Full Description
Build a woman-centered social work practice for the new millennium!"How do we take the strengths women have--have always had--and use them to build a world that is validating, liberating, and inclusive?" This is the question at the heart of Building on Women's Strengths. This groundbreaking book explores the ways a woman-centered worldview can transform social policy, social services, and direct practice. Updated to honor the memory of Liane V. Davis, who died in 1995, this new edition of Building on Women's Strengths offers updated information to reflect the enormous changes that have occurred since 1994 in women's lives. Many of the original selections have been revised or totally rewritten to reflect those changes and the more integrated policy/practice focus of this edition. New chapters were added on working with women who have been incarcerated, women on welfare who experience violence, and lesbian and bisexual women. Building on Women's Strengths presents a woman-centered approach to understanding and analyzing the issues women must confront in their daily lives, including:
family violence
welfare reform
mental health
child welfare
aging
racism
being silenced by society
The Journal of the National Association of Social Workers said of the first edition, "Each chapter presents with skill and rigor an opening for respectful and challenging discourse." This edition of Building on Women's Strengths offers an even more comprehensive view of the ways to overcome oppression in women's lives. It is an essential volume for social workers, policymakers, mental health professionals, and anyone working toward social justice for all women.
Contents
Contents
About the Editors
Contributors
Preface to the First Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Chapter 1. Why We Still Need a Women's Agenda for Social Work
Introduction
The Women's Movement and Political Change
Reality: A Social and Political Construction
Why We Still Need a Women's Agenda for Social Work
Chapter 2. Building on the Romance of Women's Innate Strengths: Social Feminism and Its Influence at the Henry Street Settlement, 1893-1993
Introduction
Social Feminism
The Henry Street Settlement
Conclusion
Chapter 3. What Is Needed for True Equality: An Overview of Policy Issues for Women
Introduction
Family, Gender and Class
Women's Employment and Economic Well-Being
Social Control of Women Through Violence
Conclusion
Chapter 4. Child Welfare As a Women's Issue: Untangling Gender, Race, and Class
Historical Perspective
Recent Trends
Women and the Child Welfare System
Implications for Social Work in the Twenty-First Century
Conclusion
Chapter 5. Women's Mental Health Issues: Twentieth-Century Realities: Twenty-First Century Challenges
Introduction
Twentieth-Century Realities--Past to Present
Contemporary Issues in Women's Mental Health: The Interplay of Systems, Structures, and Symptoms
Twenty-First Century Challenges--Present to Future
Empowered Practice in the Twenty-First Century: Ideas for Social Workers
Chapter 6. Women, Welfare, and Violence: A Look at the Family Violence Option
TANF and the Family Violence Option
The Link Between Domestic Violence and Welfare
Domestic Violence and Economic Self-Sufficiency
Implementing the Family Violence Option
Next Steps
Conclusion
Chapter 7. Promoting Reentry for Formerly Incarcerated Women: Individual and Community Practice Challenges
Introduction
Factors Contributing to Postincarceration Recidivism or Successful Reentry
Methodology
Discussion and Implications
Conclusion
Chapter 8: Supporting the Strengths of Older Women
Contemporary Practice Issues
Economic Security
Health Care
Social Interaction
Contemporary Practice Issues
Contemporary Policy Issues
Conclusion
Chapter 9. Beyond Women of Color, Welfare, and Identity Politics
Welfare Herstory: History Retold
Case Illustration: Vanessa
Beyond Race or Gender Issues
Chapter 10. Lesbians and Bisexual Women: Relevant Policy and Practice Issues
Sociocultural Context
Homophobia and Heterosexism
Coming Out and "Passing"
Social Policy Issues
Practice Issues
Conclusions
Chapter 11. Overturning Oppression: An Analysis of Emancipatory Change
Introduction
The Genealogy of Oppression
Hidden Dynamics of Oppression
Intimations of Emancipation
Emancipatory Change in Social Work
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 12. Changing Women's Narratives: Taking Back the Discourse
Introduction
Story, Knowledge, and Power
Women, Language, and Story
Language and the Mental Health Professions
Implications for Practice
Index
Reference Notes Included
