Teaching Gender in Social Work - MailChimp

provide another way in which to broaden students’ thinking about the complex
way in which gender relations are constructed in society and encourage them
to engage in a critical debate that avoids generalisations and ethnocentrism. 14
An integrative approach, within the history of the present framework,
involves the introduction of broad theories concerning modernity and postmodernity
as the next step in providing students with the critical frameworks to
problematise the core approaches to feminism referred to above. As Dominelli
argues, such approaches encourage a “more sophisticated understanding of
women’s position”. 15 Through deconstructing discourses and promoting a
more nuanced understanding of gender by means of analyses of power, these
approaches challenge generalised thinking.
Questions for students to engage with include:
1. What contribution can post-modernist ideas make to
understanding gender?
2. Identify the range of ideas that come under the broad banner
of ‘post-modern’ feminism?
3. Which authors are most relevant to social work? Why?
4. How do post-modern feminist ideas challenge earlier feminist
perspectives?
5. What are the risks of post-modern feminist thinking in terms
of the theorisation of patriarchy?
6. What are the strengths of the approach in terms of theorisation
of patriarchy?
7. How can post-modern perspectives provide a more critical
understanding of ‘women’, ‘men’, ‘gender’ through deconstruction
of discourse?
8. How can post-modern feminist perspectives inform social work
practice?
9. What are the potentials for engaging men through post-modern
feminism? What are the limits?
14
Kurt Schilde and Dagmar Schulte, eds., Need and Care – Glimpses into the Beginnings of Eastern Europe’s
Professional Welfare (Opladen: Budrick, 2005); Sabine Hering and Berteke Waaldijk, eds., Guardians of the poor –
Custodians of the Public: Welfare History in Eastern Europe 1900-1960 (Opladen: Budrick, 2006)
15
Dominelli, 2002: 32.
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