Feminist Social Work: Practice and Theory of Practice Roni Eyal-Lubling and Michal Krumer-Nevo

Although feminist social work has been practiced in Israel since the 1970s, little has been written about it. This qualitative study aims to fill this gap by documenting and conceptual- izing feminist theory of practice and actual practice based on interviews with 12 feminist social workers. Findings reveal that the interviewees perceive feminist practice as significantly different from traditional social work practice based on four analytical principles: (1) gender analysis, (2) awareness of power relations, (3) analysis of welfare services as structures of op- pression, and (4) utilization of feminist language, as well as 10 principles of action. The principles are discussed in the context of feminist social work in Israel and in light of feminist principles described in international literature.

KEY WORDS: feminist social work; gender; social work practice; social work theory

espite the fact that social work and feminism Despite the multifaceted nature of this practice, a share common values, areas of interest, number of common traits characterize it: analysis of Dand modes of operation (­Collins, 1986; the social and structural causes of women’s personal ­Dominelli, 2002; ­Van Den Bergh, 1995; ­Wahab, troubles, focus on the agency of women and the use ­Anderson-Nathe, & Gringeri,­ 2015), feminist social of empowering intervention methods, critical analy- work in Israel has been a relatively marginal field sis of power relations in therapeutic relationships and within the body of professional knowledge, with the move from paternalistic intervention to partner- a limited body of documented practice (­Peled & ship, analysis of the concept of “women” as broad and ­Krumer-Nevo, 2013). Until now, no empirical study diverse through the intersection of gender with other has examined the nature of feminist social work in Is- social categories, and integration of intervention at rael. This article aims to respond to this void through the micro and macro levels (­Bricker-Jenkins, 1991; a qualitative study with Israeli feminist social workers. ­Collins, 1986; ­Dominelli, 2002; ­Hanmer & ­Statham, By identifying their principles of action (that is, the 1999; ­Lundy, 1993; ­Nes & Iadicola,­ 1989; ­Orme, answer to the question “What did I do in practice?”), 2002; ­Van Den Bergh, 1995; ­Wahab et al., 2015). and their analytic principles (that is, the answer to the question “Why did I do it?”), we aim to enrich the FEMINIST SOCIAL WORK IN ISRAEL body of knowledge on feminist social work and make Social work developed in Israel in the 1930s, dealing room for this kind of practice in the controversy over with various groups such as immigrants, people in social work theories of ­practice. poverty, youths in situations of risk, and the elderly. Since the 1970s the Israeli Social Workers Union has FEMINIST SOCIAL WORK created a monopoly on the professional activities, a From the 1970s onward, feminist social work began reality that has been formally reaffirmed with the to develop as a professional theory within the field social workers law. However, the rich body of knowl- (­Kemp & Brandwein,­ 2010), through, for example, edge on feminist social work has had a minor influ- challenging of the medical discourse in clinical men- ence on the profession in Israel. In a recent article, tal health frameworks (­Land, 1995), challenging pa- the only one published on feminist social work in triarchal gender role division in work with families Israel, ­Peled and Krumer-Nevo­ (2013) argued that (­Goodrich, ­Rampage, ­Ellman, & ­Halstead, 1988), feminist practice is marginal. Israeli feminist social and analyzing and disputing gender power relations work has been documented only sporadically; there in group work (­Garvin & ­Reed, 1995). has been no specialization in feminist social work in

