Christina Gringeri

What Makes it Feminist?: Mapping the Landscape of Feminist Social Work Research:

Social work as an academic discipline has long included women and gender as central categories of analysis; the social work profession, started and maintained largely by women, has been home to several generations of feminists. Yet, social work is curiously and strikingly absent from broader multidisciplinary discussions of feminist research. This article explores contemporary feminist social work research by examining 50 randomly selected research-based articles that claimed feminism within their work. The analysis focused on the authors’ treatment of the gender binary, their grounding in theory, their treatment of methodology, and their feminist claims. Feminist social work researchers are invited to reconceptualize feminisms to include third-wave feminist thought and more explicitly engage theory and reflexivity in their work.

Examining Foundations of Qualitative Research: A Review of Social Work Dissertations, 2008-2010.

This study examined the treatment of epistemology and methodological rigor in qualitative social work dissertations. Template-based review was conducted on a random sample of 75 dissertations completed between 2008 and 2010. For each dissertation, we noted the presence or absence of four markers of epistemology: theory, paradigm, reflexivity, and power. We also examined methods choices and the strategies used for ensuring rigor. Results suggested that most (96%) doctoral students completing qualitative dissertations address theory, but fewer refer to reflexivity (45%), paradigm (13%), or power dynamics (8%). Students typically used multiple strategies for ensuring rigor. Grounded theory and phenomenology were the most popular methods choices, followed by case studies, ethnography, or narrative methods. Implications for doctoral education are offered.

Beyond the Binary: Critical Feminisms in Social Work

Affilia has had 30 or more years of creating and holding space open for feminist social work scholars, activists, and poets to reflect on the nexus of their work and social justice. So why is Affilia publishing this special issue on critical feminisms and why is the journal’s corporate board organizing an upcoming conference on unsettling feminisms? Is there a need? Yes, we would answer emphatically. There is a need to open and broaden spaces for critical feminist work because much feminist social work research, practice, and education focus on ‘‘women’s issues’’ without critically exploring or analyzing structural issues and forces as they inform people’s lives. In this era of preemptive wars and increasingly globalized racial and class disparities, critical voices are systematically silenced or dismissed. Without critical feminist voices that highlight the ways in which inequalities in power and social structures distort gender, many people experience limited access to opportunities and a reduced potential for development. We join with Trevino, Harris, and Wallace (2008, p. 8) and paraphrase the much-needed contribution from critical scholarship:

Nurturing “Critical Hope” in Teaching Feminist Social Work Research

Despite the congruence between critical feminist values and the cardinal values of the social work profession, feminist research in social work has lagged behind its feminist cousins in the social sciences, particularly in terms of critical uses of theory, reflexivity, and the troubling of binaries. This article presents as praxis our reflections as researchers, teachers, and feminists inside social work. We draw from a review of feminist social work research and offer suggestions for teaching critical feminist approaches in social work research. Incorporating critical feminist values and research practices into social work research courses creates the potential for greater integration of research, practice, and the principal values of our profession.

Flexibility, the Family Ethic, and Rural Home-Based Work:

Flexibility is often considered an advantage to workers, especially women. This article shows, however, that, in relation to home-based work by rural women workers, flexibility, when set within the frame work of the family ethic, is often a trade-off for job security, wages, and other benefits. The author suggests that work can become flexible only when tasks are no longer rigidly gendered.

Assembling “Genuine GM Partsâ€: Rural Homeworkers and Economic Development

This article examines industrial homeworking, a particular form of restructured production, in two rural, midwestern communities that incorporated these jobs as part of an economic development strategy. Case studies of these communities provide the data to discuss the process of development and the conditions of homeworking. Homework, as development, incorporated the gendered division of labor in the home into market relations and promoted uneven development between urban and rural areas. These cases point to the need to reconceptualize development, especially in rural communities.

Childhood abuse and loss in the lives of low-income women

About 700,000 cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect are substantiated each year, making childhood maltreatment a common form of trauma in the histories of adults. We summarize the literature on the consequences of child maltreatment across the lifespan, agreeing with those researchers who see maltreatment as a public health problem. We examine low-income women’s perceptions of the impacts of childhood abuse on their adult experiences through 19 life narratives collected during 2008. Using a theoretical lens of Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources, we discuss themes of loss and developmental stress in women’s experiences of childhood maltreatment. We conclude with implications for professionals and case managers working with low-income women, suggesting that assessment for childhood maltreatment is an important aspect of supporting low-income women and their families on the road to self sufficiency.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Depression and Mental Health Barriers to Work among Low-Income Women

Recent research has connected childhood abuse to decreased physical and mental health for low-income women in Utah. Further, mental health has established a link to employment problems. This study conducted a secondary analysis of data collected from individuals accessing public assistance to investigate the relationships among retrospective self-reports of childhood emotional, physical and sexual abuse and prospective indicators of mental health and mental health barriers to work. Logistic regression models found strong relationships between childhood abuse and increased odds of depression and mental health barriers to work. Path models highlight the relative importance of depression for those reporting mental health as the biggest barrier to work. Recommendations for social workers, public health professionals, and program administrators are provided.

Challenges to Bridging Field and Classroom Instruction: Exploring Field Instructors’ Perspectives on Macro Practice

ABSTRACT Field education and macro practice have been highlighted as central educational domains in social work education; however, little scholarship has looked at how macro social work practice competencies have been integrated into field-based learning. This exploratory study aimed to gain perspectives from field instructors regarding macro social work and the integration of macro practice into their work with practicum students. Consistent with scholarship that has elucidated the impacts of neoliberalism on social work, including the marginalization of macro practice, emergent themes demonstrated that field instructors face barriers to incorporating macro work into their training of students. Challenges include prevalence of the medical model, time constraints, and funding limitations. Further, field instructors observed gaps among students, their university, and their organizational setting in regard to expectations for integrating macro practice into field education. Recommendations and directions for future research are discussed.

Book Review: The Price of Motherhood: Whythe Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued

The policies of American business, government, and the law do not reflect Americans’ stated values. Across the board, individuals who assume the role of nurturer are punished and discouraged from performing the very tasks that everyone agrees are essential. We talk endlessly about the importance of family, yet the work it takes to make a family is utterly disregarded. This contradiction can be found in every corner of our society. (p. 5)