Is Social Work a White Feminine Project? Using Intersectional Theory to Examine Identities of Privilege

Background and Purpose: Understanding the effects of White femininity on social work practice is a worthy endeavour within the field of social work provided the professional landscape in the Western context is disproportionately occupied by White women. While the standard account of social work history narrates the profession to be an altruistic endeavour of White, upper and middle-class women the use of a critical lens to navigate the formation of social work as a White feminine project is vital. Accordingly, this research examines the narratives of White, female community-based social workers, tracing the dominant discourse of White femininity and its effects on social work practice.

Methods: Eight White, female community-based social workers in Alberta, Canada participated in this exploratory qualitative research project. Participants engaged in individual in-depth, semi-structured interview conducted on Zoom. Foucauldian discourse analysis was used to trace instances in which the participants performed or resisted the dominant discourse of White femininity. The theoretical framework for this study included Sara Ahmed's (2007) 'phenomenology of Whiteness' and intersectionality.

Results: Participant narratives revealed three themes including: Performing, witnessing, and disrupting scripts of White femininity. The findings illuminate the ways in which Whiteness shapes the operations of the feminine and sheds light on the effects these identity markers have on social work practice.

Conclusions and Implications: Despite efforts in social work education and practice to challenge colonization and racism, practitioners continue to embody discursive forms of oppression in their practice, thereby risking harm to clients. Intersectionality is most often used as a tool to understand minority statuses and oppression, but in order to fully engage with the uses of intersectionality and create radical social and political change, identities of privilege also require an intersectional analysis.