doi: 10.1093/sw/sww026 © 2016 National Association of Social Workers 245 the academy or in the Israeli Social Workers Union interviews. The interviews were conducted in Hebrew that defines area of specialization and promotion. (a language all participants were fluent in and comfort- Indeed, some academic social work programs offer able with), in the participant’s home or workplace, elective courses on the subject, but social workers can and lasted an average of 1.5 hours. receive professional certification without gaining sub- The interview guide that was developed to in- stantive knowledge on feminism’s contribution to clude understanding of the participant’s professional social work, and opportunities to acquire such knowl- career and her feminist approach consisted of ques- edge following graduation are scarce. The perception tions aimed at eliciting narrative, for example, “Tell of feminist social work by key figures in the field is me about your practice.” These were followed by reflected in the response of an influential member of questions concerning attitudes and analysis, such as the professional union to the idea of conducting this “What makes your practice feminist?” The inter- study: “Stop this bullshit with feminist practice, there views were recorded and transcribed verbatim after is no such thing” (personal communication with first the participants signed informed consent forms. All author, February 12, 2014). names and identifying details of people and organiza- Nonetheless, the rapid development of nongov- tions were changed to ensure confidentiality. The ernmental organizations (NGOs) as a result of socio- university’s ethics committee approved the study. economic neoliberal policy has enabled social workers to develop social services inspired by feminist or other Participants critical discourses, such as citizen rights discourse. The participants, all women, were heterogeneous in The fact that the literature documenting these ser- terms of ethnicity, age, professional seniority, and the vices, which have developed since the 2000s, did not social work agency they worked in. Nine were Jew- identify them as feminist, but rather as demonstrating ish and three were Arab. Their average age was 37 a feminist interpretation, a feminist approach, a fem- years (range: 29 to 53 years), with an average 12 years inist perspective, or feminist values (­Peled & Krumer- of experience (range: two to 29 years). All held mas- Nevo, 2013), could indicate their weak theoretical ter’s degrees; three were doctoral candidates, and two confidence or a context in which the label “feminist” were postdoctoral researchers. They all worked with is associated with professional inferiority. populations at high risk, mostly adolescent girls and young women from poor and excluded groups (such RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHOD as Bedouins and immigrants from the former USSR Based on the literature review, the purpose of this and Ethiopia), for example, women in prostitution, study was to investigate feminist social work in Israel, battered women, sexually abused youths, and female and, in particular, to identify the principles of action former prisoners. Five worked in public frameworks, and analytic principles that feminist social workers four in nongovernmental services, and three in spe- apply in their practice. Thus, the study had two ques- cial programs at academic institutions. tions: “How do feminist social workers describe their practice?” and “What are the theoretical principles Data Analysis that guide them?” We began the study by recruiting Categorical content analysis was undertaken on the feminist social workers using a snowball method basis of the model of narrative analysis proposed by (­Creswell, 2007). A particular effort was made to reach ­Lieblich, ­Tuval-Mashiach, and ­Zilber (1998). Accord- Arab feminist social workers, whose work had not been ing to this model, textual analysis focuses on the di- documented previously (­Peled & Krumer-Nevo,­ mensions of content or structure, and on the unit of 2013). We sent personal appeals in Hebrew and Ara- analysis, with the choice of using the unit of the text bic to a few social workers who were known to us as a whole (holistic analysis) or parts of the text (cate- for using a feminist approach and to key figures in the gorical analysis). The analysis comprised four stages. In social work academia and field known for their re- the first stage, each interview was read holistically to lationships with feminist circles, requesting them to identify topics that repeated in all the interviews with forward the appeals to their mailing lists. Eleven so- great detail, that is, themes of significance, such as the cial workers responded to these appeals, and one was workplace, encounters with service users, encounters ­referred by another participant. They all were inter- with other professionals, and attitudes toward feminist viewed face-to-face by the first author, a middle-class, practice. Segments of the texts relevant to these themes Ashkenazi woman, using semistructured in-depth were marked and listed. In the second stage, the themes

