Evaluation of Feminism

5 Key excerpts on "Evaluation of Feminism"

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  eBook - ePub

  Ethical Issues in Social Work

  • Richard Hugman, David Smith(Authors)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The perspective from which I explore these issues is that of 20 years’ involvement as a feminist in social work: in voluntary self-help organisations and statutory settings; in direct work with service users and in supporting those doing direct work; in researching, writing and teaching about social work; and last, but by no means least, as a (rather disillusioned) service user myself. Clearly, these different, roles offer differing perspectives on the phenomenon of social work, but one thing has remained a constant for me. Throughout these many involvements with social work, I have struggled to understand from a feminist perspective my own role and the roles of those with whom I have worked, and I have followed (and contributed to) with interest and sometimes dismay the development of feminist theorising about the enterprise of social work.

  Feminist commentators who have attempted to evaluate the status of feminism in social work have ranged between pessimism on the one hand (Hudson 1985), and optimism on the other (Dominelli 1992) about its impact in the last 20 years. There are, of course, real problems about how to measure such a phenomenon since social work is located in different constituent groups - students, practitioners, service users, managers, academics, the CCETSW, professional associations and so on. Typically, however, evaluations of the mark of feminism in social work focus on only some of these areas, and particularly on the academic level with its easily accessible 'data’ of publications.

  There exists a growing, and impressive, collection of books dedicated to the discussion of feminist ideas in social work, both in this country (Brook and Davis 1985; Hanmer and Statham 1988; Hallett 1989, Dominelli and McLeod 1989; Langan and Day 1992) and elsewhere (Norman and Mancuso 1980; Bricker-Jenkins and Hooyman 1986; Marchant and Wearing 1986; Van den Berg and Cooper 1986; Burden and Gottlieb 1987). It is also the case that mainstream texts on social work theory now include ‘feminist social work’ as a method or perspective (Howe 1987; Rojek et al.

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  Breaking Out Again

  Feminist Ontology and Epistemology

  • Liz Stanley, Sue Wise(Authors)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Feminism and the social sciences

  Feminism demonstrates, without any possibility of doubt, that the social sciences are sexist, biased, and rotten with patriarchal values. However, feminist social science can be truly scientific in its approach. Having eradicated sexism, we can see and research the world as it truly is. Feminism encapsulates a distinctive value position, but these are truly human values, not just those of a ‘women’s perspective’. And so these values should be those of all people.

  Our response to this view is ‘well, perhaps’. We feel that such criticisms of the social sciences are justified—as far as they go. But we also argue that the basic assumptions about social reality which are present within sexist social science are also present within most feminist social science. These criticisms, we say, are not far-reaching enough, not radical enough, not feminist enough.

  A necessary starting point in examining some of these ideas is what has been called the ‘female critique’ of the social sciences. Work produced within this critique has been pioneering in what it has said and what it has attempted to do. And because it has been pioneering in this way we, and all other feminist researchers and scholars, are deeply indebted to it. But although we see this work as a necessary starting point, we don’t think it should be treated as tablets of stone brought down from the feminist mountain top. We pick out various pieces of work as ‘standing for’ certain ideas we want to explore within this critique. In doing so we’ve not attempted to examine whole bodies of work but particular themes and ideas which seem important and interesting.

  KEY THEMES IN THE FEMINIST CRITIQUE

  ‘The female critique’

  The most simple and in many ways the most powerful criticism made of theory and practice within the social sciences is that, by and large, they omit or distort the experience of women. Perhaps the most fully developed of such criticisms is made in relation to sociology by Ann Oakley (1974), who argues that sociology is sexist because it is solely concerned with the activities and interests of men. The subject-areas sociology is concerned with are artificial constructs which distort human experience. One consequence of this is that women’s ‘social presence’ within these areas of life is high although their ‘sociological visibility’ is low. In other words, although women are frequently massively present within whatever is studied, we but rarely appear in the end products of this. This may be because women are simply not ‘seen’ by researchers, are ignored by them or else our experiences are distorted by them. Oakley goes on to examine some possible explanations for sexism in sociology. She argues that there are three main explanations. The first of these lies in the origins of sociology, more specifically in the sexist interests and personalities of its ‘founding fathers’. Second, it is a ‘male profession’, because a preponderance of the people within it are men; it is therefore bound to reflect their interests and views of reality. Oakley feels that the third, and the main, reason for sexism within sociology concerns the ‘ideology of gender’ which leads people to construe the world in sexually stereotyped ways. Such a world view not only focuses attention on some areas of social reality (those which concern men), it also focuses attention away

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  Feminism and the Contradictions of Oppression

  • Caroline Ramazanoglu(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Regardless of the version of feminism which is favoured, the point of developing feminist social theory is to use it to improve women’s lot. In this view, social theories are not developed simply as intellectual exercises. The kinds of theories that people draw on to explain the world they experience will affect their behaviour. Women who see the troubles of their lives as due to their own inadequacies as wives and mothers will not behave in the same ways as those who attribute their troubles to men, or to economic exploitation or to religious destiny. Any Evaluation of Feminism, then, will need to pay attention to the links between theory and practice. The radical feminist slogan ‘the personal is political’ has also been taken up by marxist feminists, but does not sit easily with liberal assumptions. The liberal analysis of the relations between the sexes is less one of oppression than one of inequality, injustice, and discrimination which works to women’s disadvantage. Strategies to tackle inequality are in practice very different from strategies aimed at transforming power relations between men and women. When social analysis is translated into action, the contradictions inherent in the production of feminist knowledge become clear.

