensured that the feminism is able to have equal opportunities with respect to the men along with balancing the family and the workplace. It is a part of thought process to bring in steps towards the liberalization and consider women to be part of the equal society.  The women have an important role in this perspective and she is considered to be contributing source to the society, family and the community. 
 

Radical Feminism -:

It is dependent on the patriarchal society which considers a separate platform for the men and women and gives special treatment or powers to men. It's a perspective to dominate women's and withhold their survival rights & freedom. The men are able to exercise power upon the society and the women and the women have to abide by the rules as outlined by the men. Such radical thought separates the ideologies of the women and the men (Williamson, 2016).
 

Socialist Feminism-:  

It focuses on providing inequalities and providing a different class social structure which can create oppression for the women. Through the rigorous rules and creating an imperfect environment for the survival of the women, they create rules of oppression and discrimination. All the class structure are defined in a manner which creates an imbalance in the society and provides deniable rules for the women's. The main perspective is to oppress the women and create inequalities. 
 

Black Feminism-:

It is to discriminate women on the basis of the racism and to create women diversity. it is oppressing the women subjected to the discrimination through the racism. The black women are discriminated on the basis of color, race, and creed. The perspective is created oppression on the basis of the color and discriminate the women by denying her basic rights of survival.
 

Postmodern Feminism-:

The perspective distinguishes the women power as different from the power in relation conveyed through the language (Lykes, 2014). The women are subjected to the dutiful rights and obligations, denying the basic power to acknowledge their perspective. The women are subjected to the second citizens in a given postmodern society. Any subjective rights are denied from the understanding of the modern thinking.The feminist theories explain the structure along with the working dynamics of including the women's experience and ensuring to take appropriate steps towards the sociopolitical and the interpersonal sexual hierarchies. Also to ensure that the flexibility along with responsiveness is applied towards the theories and the social workers, it needs to bring in the conversant within the various branches of the feminism. The highlight of this paper is dependent on the five branches which include the feminist theory along with the application of the each of the social work practices, along with bringing in the group work examples (Allen, 2018). AL this practical examples are draw's from the women's groups and their experiences in which the facilitators described the goals and align the processes which help in practicing the feminism or womanism in those groups.
 

Tools Of theory

The theory of the feminism is based on the given in equal opportunities to the women,  giving a more power to the men, continuously practicing female oppression practices and subsequently living in a patriarchal society. All this results in the male dominance and brings in the factors such as the-:
 

Male dominant family-:

In this the male is the leader of the family and all the rules of the family are practiced by the existing family members, while the male makes the rules to be followed (Eyal-Lubling, 2016).
 

Male dominant religion-:

The male has a dominant religion, which needs to be abided by the other family members, community people in they stay and the other practicing people. 
 

Male dominant economy-:

The males are the leaders and the rulers, to regularise the norms and procedures to ensure a free spirit or controlled economy. The male is employed with the powers to decide and control all the decisions related to the economy. 
 

Male dominant politics-:

Mainly the males are given powers to control the leadership and the economy. The dominance of the male is persistently seen in the political areas as this can be on account of the stereotyping or the sexism images of the women politician (Crenshaw, 2016). Due to the moral criticism often one can see lower women politician due to the lack of power and support system.By including the approaches of the feminism the main focus of the theory becomes the-:
 
Increasing equality among the different gender-based society
Ensuring steps towards the eliminating the gender stratifications
Having an oppressed economy

The theory of the feminism takes into the consideration of the critical tools which can be taken up the women to ensure their use of feminism of critique. Also, like the feminists, it is also believed that there are systems which can often harm the people on account of the gendered norms and the prevailing practices. All this feminist analysis has been made with the originality of the system making it visible. The feminist analysis is taken into the major inspiration towards bringing in the analysis of the rational system. The feminists often create the critical tools for interpreting and analyzing the sexist images along with the bringing in the stereotypes images within the media tools. This not only brings in the top of the sexiest representations of the men (Epstein, 2017). Often the question is asked of the feminists which are who actually benefits through stereotyping of by creating sexist images, and the answer is often answered with the context of the men who are presumed to benefit from such an irrational reasoning’s and findings. Even though the women's are the central topic of the discussion and a complete source of the dependent resources, still if the men engage in the feminist oppression approaches, it only degrades the women‘s and it tends to give the ego massage to men.
 