246 Social Work Volume 61, Number 3 July 2016 were consolidated into a list of ­categories. For example, disposition, but because they were treated as the the workplace was coded to categories such as the help lowest form of citizens and suffered from very given, the role of the social worker, and the type of severe traumas typical to women ... so we see relationship with service users. In the third stage, 10 them in the context of women’s status in society principles of action were identified, including increas- in general. ing feminist awareness as a therapeutic tool, increasing the autonomy of service users, and self-disclosure. In This analytic principle enabled the social workers the fourth stage, the principles of action were grouped to understand service users’ behavior, including be- according to four analytic principles, using both deduc- havior considered “problematic,” not as an ­expression tive and inductive analysis. The first author undertook of personal pathologies, but rather as an expression data analysis and coding in consultation with the sec- of the social contract that creates women’s oppres- ond author. The findings were sent to all participants sion. This is expressed in two principles of action: for member checking. Most participants confirmed (1) increasing feminist awareness as a therapeutic tool the findings; however, one asked us to delete a few and (2) proactivity in identifying needs and develop- words from a citation that implied her critical stance ing services. regarding the management of the institution she worked for, and so we did. Positive feedback received Increasing Feminist Awareness as a Therapeutic from presentations of the findings to different audiences Tool. of social work academics and practitioners, and the The young women arrive and see that this one involvement of two researchers in the analysis, ensured suffered sexual abuse and so did this one, and trustworthiness (­Guba, 1981). then they say, “Just a minute. I was always told it happened because I wore short skirts, and this FINDINGS one wears skirts down to the floor and it hap- Throughout the interviews, when describing their pened to her too.” Suddenly they understand work, participants compared it to conventional social that it is not a personal pathology, but a social work using various means of contrast and opposition, one. And then girls start to talk about what they indicating that their practice was significantly differ- went through with greater acceptance and less ent than the dominant one, thus characterizing it as self-accusation. (Maya) what might be called counter-practice. Examples of practice were accompanied by explanations of their In direct therapeutic work, critical gender analysis uniqueness and references to the kind of practice served to depathologize service users. In this ex- used in traditional social work that the participants ample, consciousness regarding the gendered roots avoid. Narratives of practice revealed four analytic of sexual abuse was raised spontaneously in the con- principles: (1) the use of gender analysis, (2) working text of group work but was further developed in the through power relations, (3) analysis of the welfare work itself. Like the consciousness-raising groups services as structures of oppression, (4) and the use that played a major role at the beginning of the fem- of feminist language, as well as 10 principles of action inist movement (­Brodsky, 1973), the participants that are detailed in the following sections. used gender analysis to raise service users’ conscious- ness of their social position, assuaging their feelings Use of Critical Gender Analysis of self-blame and self-accusation. The use of critical gender analysis is the most Proactivity in Identifying Needs and Developing basic principle of feminist thought (­Collins, 1986; Services. Gender analysis enabled feminist social ­Dominelli, 2002; ­Nes & Iadicola,­ 1989) that relates workers to identify missing elements in the operation to analysis of individual behavior and experiences of existing services and discern service users’ needs, through the perspective of gender and contextualizes even when these were not apparent to those without it in a broader social context of power relations. such an analysis. Maayan, who worked with home- Ruth, for example, referred to her work with female less youths, attributed the low rate of women in the former prisoners: service to the service’s lack of adaptivity to women’s needs. She relied on the notion of the gendered pat- The women lapsed into these situations not be- tern of women’s hidden homelessness, which iden- cause they were born with a certain genetic tifies women’s tendency to find housing solutions

Eyal-Lubling and Krumer-Nevo / Feminist Social Work: Practice and Theory of Practice 247 through the private sphere, even if it involves living They choose the content, the workshops. We in unsafe physical conditions (­Novac, 2001). “I came listen to them. We don’t determine the seminar and asked, ‘How many girls are there here?’ They ourselves and then say, “Well, they are not co- said ‘five or 10 percent.’ I saw that similar projects in operative.” (Manaar) the world had 30 to 35 percent women, so I said, ‘Then our goal is to reach 30 percent.’ ” Creating opportunities for personal autonomy Another example involved Alona, a social worker and self-determination has a special therapeutic sig- who, while working with young women who were nificance for women in situations of abuse: victims of sexual abuse, identified a need to work with their mothers, most of whom had been survi- I believe she has the ability and authority and the vors of sexual abuse themselves. Group work with right to define her situation as she wishes and mothers of sexual abuse victims was a new initiative not as I—a social worker, an older woman, a that was developed in this case from the work with professional woman—wish. She chooses whether their daughters. In both examples, gender analysis to be in touch with me or with someone else in led to the development of specific therapeutic in- the project, and chooses and defines what process tervention and organizational change. she wants to undergo. This is a central value, but it also answers these women’s needs because Working through Power Relations choice and control are central issues in prostitu- Like gender analysis, the analysis of power relations tion. (Maayan) among social groups and in interpersonal relations is a central principle of feminist thought (­Mahalik, Self-Disclosure of Feelings and Emotions. In con- ­Van ­Ormer, & ­Simi, 2000). ventional therapy, social workers are expected to be distant and ambiguous in their relationships with It is clear to me that there is a hierarchy between service users (­Shill, 2004). In feminist therapy, on the us and the hierarchy is spoken, and it is clear that contrary, self-disclosure, the objective of which is to when I suggest something it is much harder for advance the therapeutic process, is described as de- her to refuse, due to her inferior position to me liberate verbal cooperation on the part of the profes- as her social worker. (Alona) sional in personal aspects of her life that are generally considered private (­Simon, 1990). The content dis- The participants identified power relations and closed mainly includes information concerning the were sensitive to the ways in which power shaped social worker’s professional experience; socioeco- the simplest interactions that constituted the helping nomic background; personal values; and, to a lesser relationship. They used three principles of action in extent, political views (­Simon, 1990). In our study, working through power relations. The first of these the participants described instances in which they was increasing the autonomy of service users. The disclosed not only information, but also their own second was self-disclosure of feelings and emotions. feelings and emotions, including even vulnerability. The third was collegial management. Whereas the first two means refer to power relations between the I sat with one of the young women from the social workers and service users, the third refers to group and began to cry ... and she comforted me. altering the power relations among professionals. It was weird. I am sitting on the grass crying, and Increasing the Autonomy of Service Users. Tradi- a 16-year-old girl with many problems is consol- tional practices of therapy are based on the ­principle ing me. This was an extreme example. But I didn’t that the professional leads the therapeutic process feel ... that I was making a fool of myself crying (­Compton, ­Galaway, & ­Cournoyer, 2005). In con- in front of her. There was a ... message there— trast, our participants gave service users the leeway sometimes I’m down, sometimes you’re down. to make their own decisions regarding whether to (Maya) use the service, the choice of therapist, and the na- ture of the helping relationship. The disclosure of emotions such as pain, sorrow, or frustration on the part of the participants occurred in We do not dictate to them. We try to give them many interviews, and the interviewees treated it as an the experience of control over what happens. expression of perceiving the therapeutic situation as an

