Feminist theories

Question 1

What is feminism?

Answer 1

• “social movement and doctrine advocating legal and socioeconomic equality for women”
• theories and practices that challenge male dominance and privilege and critique patriarchal power relations

Question 2

Feminist social work definition

Answer 2

• integration of feminist orientation based values, skills, and knowledge in social work to help individuals and society overcome the emotional and social problems that result from gender discrimination

Question 3

Feminist Mantra

Answer 3

“The personal is political, and the political is personal”

• indicates that feminism analyzes individual problems in a complex way, moving beyond perceived inadequacies of the individual to understand issues rooted in political or societal structures.

Question 4

Liberal Feminism

Answer 4

• based in a neo-liberal ideology
• looked at women’s problems as stemming from a lack of access to participation in community and workforce
• did not acknowledge patriarchal nature of society

Question 5

Radical Feminism [to the root]

Answer 5

• born out of fundamental ideas that gender/patriarchy is the problem
• idea that men and women have different experiences and different opportunities based on their genitalia

Question 6

Socialist Feminism

Answer 6

• critique’s capitalism
• view that women’s oppression comes from the inequality inherent in social structures of a class-based social system
• focus on Marxist theory: women’s role in society is to reproduce workers for capitalism’s benefit (through domestic tasks and child care)

Question 7

Black feminism

Answer 7

• focus on race, and in terms of women’s treatment in society
• focus on equality for women experiencing the most oppression (highest rates of mental health problems, incarceration rates, lack of access to resources)

Question 8

Post modern feminism:

Answer 8

• multiple group membership/intersectionality

- examines the discourse in society that creates assumptions of how women are/should be treated

Question 9

global feminism

Answer 9

women’s relationship to the world

Question 10

eco feminism

Answer 10

womens relationship to the environement

Question 11

standpoint theory

Answer 11

maintains that our perspective is determined by our position in society

Question 12

fundamental assumptions of standpoint theory

Answer 12

• all knowledge is situated
• life experience structures one’s understanding in life
• members of the most and least powerful groups will potentially have opposite understanding of the world
• Perspectives of those outside the dominant group develops from their daily activities/experiences
• Members of marginalizes groups are “valuable strangers” to the social order
• multiple social group memberships affects how you see the world (trans professor, treated poorly in the street, treated with high regard in academia)
• multiple perspectives [of those who are oppressed] should be validated
• all experiences should be validated
• members of all groups should be taught others standpoint

Question 13

Relational-Cultural theory [RCT] Cornstock et al., 1998

Answer 13

Central premise: growth-fostering relationships are a central human necessity, chronic disconnections are the source of psychological problems

Question 14

goal of RCT

Answer 14

create and maintain mutually empathic growth-fostering relationships
- relationships are highly defined by cultural context

Question 15

5 outcomes of growth-fostering relationship

Answer 15

1) Energy
2) Action
3) Clarity
4) Sense of Worth
5) Desire for more connection

Question 16

Outcomes of disconnection:

Answer 16

1) diminished energy
2) diminished action
3) confusion
4) diminished sense of worth
5) avoiding relationships/isolation

Question 17

Key concepts of RCT (6)

Answer 17

1) Mutual empathy
2) Mutual empowerment
3) Authenticity
4) Movement toward mutuality
5) Culture and connection: each person embodies culture
6) Difference and power

Question 18

Mutual empathy

Answer 18

o 2-way (or more) dynamic process that functions as a central component of psychological growth
o Connection based on authentic thoughts/feelings of all participants involved

Question 19

Mutual empowerment

Answer 19

o The five good outcomes (lead to mutual empowerment)

Question 20

Authenticity

Answer 20

ever-evolving, not achieved at any one moment
- person’s ongoing ability to more fully represent themselves in relationships, with awareness of the possible impact on the other person.”
o “a profess in movement – we move in and out of more or less authenticity as a consequence of the relational dynamics”

Question 21

Movement towards mutuality

Answer 21

o Dynamic process where individuals in relationship are able to be authentic, and respond authentically to each others thoughts/feelings
o Movement toward emotional/cognitive action that benefits both people in a relationship, which involves mutual empathy, authenticity, mutual empowerment, and mutual responsiveness

Question 22

Culture and connection: each person embodies culture

Answer 22

o Each person has multiple social identities (race, gender, class, sexual orient. Etc.)
o Social identities are stratified (dominant-subordinate, better-lesser than)

Question 23

Difference and power

Answer 23

o Differences are profoundly stratified, the stratification (not the difference) constrains our capacity for authenticity and undermines our desire for connection
o Power-over practices
 Suppress difference, interpret difference as opposition, diminish authentic engagement in relationships, impedes movement toward mutuality in relationships, limits one’s ability to find and engage in growth fostering relationships.
 So… EMBRACE DIVERSITY!

Question 24

**Central relational paradox

Answer 24

after repeated experiences of disconnection, people yearn very strongly for connection/relationships but are afraid to engage with others. They develop techniques for staying out of connection.

Question 25

Important commonalities in feminist social work practice (4)

Answer 25

1) ending patriarchy
2) empowering women
3) understanding people, particularly women, in their environment or social context, making the personal political and the political personal
4) raising consciousness among women and men of the way in which social structures establish gender inequalities.