Other feminist tools are to understand the advantages gained in terms of the assigned feminist approaches in terms of the gender. There needs to be observed certain types of power along with the highlighted privileges which can be assigned to the men. All this can often ignore the types of the power along with making the privileged rights of the women to encounter all this.
 
There are many critical tools related to the feminist theory, and the approaches to tackle such practicing theory are through the gender analysis toolset and through the moral criticism.
 
In the gender analysis tools, sets-: the main focus remains on the men's and their stereotyping images of considering oppressed women's.. the women's are denied rights are often given the denied privileges and rights making them dependent on the men. The men, on the other hand, uses the tools of the oppression to discriminate and practice racism, color, creed and empower the women. The women not only handles the family but is also subjected to the employment discrimination. All this results in the denied rights and privileges for the women
 
The next tools are the moral criticism which basically discriminates women's from the men and deny their rights. The tools used are for the stereotyping, sexism practices or may be simply criticizing the woman on the basis of the various things. It is considered ethical practices by the men to oppress the women and deny their basic right on the basis of the moral criticisms. This theory tool indicates that to consider the feminist fair practices and approaches, but to practice it ethically is on the basis of the denied rights and privileges is often viewed from the men perspective,
 

The Practice of Theory (link to social work Practice)

Women’s conditions   -  

In this tools of practice the women are approached to share their experience and also encouraged to share their experience in terms of their episodes, story or any other details related to the oppression and discrimination related to many areas of life (Carrington, 2016).  The professionals are also put at the disadvantage by denying their pursuits powers in the work and professional advancement. All this helps would lead to other women's support and sharing a concern in their related stories. 
 

Women-centred practice -

In this approach, the women are identified as a central episode in terms of the focus towards identifying women’s particular needs along with approaches to respond them.  The women are encouraged to be part of such rational system in which the women can work towards a common cause and identify dignified practices and rules towards specific approaches.
 

Women’s are encouraged with different voice and perspective-:  

 Throughout the world, the women are encouraged to share their experiences from the different parts of the world. It helps in encouraging and sharing different views which are different from the perspective of the men and also arouses the concerns or matters pertaining to the social and moral concern.

Unity by working in diversity  -  

The women are encouraged in this tool to share their experience of oppression. All this would enable the women to share a unique perspective in terms of  identity, value along with approaches in terms of the responsibility towards the different sorts of social diversity this are important parameters to abide by towards a common cause of the feminist contribution by ensuring the tools are working to control the anti-oppressive and critical practice.

 Apart from this, to ensure that the feminist theory is bought into a social practice is through the below steps-: 
•    By showing a better understanding in terms of the gender identity along with balancing the power relations.
•    Having a narrative approach to discuss the issues and perspectives of the women.
•    Ensuring the women well being in the initial stages and thereby discussing all the concerns to safeguard the women.
•    Understanding and valuing the diversity among women along with it using a relative approach.
•    To develop a dialogical along with maintaining an egalitarian relationship with respect to the client.
•    Having an anti-oppressive approach.
•    To develop and provide a space to the women space by showing concerns to her needs and solutions. Finding an effective remedy towards the problems described.
•    Discussing and sharing a task to the client.
 

Criticism 

Even after the best approaches & practices for the fair feminist theory and approaches, the criticism is often based on the changing nature of the women's towards the life & the given responsibilities. the question of the feminist framework and theory is subjected to the criticism on account fo the positivist epistemological and ontological paradigms. The criticism covers the-:
 
Analysing the men's experiences which are considered as a yardstick for measuring the women's.
Focus on the unpacking Universalist standards and aligning it with the women’s modern culture and lifestyles approaches.
 