248 Social Work Volume 61, Number 3 July 2016 encounter between two subjects, similar to the way in years under the influence of neoliberalism, which which relational psychotherapy treats the helping re- forced social workers to individualize service users’ lationship (­Stolorow, 1992). This outlook placed the problems and treat them with as little use as possible social workers and service users on an equal footing, of the state’s resources (­Shram & ­Silverman, 2012). similar in their humanity and vulnerability, even if their Our participants were extremely preoccupied with life situations were different. Moreover, this stance finding ways to work through the suppressive nature emphasized the strengths and power of service users, of social services. Three principles of action arose from and proved their ability to provide support. Thus, it this analysis: (1) the removal of organizational obsta- facilitated authentic experiences of interpersonal rela- cles, (2) the minimization of bureaucratic barriers in tions, in which both sides were both strong and weak. the interpersonal relationship, and (3) working in a Collegial Management. The aspiration to achieve real-life context. partnership and equal relationships manifested itself in the interviews not only in the context of relation- Removing Organizational Obstacles. ships with service users, but also as a principle that Justified with the rationale of efficient manage- shaped both relations among the professional staff rialism, receiving social welfare services is con- and management practices. ditional upon an admission process that includes meeting predefined criteria, such as the absence I learned what feminist management was from of psychiatric diagnosis or addiction problems, my previous manager. Nonhierarchical, very and service users’ compliance with organizations’ open to participation. She really believed in us rules. In contrast, our participants saw organiza- as a team, gave us a lot of freedom, really wanted tions’ criteria or rules as obstacles to meeting us to grow. She was very attentive, saw us as service users’ needs, which from their perspective young colleagues who needed help to grow. She is the highest goal of the organizations: “In fact, did this in a very egalitarian way, in a fun way, everyone is accepted here unconditionally, ev- going with the flow. (Alona) eryone is accepted, there is no screening process, no interviews, there is nothing.” (Maya) Joint, nonhierarchical, open, and empowering man- agement, management that sees the good in the worker In cases in which conditions or rules do exist, and enables mutual criticism and mutual learning— rules are used in a flexible way that adapts them to these were the characteristics of feminist management the context of service users’ real lives. in Alona’s opinion. Salma emphasized aspects of joint decision making from her perspective as a manager: There is an iron rule that no one uses drugs here. But today we understand this is self-medication, I acted as a manager in the most feminist way and we are much more tolerant. ... The worst because I showed the team the options, and then thing that we do [in cases of drug use] is that we they could decide. They could talk to me about send her to another center for two days and then anything, consult with me about anything. We she can return. (Ruth) formulated programs together. This was very cooperative, and very together and very nonhi- Martha rebelled against the way organizational erarchical and very much not along the lines of obstacles that stem from a lack of resources pre- “I am the boss and I will decide.” vented other services from helping women in need:

