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Feminist and Empowerment Theory and Practice: A Powerful Alliance

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Rethinking Feminist Theories for Social Work Practice

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Abstract

This chapter explores the role of feminist and empowerment theories in empowering professionals, such as the female-dominated social justice profession of social work and the vulnerable populations and organizational and community environments that they serve, such as older women with serious offence histories in prison. The central guiding conceptual models of social work practice, a human rights, social, economic, and environmental justice and person-in-environment perspective, are integrated with feminist and empowerment theories. This builds on dialogue and policy reform about different social justice issues and the critical function of leveraging the “power” of social work also driven by various social movements that challenge its conventional functions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Tina Maschi, Sandra G. Turner, Adriana Kaye & Annette M. Hintenach

  2. New York City College of Technology, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Smita Ekka Dewan

Authors
  1. Tina Maschi
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  2. Sandra G. Turner
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  3. Smita Ekka Dewan
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  4. Adriana Kaye
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  5. Annette M. Hintenach
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Correspondence to Tina Maschi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Christine Cocker

  2. School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

    Trish Hafford-Letchfield

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Maschi, T., Turner, S.G., Dewan, S.E., Kaye, A., Hintenach, A.M. (2022). Feminist and Empowerment Theory and Practice: A Powerful Alliance. In: Cocker, C., Hafford-Letchfield, T. (eds) Rethinking Feminist Theories for Social Work Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94241-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94241-0_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-94240-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-94241-0

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