Designed framework 

The theory of the feminism is based on the designed framework of the given in equal opportunities to the women after which the men's are given more power along with morally criticised the women leading to the female oppression practices and thereby abiding by the patriarchal social norms. All this has deeply impacted the society and provided with the male dominance in the religion, family, politics and the controlled economy. The women are subjected to low equal opportunities be it in the employment, household or any other survival rights. by including the feminism framework which works towards the increasing equality, ensuring steps towards reducing the gender stratification along with bringing in a oppression in a  given economy.
 

Case study 

In the case study, the Julie is the care manager of  “John” who is the old man and has a related frailty which needs to be increased. The wife name is the Katrina and has the main career. Due to the male dominance approach and controlling practices by the John the relationship between him and wife Katrina. John also often morally criticises and this leads to constant oppression for the wife Katrina who has little or no powers along with her own lost freedom. The care manager though to take care of John but after hearing and seeing the entire version, Julie thought to support the wife needs first.   It was during this while both the Julie and the Katrina met in a local cafe to have a word related to oppression in sufferings on account of the male dominance practices and approaches int he family. The main focus of the meeting was to strengthen the relationship of both the men & the women in the case. Not only this formal setting would ensure steps towards rebuilding a healthy relationship but it would also ensure to decreases the mental sufferings of the wife needs. The Julie encouraged the wife to speak up and discuss her tensions. Julie was able to exercise the implementation of some supporting feminist tools and practices which helped the wife to share her concerns along with building her relationship with her husband and family. 
 

Conclusion 

In the modern era, the women are trying to gain market in terms of the economic independence and also ensuring steps towards acquiring a highly skilled manufacturing job, which has deeply impacted men due to the lost opportunities. the feminist theories explain the structure along with the working dynamics of including the women's experience and ensuring to take appropriate steps towards the sociopolitical and the interpersonal sexual hierarchies. All this has also resulted in the men's drifting from the sheer responsibilities and indulging more in the criminal activities. Also to ensure that the flexibility along with responsiveness is applied towards the theories and the social workers, it needs to bring in the conversant within the various branches of the feminism (Price, 2017). The women who are overburdened with responsibilities with respect to the family care & the employment opportunities have only resulted in the sense of alienation and hardship. The social work practices, along with bringing in the group work examples are the prime consideration of the feminist tools and practices. Even though the women's are the central topic of the discussion and a complete source of the dependent resources, still if the men engage in the feminist oppression approaches, which makes difficult situation for the women to survive in.  all these practical examples are draw's from the women's groups and their experiences in which the facilitators described the goals and align the processes which help in practicing the feminism or womanise in those groups. 
 

References

Allen, A. (2018). The power of the feminist theory. Routledge.
Carrington, A. (2016). Feminism under siege: critical reflections on the impact of neoliberalism and managerialism on feminist practice. Allen & Unwin.
Crenshaw, K. (2018). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics [1989]. In Feminist legal theory (pp. 57-80). Routledge.
Epstein, S. (2017). Implications for feminist practice with mothers. Critical Ethics of Care in Social Work: Transforming the Politics and Practices of Caring.
Eyal-Lubling, R., & Krumer-Nevo, M. (2016). Feminist social work: Practice and theory of practice. Social work, 61(3), 245-254.
Lykes, M. B., & Crosby, A. (2014). The feminist practice of action and community research. Feminist research practice: A primer, 145-181.
Luke, C., & Gore, J. (2014). Feminisms and critical pedagogy. Routledge.
Price, J., & Shildrick, M. (2017). Feminist theory and the body: A reader. Routledge.
Shepard, M., & Dziengel, L. (2016). 2 Feminist social work practice. Contemporary Feminisms in Social Work Practice, 24.
Wright, N. (2018). Scandalize My Name: Feminist Practice and the Making of Black Social Life.
Williamson, T. L. (2016). Scandalize My Name: Feminist Practice and the Making of Social Life. Oxford University Pre
 

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