Analysis of Welfare Services as Structures I find it very difficult when they say there is no of Oppression room. What do they mean? There is no corri- Radical analysis relates to social welfare services as dor? There is no space for a mattress? Make structures and mechanisms of oppression (­Cloward & room. I want them to say, “I don’t have a room ­Piven, 1975; ­Leonard, 1975). Bureaucracy and long but I won’t leave you in the street.” Believe me, ineffective acceptance procedures and mechanisms of these words mean a lot. classification are the daily expressions of this oppres- sion (­Fook, 1993). The tendency of social welfare This is an example of an ethical stance of standing services to use surveillance has intensified in recent by service users (­Krumer-Nevo, 2015), which means

Eyal-Lubling and Krumer-Nevo / Feminist Social Work: Practice and Theory of Practice 249 representing their needs, interests, and perspectives of reaching out) or examine eligibility or risk (in to society at large. By adopting this stance, feminist the case of home visits), while the main part of the social workers demonstrate their commitment to helping process takes place in the office. In contrast, overcoming organizational or budgetary obstacles in our participants described practices that go further the concrete, material sphere as well as in the sphere to act over time in real-life contexts by broadening of experiences and relations. As Martha indicated, the boundaries of space and time in which the help- the explicit statement, “I won’t leave you in the ing relationship takes place: “We go where the street,” and the action that comes with it were of woman needs us; if she wants us to visit at her home, decisive importance in the helping relationship. we go there; if she doesn’t want the neighbors to see us, then we go to a nearby street” (Salma). Removal of Bureaucratic Obstacles in the Inter- Working with service users in the context of their personal Relationship. real lives was also manifested in accompanying them Bureaucratic obstacles also appear in the sphere of during key events to ensure their safety, support interpersonal relationships. These might take the them, and relieve their isolation. Maayan, for ex- form of having to arrange a meeting in advance ample, described how her team picked a girl up from within the framework of existing office hours. If the street to accompany her to a new boarding service users need to talk to their social worker school. The professional decision to accompany the urgently, they make contact with an emergency girl was based on the acknowledgment of the dan- on-call professional. Feminist social workers op- gers she might face on the way and her emotional posed this method of working and emphasized vulnerability in the new context. Martha, who their accessibility and availability to service users works in a hostel for women in prostitution, em- as an important therapeutic principle: “If a girl phasizes how this principle guides her when one of knocks on the manager’s door, she will tell her to the women runs away: come in. In other places, you have to wade through the hierarchy.” (Maya) It means that at eleven o’clock at night, when a woman calls and says, “I ran away from the hos- Making contact through personal mobile phones tel, I made a mistake. I am at a bus stop and am was also described as a means to communicate to frightened to death.” You don’t tell her, “You service users that they are important and that the managed to get out of here, it’s your problem.” social workers care about them. Alona emphasized You go to look for her, get a car, and bring the the degree to which this practice was regarded as police with you. You do everything in order to subversive by other social workers: save her.

At all the jobs I worked in, the girls always had Use of Feminist Language my phone number. There were very few times Professional discourses are linguistic practices that when this was abused, if any. ... On the other shape our thoughts, actions, and professional iden- hand, I don’t have the numbers of some of my tities (­Healy, 2014). Welfare contexts are colleagues from other services. In order to reach them I have to contact their office and receive sites of competing discourses, each of which [chuckling] a voice message. ... This puts me in offers different interpretations regarding the -na exactly the same position as service users. ture of client needs, expert knowledge, and the nature of social work roles and, specifically, the Working in a Real-Life Context. In conventional kinds of “help” or interventions that will best social work practice, intervention in the real-life address the concerns and issues facing service context of service users mainly takes the form of users. (­Healy, 2014, p. 4) reaching out or home visits (­Krumer-Nevo, 2015). In both methods, social workers occasionally step Our participants experienced feminist social work out of conventional physical boundaries to meet discourse as new and unconventional in terms of service users. In both approaches, this is not sup- what social work is and what the nature of profes- posed to be a permanent method, but rather a strat- sional relationship is. Their colleagues reacted to this egy used to gain trust and build rapport (in the case kind of discourse as if it was unknown to them. The

