Contemporary Feminisms in Social Work Practice explores feminism as core to social work knowledge, practice and ethics. It demonstrates how gender-neutral perspectives and practices obscure gender discourses and power relations. It also shows feminist social work practice can transform areas of social work not specifically concerned with gender, through its emphasis on relationships and power. Within and outside feminism, there is a growing assumption that equality has been won and is readily available to all women. However, women continue to dominate the ranks of the poor in developed and developing countries around the world; male perpetrated violence against women and children has not reduced; women outnumber men by up to three to one in the diagnosis of common mental health problems; and women continue to be severely underrepresented in every realm of power, decision-making and wealth. This worrying context draws attention to the ways gender relations structure most of the problems faced by the women, men and children in the day-to-day worlds in which social work operates. Drawing together key contemporary thinking about feminism and its place in social work, this international collection looks at both core curriculum areas taught in social work programs and a wide range of practice fields that involve key challenges and opportunities for future feminist social work. This book is suitable for all social work students and academics. It examines the nuanced nature of power relationships in the everyday and areas such as working with cross-cultural communities, mental health, interpersonal violence and abuse, homelessness, child protection, ageing, disability and sexuality.

This book takes a contemporary look at the issues that affect women most from a feminist perspective. Going beyond the equal pay for equal work issue, the authors write about mental health, substance abuse, disabilities, parenting, relationships, criminal justice, and aging, all from a holistic and intersectional perspective.

Exploring the breadth of contemporary feminist research practices, this engaging text immerses the reader in cutting-edge theories, methods, and practical strategies. Chapters review theoretical work and describe approaches to conducting quantitative, qualitative, and community-based research with participants; doing content or media analysis; and evaluating programs or interventions. Ethical issues are addressed and innovative uses of digital media highlighted. The focus is studying gender inequities as they are experienced by individuals and groups from diverse cultural, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and with diverse gender identities. Delving into the process of writing and publishing feminist research, the text covers timely topics such as public scholarship, activism, and arts-based practices. The companion website features interviews with prominent feminist researchers. Pedagogical Features *Case examples of feminist research. *Running glossary of key terms. *Boxes highlighting hot topics and key points for practice. *End-of-chapter discussion questions and activities. *End-of-chapter annotated suggested reading (books, articles, and online resources). *Sample letters to research participants. *Appendix of feminist scholars organized by discipline.

Feminist theories of social work have been criticised in recent years for treating women as a uniform category and displaying insufficient sensitivity to the complex ways in which other social divisions (those of race, age, disability, etc.) impact on gender relations. This major text by a leading writer in the field seeks to develop a new framework for feminist social work that takes on board postmodernist arguments to do with difference and power yet retains a commitment to collective solidarity and social change. As such, it will be essential reading for students, educators and practitioners alike in social work.

Contemporary Feminisms in Social Work Practice explores feminism as core to social work knowledge, practice and ethics. It demonstrates how gender-neutral perspectives and practices obscure gender discourses and power relations. It also shows feminist social work practice can transform areas of social work not specifically concerned with gender, through its emphasis on relationships and power. Within and outside feminism, there is a growing assumption that equality has been won and is readily available to all women. However, women continue to dominate the ranks of the poor in developed and developing countries around the world; male perpetrated violence against women and children has not reduced; women outnumber men by up to three to one in the diagnosis of common mental health problems; and women continue to be severely underrepresented in every realm of power, decision-making and wealth. This worrying context draws attention to the ways gender relations structure most of the problems faced by the women, men and children in the day-to-day worlds in which social work operates. Drawing together key contemporary thinking about feminism and its place in social work, this international collection looks at both core curriculum areas taught in social work programs and a wide range of practice fields that involve key challenges and opportunities for future feminist social work. This book is suitable for all social work students and academics. It examines the nuanced nature of power relationships in the everyday and areas such as working with cross-cultural communities, mental health, interpersonal violence and abuse, homelessness, child protection, ageing, disability and sexuality.

Social work as a profession and academic discipline has long centered women and issues of concern to women, such as reproductive rights, labor rights, equal rights, violence and poverty. In fact, the social work profession was started by and maintained in large part by women and has been home to several generations of feminists starting with recognized first wave feminists. This wide-ranging volume both maps the contemporary landscape of feminist social work research, and offers a deep engagement with critical and third wave feminisms in social work research. Showcasing the breadth and depth of exemplary social work feminist research, the editors argue that social work’s unique focus on praxis, daily proximities to privilege and oppression, concern with social change and engagement with participatory forms of inquiry place social workers in a unique position to both learn from and contribute to broader social science and humanities discourse associated with feminist research. The authors attend here to their specific claims of feminisms, articulate deep engagement with theory, address the problematic use of binaries, and engage with issues associated with methods that are consistently of interest to feminist researchers, such as power and authority, ethics, reflexivity, praxis and difference. Comprehensive and containing an international selection of contributions, Feminisms in Social Work Research is an important reference for all social work researchers with an interest in critical perspectives.

Feminist social work has clear goals to expose and critically analyse gendered power as a dynamic, historic, and structural concept embedded in our world, and to mobilise and take social action to challenge that power. This is integral to a commitment to the core values of the social work profession, which include a commitment to human rights, social justice and professional integrity. This edited collection brings a range of academic and practitioner scholarship to centre feminist theories, values and knowledge as they apply to social work practice, theory and education. It engages with feminist thinking to re-emphasise and refocus the centrality of gender and its intersections with other axes of identities such as social class, race, disability, sexuality and age, for understanding and analysing social work practice. This collection is a timely reminder of what feminist inquiry has to offer social work to successfully address contemporary challenges and is applicable to practitioners, scholars, educators, students and other key care professionals and policy makers.