Making sense of the waves: Wipeout or still riding high?

Abstract

Feminists have achieved much in the Western world. They have drawn attention to issues neglected by male researchers and theorists. They have fought for women's suffrage and reproductive rights, challenged employment discrimination, promoted equitable wages and affirmative action initiatives, and sought rights to property ownership and university education. There is no denying the success of many women and the changing attitudes towards women in society, but there are huge pockets where this middle-class ideal does not pertain, where women are still oppressed and unequal because of their gender, class, sexuality, race, and disability, particularly in the developing contexts of the world and in marginalized communities in Western countries. Women world-wide are oppressed, marginalized, abused, and disadvantaged because of their gender. If we are to offset anti-feminist movements, we must keep social work critique, scholarship, and activism alive. While cognisant of the need for a unified feminist project, across generations and aspirations, we argue that postcolonial feminism best reflects the challenges faced by social workers in their daily practice, has the most realistic grasp of the 'work to be done' and, hence, is ideally suited to social work practice.