Advantages And Disadvantages Of Feminist Theory

Race is a particularly powerful way of maintaining the dominance of the social group in power. The construct of race is about stratification, which puts a racially justified hierarchy among people in society to keep the dominant social group in power. Stratification can influence the resources an individual receives. Therefore, social workers sometimes use a theoretical approach called, Critical Race Theory (CRT), to guide their work in making certain general assumptions about issues of power, race, ethnicity, and racism. This is because CRT is an alternative theory that offers a radical lens to make sense of racial inequality in society, which could prove useful when analyzing a client’s situation. The

Ethics of Privilege Introduction Prior to beginning my social work education, I thought little about privilege. I felt as though I knew what it was, but now I realize that I had little idea about just how privileged my life has been. Mary E. Swigonski defines privilege as "unearned advantages enjoyed by a particular group, simply because of membership in that group" (1996). Some kinds of privilege are obvious, some are much more subtle.

Marsiglia, F. F., & Kulis, S. (2015). Diversity, oppression and change (2nd ed., Culturally Grounded Social Work). New York, NY: Diversity, oppression, and change: Culturally Grounded Social Work.

In conceptualizing diversity, a social worker needs to adopt an extensive social background that includes institutional or structural arrangements, identify the connection of multiple identities, and incorporate an unequivocal social justice course (Ortiz & Jani, 2010). Conflict theory informs advocacy efforts, policy formulations, and macro-level practice, striving to end oppression and discrimination (Hutchison, 2013). A social worker explains persistent social inequality and social conflict in the effort to help a client rise up against oppression in the critical race theory. These theories emphasize the impact of power structure, power differentials, and institutionalized inequality on individual lives versus internal

In Clark (2012) and Clark (2011) Article, Critical Race theory argues that, people of colour experience racism in their everyday lives and that white elites shape the race relations to serve their own self-interest. When we examine the child welfare system what was evident is that racialized workers and clients within the child welfare system was treated defiantly Clark (2012). This Theory exposed the issues that are imbedded in our system, that continually deny the existence of racism; and the bureaucratic nature of the systems that enforce racial norms (Clark, 2012; Clark, 2011). Secondly, the Anti-oppressive framework, focuses on both the process and outcome, its aim is to empower, users by reducing the negative effects of hierarchies in their immediate interactions (Gosine & Pon, 2011). These are articles were designed to help workers understand the nature of oppression and provide insight into the complexity of the

Feminist theory is directed to the understanding of women 's lives, struggles, and how we can improve those areas of struggles for women. Theory has become a significant part to the feminist community, because it gives feminists the opportunity to discuss the issues in a manner where they feel liberated, and could service as a healing function (bell hooks, 1994).

One of the most challenging professions for African American males is social work. As a social worker, I have realized that I have to work under two domains. The first one is to work under the race identity and the second one is to work as a class identity. Although I am proud of being an African American, I usually feel sorry for myself being from unprivileged social class in the American society. The identity of being an African American male has affected my social work in many aspects. This is because it has made it impossible to carry out my professional duties because of negative perspectives and discrimination in the society. African American social workers are considered to be incompetent by the rest of the society hence making it impossible to delegate duties without any form of discrimination. This paper provides my own reflections as an African American male in the field of social work and how this identity has affected my practice in community work and advocacy duties.

Social workers are often on the forefront in the fight against any form of oppression as against the marginalized society. These demanding but oftentimes unappreciated efforts are often addressed through the conscious use of skills and knowledge of the problems being solved against. When such oppression is however committed against them within the organization where they work, the social worker seems to be mum about the situation, or their efforts perhaps are rendered inutile. North America social workers experience this form of oppression within the social service institution. For this reason, I examine the arguments why the social workers need to be aware of the existence of this unique form of oppression. In order to eliminate oppression in the social welfare workplace, the social workers, in their pursuit of social change, must have a competent understanding of the theory around racism and oppression.

Firstly, Feminism is a conflict theory that believes that all religions are instruments set up by men to oppress women with the set of beliefs and practices. There are many different branches of feminism; the ones being evaluated are called Liberal, Radical and Marxist feminists. Feminists believe that society is malestream and not mainstream as people believe. The first main flaw in feminist theory is the fact that feminists only examine society from the viewpoint of women, they do this because they believe they are in fact helping fight against the oppression of women but the problem is that they do not examine the views of many male counterparts and therefore cannot help us completely understand our society. The main differentiation between the different feminist theories is the way that the oppression against women is caused.

"Feminism isn't about making the women stronger. Women are already strong. It's about the way the world perceives that strength." -G.D. Anderson. Feminist theory is a mode of analytical thoughts and actions of women's ideology that are excluded from society. Feminism constructs the difference in knowledge, social change, and spiritual influence of human existence. (Robbins, Chatterjee, Canda 2006). Feminism constitutes gender, as it acknowledges the different forms of feminism by examining categories of race, class, and sexual identity that exist. The theory opposes the perception of women and another group that can influence the dynamic of the dominant worldview.

Deffination: he support of ladies' rights on the ground of the equity of the genders.

According to Lum (2007) critical consciousness “is a process through which people come to an understanding of power, empowerment, and oppression. Developing critical consciousness is a two-step process that involves learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions and action against oppressive elements”. Experiences throughout life assist in the multiple identities that people have. It is important to “understand people through their construction and enactment of their multiple identities” (Lum, 2007, p.48). In order to understand the diversity of a person, social workers need to:

The basis of the study originated on multiple previous studies with added variables and altered surveys. The research began with a sound base and high reliability and validity. By taking previous information, the researchers were able to revalidate older studies and add new information. This was the first study done with sole female participants; the previous studies had looked at sexist discrimination before, but with males as well. Participants’ race was varied, adding to the external validity of the results. The analysis looked at the variables individually and collectively to produce more information from the data they collected. In addition, they studied private and public feminist identity in order to eliminate issues of construct validity in the definition.

Many times in life men do not think that women can do the same things that they can; whether it’s picking up boxes or being president. There will always be that “macho man” thought of the man being stronger than the woman. In many jobs women might do the exact same thing that men do except men are getting paid more than women even if it is an insignificant amount, it happens in many places and even though many people disapprove of it there are still jobs like that out there. And there are still employers who think that a woman should not be in the work force if so home. Many feminist have been working to solve this problem and there are still people who are working to solve and change many more of these problems, and even though in some places it doesn’t seem like it, feminism and feminists

The World Bank-funded forestry project in Uttarakhand provided an average of Rupees 1.5 to 2 million for implementing a micro-plan in each village brought under Village Joint Forest Management. This has promoted inequity between villages. The sudden offer of large sums of money to selected villages with high unemployment and limited opportunities for cash incomes has also led to the eruption of major conflicts within villages to gain control over the funds. Sustainable voluntary protection, often by women’s groups, had been replaced by patrols of externally-funded watchmen. Furthermore in Uttarakhand, better quality Van Panchayat forests were being selected for this project. This actually enabled the Forest Department to claim credit for years of management effort by the villagers. Such large inflow of money have also had implications for the community where the power dynamics between men and women in preserving forests also shifts often to the disadvantage of women.