Social Work Abstracts

Women in the Social Work Profession

Women have played a vital role in the social work profession as pioneers and founders, practitioners, policy analysts, educators, theoreticians, researchers, and academicians. However, women also experience second-class status in a profession they are said to dominate. Research reveals a consistent pattern in which men in social work are paid more and obtain managerial positions in greater numbers and earlier than their female counterparts. This state of affairs is troubling in a profession where women comprise the majority of social workers and social work clients. The “Women in the Social Work Profession” policy statement acknowledges the strengths of female social workers while carefully cataloguing inequities and showcasing the efforts the profession and its professional organizations have made toward realizing a vision of equality for women within the social work profession.