Commonality and Diversity in Feminist Social Work

Abstract

The relationship between feminist social workers and women service users is a central concern in the feminist social work literature. The literature's discussion of feminist social worker/woman service user relationships, along the dimensions of commonality and diversity, is compared with the experiences and understandings of feminist social workers who participated in a small-scale qualitative study. Two main themes are considered: first, commonality in feminist social worker/woman service user relationships; secondly, diversity amongst women service users. Issues for future work are drawn out of the discussion of these themes: the problematic nature of feminist social worker/woman service user commonality; the impact of social divisions other than gender on women service users' lives; the importance of unpacking generalizations about both women service users and feminist social workers; the need to explore the intersections of the statutory context and feminist social work identities. It is argued that in addressing these issues future work would be enriched if greater prominence were given to feminist practitioners' perspectives, experiences and understandings.

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