250 Social Work Volume 61, Number 3 July 2016 language our participants used exposed a discourse social worker, “You are stupid.” Doing so wouldn’t that defies deep premises on which other professional- get us anywhere. It’s as though these were two therapeutic views are based, such as, for example, worlds where the same language wasn’t spoken. perceptions of the boundaries of the helping rela- (Maya) tionship, personal responsibility as opposed to social responsibility, and dependence versus interdepen- Like Maya, Manaar described her role as an edu- dence. Our participants were aware of the differ- cational one with regard to other professionals in ences between the professional discourse they used the context of distributing information pamphlets and the conventional one; they adopted various about women’s sexuality: practices to bridge the gaps between the discourses and between different outlooks, basic assumptions, Sometimes we encounter some opposition here and moral positions. and there ... and they were a little put off by this, asking, “How do you give young girls things like In the forums you attend, you sometimes have that [pamphlets about sexuality]? Why do they to speak two languages. There is your language, need to know this?” They think that if we do not which you need to adopt in order to be under- give out this pamphlet, the girls don’t know. stood, because they are looking at you. I ... [smil- Then we have to explain that we give this infor- ing], I do not want to be alone all the time, mation because knowledge is power. understand? (Leila) Working under the Radar. Working in services Leila described a bilingualism in which the mother that were not feminist and maintaining a dialogue tongue is feminist and the secondary language is the on basic professional assumptions and means of language of conventional social work. The feminist practice was sometimes too difficult, and some language forms a counter-narrative that belongs to participants described how they overcame this ob- a minority. The minority knows the majority’s lan- stacle through concealment or operating under the guage, but not vice versa. Therefore, unlike a dialogue radar. between two bilingual people, who can alternately use words and concepts from each of their languages, There are places where I tactically choose to do here only the feminist social workers can speak both things otherwise, meaning, to begin quietly. languages. Thus, they are involved in a continuous Within my field I am allowed to do what I want, effort to connect between the discourses to be un- it’s professional, it is not considered unprofes- derstood and not remain “alone all the time.” This sional, and I won’t be disturbed. They will not analytical principle is expressed in two prin­ciples of agree with me perhaps, but they will not [bother action: (1) mediation and translation and (2) work me], and I hope that gradually this attitude will under the radar. filter through. (Maayan) Mediation and Translation. Mediation and trans- lation were described as major tools constantly used Maayan described how, in the first stage, actions by our participants to explain their professional out- that might arouse criticism or antagonism were car- look in order to hold professional dialogues, create ried out secretly. In the second stage, after gaining professional collaborations, and facilitate professional confidence and proving herself to be “professional,” processes. she could hold a dialogue on the controversial issues. Shira described a similar process: All the time, I have to connect between two sides, as if speaking different languages. A social worker I had to explain to my manager why I wanted called me and told me, “Look, the young woman to talk about gender in a group dealing with that you sent told the girls in our group what she work, and said, “If we want to talk with them had gone through. This is a problem with her about work and family conflict, then we have judgment”; ... and I had to have a dialogue on to talk first about gender and work.” She agreed why telling things the girl had gone through was, to this, and then I had to explain it to my boss. in our view, an interventional tool, a real one, and I tried to mollify, cut corners, and not tell her not a pathological reality test. I couldn’t say to this what I was really going to say. That way I got

