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PROFEMINIST PRACTICE WITH MEN IN SOCIAL WORK

27/09/2017 05:05:00 BY PRUDENCE HLATSHWAYO

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THE aim of this article is to acknowledge some of the theoretical, social, religious, economic and political dilemmas related to profeminist practice with men precisely in social work. It is significant to focus on the invisibility of men ‘as men’ in the social work arena.

Although there is a mass of literature in social work that is directed to men and their masculinity, this is usually presented in an implicit way. The author’s assumption is that historically the study of men’ as men’ has had little housing in social work literature.

Radicals in social work have mainly drawn attention to the prevalence of chauvinistic attitudes and practices in social welfare and renowned female social workers have established interventions and policies in relation to sexism. This has resulted in significant contribution of social work theory and practice directed to women and having very little to say about men.

The key feminist social work texts of the 80s and 90s made only passing references to men. Furthermore Hanmer and Statham 1988 observed that the majority of the apprehensions that women bring to social workers about men are associated with issues of relationships and maintenance.

Furthermore, social work literature neglects bottomless probes of masculinity and practice with men. The relative absence of men in the social work literature is a challenge today. It is my view that the ‘reluctance’ to holistically involve men as a whole in social work limits the potential for challenging gender injustice in all spheres of life. Although attention has been given to issues like: restrictive emotionality, healthcare problems, identity crises, fathering difficulties, experiences of divorce and separation and male suicide to mention a few. Social work literature has focused on men primarily as wrongdoers.

Even when the focus is on men’s violence and power and control issues, the tendency is often to pathologise men and turn them back into victims. The ‘men as victims’ approach connects with the subjective experiences of many men. As a practitioner, it has come to my attention, several times, that in spite of their relatively advantageous position, many men feel disadvantaged compared to some women too.

As a patriarchal society traditional approaches to working with men appear to address the only ‘wants’ of male clients. Yet history has shown their need for self-acceptance and lack of resolutions of their problems contributes to men not taking women’s concerns seriously and perpetuates violence directed to women. Nevertheless, there is little evidence that liberating men from the traditional male sex role will lead to men relinquishing their privilege and social power. And yet this is where traditional approaches to understanding and working with men in social work should head for.

Socialisation of men leads to the individual’s beliefs that usually promote abusive behaviours. They often want things to change but they do not want to relinquish their power and control. My professional background has taught me that men need to be helped to acknowledge their tendencies to act oppressively and they should be assisted to devise strategies to change dominating behaviour. Males should also be encouraged to develop wider repertoires of behaviour and models of masculinity not associated with violence and control. Society portrays them as a homogenous group though. For instance, in some feminist social work texts, all men are seen as a coherent ‘gender class’ with the same vested interest in controlling women and children. Let us not give a blind eye to that differences in men are also unearthed respectively across cultures and through historical time.

Thus, if all men are the enemy, then it is difficult to envisage the possibility of men and women working together against patriarchy; there is little optimism for change. We will be singing gender violence against women and children all the way to courts until we reach 2022. I still believe that there are still spaces in patriarchy for men to appreciate the possibilities of being different. So how best do we engage men in the process of change? In light of these dangers, how confronting should we be to our men? How do we invite men to examine their behaviour without increasing their resistance?