Gender and Sexuality in Social Care Jacqueline O’ Toole Institute of Technology, Sligo Equality...

Gender and Sexuality in Social Care

Jacqueline O’ TooleInstitute of Technology, Sligo

Equality and Social Inclusion in the 21st CenturyBelfast 2006

Jacqueline O' Toole IT Sligo, Ireland

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Underlying assumption As gender is implicated in all social

processes and spheres, so too is it implicated within social care practice…social care practice is a gendered sphere


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Context of discussion Social Care conceptualised as an

“emerging profession”? Meaning of care is contested Transformation of intimacy within

intimate situations/moments Anti-oppressive practice “Feminisation” of social care practice


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What is Care? At a policy level

Care is understood as referring to the provision of facilities and carrying out of tasks for those unable to do so [my emphasis] for themselves…carers are those paid to do these tasks (Orme, 2001:93)


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What is Care? Distinction routinely drawn

between paid and unpaid caring work…between informal and formal care (Lynch and McLaughlin, 1995, Feder Kittay, 1999)


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What is Social Care Practice?

A broad spectrum of specialised interventions in people’s lives…pivotal in the delivery of a range of residential, day and community social services…and other support services for marginalised groups (Gallagher and O’ Toole, 1999)


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What is Social Care Practice? Social care is a profession where

people work in partnership with those who experience marginalisation or disadvantage or who have special needs (sic)…a profession committed to the planning and delivery of quality care and other support services for individuals and groups with identified needs (IASCE, 2005)


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What is Social Care Practice? The role of the social care

practitioner is becoming increasingly complex with an emerging body of literature referring to the process of reflection as being central to constructivist learning (Graham and McGarry, 2002).


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What is Social Care Practice?

Process of negotiation amongst relevant social actors for a meaningful and acceptable role within the occupational structure of the social professions (Gallagher and O’ Toole, 1999)


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Gender The process of gender attribution

is itself a social process that varies from one social setting to another

Inevitability of sex and gender may no longer be a certainty


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Gender and Inequality Connell (1987, 1995, 2005)

hegemonic masculinity, the patriarchal dividend and the gender order

O’ Connor (1998), Walby (1990) articulate accounts of Irish and British

society that clearly demonstrate the many ways in which society is organised at an overall level to benefit men


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Sexuality

Sexuality as is socially constructed must be understood as being linked to particular understandings of femininity and masculinity and to gender social relations and power


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Sexuality and Social Care Expressions of sexuality may occur

in the sharing of life-space through touch, looking, physical stance, language usage, clothes and hexis


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Sexuality and Social Care Discussions of sexuality within

social care take place within a discourse that places regulation, protection and control to the forefront


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Anti-Oppressive Practice Identify the factors that underpin

oppression and discrimination especially as they relate to social care theory and practice

Explain the concepts and issues across the various forms of discrimination including sexism, homophobia, racism, ageism, disabilism and so forth


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Women and Men as Social Care Practitioners In the first instance both work

within gender constructed social relationships

In that… Constructions of femininity and

masculinity explicitly and implicitly permeate the provision of care


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“If we are to attract more men in to the field, we have to find a way to describe and advertise the experience of men in the field in a manner which is attractive to men. We need to be talking about what it means to be male in this field, and we need to be able to explain, in our advertisements, why we need men in the field. We need to create the conditions in our college programmes which will support men in ‘being different’” (McElwee, 2003)


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Key Questions Is social care practice perceived as a

natural and unquestioning occupational choice for women and if so does this mean we don’t have to worry about making it attractive to them as the numbers will always be there?

How can men begin to address their positions in social care that takes account of their privileged positions as men in wider society?


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Key Questions Does masculinity turn out to be a boon for men

when they enter non-traditional occupations, as qualities associated with men become more highly valued than those associated with women – even in predominately female jobs?

We need to interrogate masculinity to ascertain whether there are other advantages of being male in social care practice, such as: greater access to promotion, achieving more attention because of their small numbers, and being rewarded for an ability to express feelings and emotions which, it would seem, are taken for granted in women?


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Key Questions What does it mean to be a woman

in social care?

We need an interrogation of femininity to establish if women also bring to this gendered sphere, the particularities of their gendered experiences in wider society.


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Key Questions What discourses of femininity and

masculinity exist in the training of social care practitioners and in the actual social care environment?

What is the impact of these discourses on individual and collective practices?


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The Social Context of Social Care As reflective practitioners, care workers

must be aware of how their interactions might be underpinned by sexism and be connected to gender and power

Such interactions must also be understood in the context of social class, sexuality, ‘race’, ethnicity, disability and attendant power relations

Gender and Sexuality in Social Care Jacqueline O’ Toole Institute of Technology, Sligo Equality...

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