  Feminism is not, then, simply a political corrective for remedying the inadequacies of other theories. If feminism is to be more generally politically effective, we need much more precision in feminist knowledge than the political conviction that it is superior to sexist knowledge, or the hope that it can ultimately be validated politically, through practice and struggle. As Midgley and Hughes have argued (1983:219), ‘Feminism was never only an eccentric fad, and it is not so today. It is rooted in serious troubles affecting the lives of large numbers of ordinary people.’ A great deal of personal suffering is involved if we get our applied social theory wrong.

  It is both a strength and a weakness of feminism that its analyses of women’s oppression create practical strategies for changing this oppression. Feminism’s weakness lies in the philosophical difficulties of producing valid feminist knowledge which have diversified our knowledge of women’s oppression. Diverse conceptions of oppression lead to diverse strategies for liberation. Feminism’s strength lies in new ways of thinking about the desirability of change which are opened up by questioning much that has previously been taken for granted in the relations between the sexes. It is this strength which is reviewed in chapter 4

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  Political Ideology in Britain

  • Robert Leach(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  9 Feminism

  Introduction

  Feminism clearly differs from most of the other political ideologies discussed in this book. It is not a party ideology. Moreover, many of its concerns are with the private sphere of family and interpersonal relations rather than the public sphere of government and conventional politics. Yet the definition of what is and what is not political is itself an essentially ideological question. While many conservatives or liberals would distinguish between state and civil society, and between a public and personal sphere, feminists have long argued that ‘the personal is political’. Thus issues of identity and interpersonal relations, the exploitation of women within the family, or the sexual abuse of women, are political questions. Feminism involves a distinctive and radically different perspective that has important implications for politics in its broadest sense.

  Like other ideologies, feminism involves a critique, an ideal and a programme. The critique contains an analysis of the discrimination and injustices suffered by women in existing society; the ideal is justice for women, generally but not exclusively interpreted to mean gender equality. The practical programme has included action to achieve political and legal rights, equality in the economic sphere, the elimination of sexual discrimination in education, the workplace and the home, and protection against physical and sexual violence. While all political ideologies involve implications for political action, feminism is markedly action-oriented.

  Analysis of feminism, as with other ideologies, has tended to involve distinctions and classifications into periods and subcategories. Thus the literature commonly refers to ‘waves’ of feminism – the first from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century culminating in the successful campaign of the suffragettes to secure votes for women, and the second from the 1960s onwards by a new generation of feminists who lamented that formal legal and political rights had not secured equality for women in practice, either in the political world, at work or in the home. Subsequent further uneven advances towards equal pay and opportunities fed a mood of greater complacency on gender inequality, and some talk of ‘post-feminism’. A backlash against feminism was followed by a feminist revival which some described as a ‘third wave’ from the early 1990s, and in the twenty-first century a ‘fourth wave’, which in Britain has particularly focused on issues around the sexual and physical abuse of women, but also the disproportionate impact of economic recession on women.

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  Applying Theory to Generalist Social Work Practice

  • Carol L. Langer, Cynthia Lietz(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Interventions should be creative. Feminist activist and scholar Lorde (1984) wrote, “the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change” (p. 112). Lorde posits that advocating mere tolerance of racial, class, or other differences does not bring about real change. Rather, we should acknowledge and use our differences as fuel to spark new, uncharted ways of being in the world. Similarly, Freire (1970) argues that liberation cannot occur just by reversing who holds the power—the system itself must be changed. Change can occur only through constant dialogue and problem-posing questions. Social workers are encouraged not only to be ethical but also to think outside the box when it comes to feminist or critical theory interventions. This might include being consciously aware of their assumptions about how the world works (Evans et al., 2011).

  Termination

  Termination involves the ending of the professional helping relationship between the social worker and client. Similar to other theories covered in this book, when using a critical theory or feminist approach, social workers should be mindful to honor the client at the ending of the relationship. Because these theories seek to deconstruct hierarchy, it would be important to allow the client to choose how to close the relationship. Although some approaches such as the transtheoretical model covered in Chapter 13 highlight the importance of termination because of its focus on relapse prevention, critical or feminist theories would not mandate a termination meeting if the client did not feel it was necessary. Prioritizing choice of the client is essential to critical and feminist theories.

  Evaluation

  In social work, evaluation is the process of collecting evidence to determine whether an intervention was helpful. One trend in social work is evidence-based practice (EBP). As discussed in Chapter 1

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