Women's Content in Social Work Curricula: Separate but Equal?

Abstract

There has been an ongoing debate on whether content on women's issues should be taught in a separate course or integrated throughout the social work curriculum. This study of the knowledge and attitudes of 70 undergraduate social work majors found that all the students had similar attitudes toward women's rights and feminism, but those who had taken a separate course had greater knowledge of female biological processes and the social and historical forces that have affected women. Social work has long been known as a &dquo;woman's profession.&dquo; Although men are still chosen for positions of leadership and control, today, as in the past, the majority of social work clients and practitioners are female. Hare-Mustin (1983) pointed out that diagnostic considerations, marital and family relations, reproductive problems, physical and sexual abuse, and depression are just some areas to which social workers should pay special consideration with respect to women and their point of view. In response to the women's movement and the push to consider women's &dquo;point of view,&dquo; the Council on Social Work Downloaded from 75 Education (CSWE, 1982) issued its Curriculum Policy Statement for the Master's Degree and Baccalaureate Degree Programs in Social Work Education, which stated that social work curricula must provide content on the &dquo;experiences, needs, and responses&dquo; of &dquo;special populations&dquo;: &dquo;people who have been subjected to institutionalized forms of oppression&dquo; (Standard 7.3) and women (Standard 7.5).Although it is likely that an observer could find objectives that relate to women's issues in the syllabi of individual courses, the extent and quality of the content on women in the curricula is unknown and the debate continues over whether such material should be separated or integrated. This article describes a study that evaluated these two approaches to the inclusion of women's content in relation to BSW students' level of knowledge about women's issues and their attitudes toward women's rights and feminism.Too often of late, the problems of women, particularly of women of color, have been couched in individual terms, and the social forces of sexism and racism, as well as the shared experience of women in a patriarchal society, have been overlooked (Gutierrez, 1990). Social workers must continue to respond to the oppression of women and resist this latest trend toward blaming the victim. It is imperative that social work students be educated about the forces that affect women. Only when social workers are equipped with an adequate knowledge base and egalitarian attitudes toward women can they begin to empower or increase the personal, interpersonal, and political power of female clients. BACKGROUND

Predictors of Feminist Activism among Social Work Students in the United States

“…Greater educational attainment often leads to greater levels of feminist activism for all citizens (Henderson-King & Stewart, 1999), with the effects of education being the strongest when classes directly focus on gender inequities (Duncan, 1999;Nelson et al, 2008). Among social work students, some studies contend that exposure to feminist content in classrooms fosters a greater commitment to feminist activism (Abram, Schmitz, Taylor, Tebb, & Bartlett, 2001;Black, 1994;Lincoln & Koeske, 1987;Munson & Hipp, 1998;Vinton, 1992), while other studies suggest that participation and completion of certain academic courses inspires many sorts of political activism (Butler & Coleman, 1997;Fahs, 2012;Morrison Van Voorhis & Hoestetter, 2006;Rocha, 2000;Van Soest, 1996). However, a few studies cautioned that finishing a course on oppression did not lead to higher advocacy intentions (Van Soest, 1996;Weiss & Kaufman, 2006) even while it may serve a clear consciousness-raising role (Fahs, 2012).…”

“…Some studies have also found that men in social work were more likely to accept traditional gender roles (Black, 1994), less desiring of gender equality (Spivey, 2006), and more oblivious to male privilege than their female counterparts (Taylor, 1994). However, gender differences might be less pronounced among social workers because there may be a higher proportion of feminist-identified men in this profession (Han & Chun-Chung Chow, 2010;Ritter, 2008;Rocha, 2000;Vinton, 1992).…”

“…With injustice frames being essential to protest activities, clearly social work programs should try to motivate activism by revealing the discriminatory and exploitative nature of many United States institutions (systematic sexism, racism, classism, heteronormativity, ageism, etc.). Moreover, there is some evidence that students are more politically active after they take a class on sexism (Abram et al, 2001;Black, 1994;Lincoln & Koeske, 1987;Vinton, 1992) or any form of oppression (Morrison Van Voorhis & Hoestetter, 2006;Rocha, 2000;Van Soest, 1996). Similarly, with activist identities being important in most cases, professors must reveal the connections between client well-being and injustices in families, agencies, and political arenas.…”

“…Empirical studies of social worker have ignored feminist engagements and have instead explored the gender attitudes of social work students (Black, 1994;Freeman, 1990;Lincoln & Koeske, 1987;Munson & Hipp, 1998;Seymour, 2012;Vinton, 1992) and professors (Woodford, Luke, Grogan-Kaylor, Fredriksen-Goldsen, & Gutierrez, 2012). This current study rectifies this lack of knowledge by concentrating on the factors that may inspire feminist activism among people in training to become social workers (undergraduate social work students).…”

Gender-Sensitive Social Work Practice: A Model for Education

“…In the early 1990s, two important studies were conducted on gender-sensitive social work curricula (Knight, 1991;Vinton, 1992). Results from these studies indicated that, although progress has been made, much remains to be accomplished in achieving the intended educational JUDITH NORMAN is associate professor and BARBARA WHEELER is professor emeritus, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.…”