Eyal-Lubling and Krumer-Nevo / Feminist Social Work: Practice and Theory of Practice 251 through the meeting, and then I had the free- low capital of order of feminist social work might dom to say whatever I wanted. place it in a dominated position within the pro­ fessional field, which distributes its financial and The narratives of practice revealed a field of social ­political resources according to the rules of evidence- work in which the feminist agenda seemed strange, based practice. and exposed those who adhered to it to the risk of Our study exposed four analytic principles and being treated as “unprofessional.” The recurring use 10 operative principles that guide the work of fem- of the expressions “two languages” and “two worlds” inist social workers. Whereas the first two analytic attested to this anomaly and to the sense of margin- ­principles—gender analysis and awareness of power alization within the profession. At the same time, the relations—with the principles of practice connected very act of translation also demonstrates that feminist to them occupy a central place in feminist social work social workers want to bridge the gaps between them writing (­Dominelli, 2002; ­Orme, 2002; ­White, 2006), and other professionals and to become influential in the principles of practice that are connected to the the professional field. two other principles—analysis of the welfare services as structures of oppression and the use of feminist DISCUSSION language—although discussed in the literature (for This study aimed to examine the analytic principles example, ­Abbott, 1995; ­Abramovitz, 1995; ­White, and the principles of action in the work of feminist 2006)—are less prominent. Removing bureaucratic social workers in Israel. Although there are very obstacles at the organizational and interpersonal lev- limited opportunities for gaining formal knowledge els and working in a real-life context arose in our on feminist practice in Israel and despite the fact that study as significant principles of feminist social work scholars have argued that feminist practice cannot be that extend the boundaries of professional relations. enacted in public welfare services because it contra- Enacted together, they express the ethical stance of dicts neoliberal ideology and the conformist nature “standing by,” which is an enactment of feminist so- of the services (­Weeks, 2003; ­White, 2006; ­Wise, cial workers taking a side in situations of injustice 1995), we found social workers who identified as (­Krumer-Nevo, 2015). Working according to these feminists who succeeded in working in accordance principles, social workers explicitly oppose and chal- with their ideology in both public services and lenge professionalism as being neutral, detached, or NGOs. We understand this to be connected to the objective, and suggest that professionalism should fact that these services were directed at populations involve being highly committed, understanding cli- in extreme life situations that conventional social ents as complex human beings, and being willing to work practice failed to reach. Practice with this step into the chaotic context of real life to facilitate population requires dramatic adaptations of tradi- change. The operational principle of “working in a tional social work methods, providing space for real-life context,” which relates to the extension of more radical forms of practice. the physical dimension of intervention to other areas In a paradoxical way, work with “difficult” popu- in which service users find themselves on a daily basis, lations might indicate the marginal status of social emphasizes the uniqueness of this ethical view. work services in Israel. Using ­Emirbayer and Williams’s­ The principle of using feminist language, expressed (2005) analysis of Bourdieu’s concepts to differenti- in the context of interaction between professionals, ate between social welfare services according to their has also not received much attention in the literature symbolic capital, we might say that, on the one hand, on feminist social work. Our study revealed that cur- feminist social work in Israel has high capital of au- rently, the field of social work in Israel does not thenticity, which is gained “from ‘returning’ to the easily make room for feminist language. Our par- putative ‘authentic essence’ ” of social work (Bour- ticipants’ descriptions attest to the constant need to dieu, cited in ­Emirbayer & ­Williams, 2005, p. 699). explain, mediate, or at times cloak their language, However, this very same focus on difficult popula- rationale, and ways of practice in conventional terms tions is in considerable tension with the hegemonic to advance their professional objectives and wishes. services that are rich in capital of order, which is Doing so may bring about experiences of profes- gained by distinct rules, planned intervention pro- sional isolation, marginality, and continuous anxiety grams, and high levels of client compliance with con- about the evaluation of their work. However, our ditions of service plans. According to this analysis, the participants find ways to bridge the contrastsbetween ­

252 Social Work Volume 61, Number 3 July 2016 traditional social work language and feminist lan- might have been influenced by the use of open ques- guage and manage to operate within these tensions tions in the interviews. Further examination of these and balance them. topics might use more direct questions. Despite these Two principles mentioned in the literature on limitations, this study contributes to the professional feminist social work hardly arose in our interviews— discourse in two respects. First, it interrogates the intersectionality (­Crenshaw, 1991) and the integration dialectical relationship of mutual influence between of individual methods and methods of policy practice theory and practice—a feminist practice in itself—and (­Bricker-Jenkins, 1991; ­Dominelli, 2002). Their ab- encourages seeing them as “two sides of the same sence is noteworthy. Although, as our findings indicate, coin” (Thompson, cited in ­Garrett, 2013, p. 3). Sec- the participants did not understand power relations to ond, it transforms Israeli feminist practice from covert exist solely on gender but referred to their practice with to overt, increases its presence in the professional field, and across class and ethnicity differences, they did not and offers alternatives to the existing hegemonic pro- use fully the framework of intersectionality to include fessional world. In light of these contributions, we other differences in social positions. They also did not hope this article becomes an instrument of feminist use explicitly the concepts related to this theoretical activism. framework. Two assumptions might explain this. The first assumption is situational: It might be that our REFERENCES social positioning as Ashkenazi and middle class— Abbott, A. A. (1995). Substance abuse and the feminist perspective. In N. Van Den Bergh (Ed.), Feminist that is, belonging to the hegemonic group in Israeli practice in the 21st century (pp. 258–276). 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