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Social Justice

collage of issues: voting, prison, pollution, border, barbed wire

Our 2025 Social Justice Priorities

Promoting Fair and Just Immigration Policies

Protecting the Social Safety Net

Protecting Democracy

Responding to Emergent Social Justice Issues

Our Social Justice Principles

Intersectionality:

Intersectionality looks at systemic inequality form a perspective that inequities based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class and other forms of discrimination intersect with each other, thereby manifesting as unique social dynamics and negative impacts on marginalized populations. For example, LGBTQ individuals intersect with race and ethnicity as populations that have experienced historical inequality. In many ways, intersectional analysis in social justice is similar to social determinants of health, where the intersection of social conditions impact health, and in particular, the health

Equity:

Equity is an inclusive term that expresses the demand for equal and fair treatment of all populations subjected to injustices and who have ad their human rights violated. NASW’s pro-equity stance fits into our organizational values and our commitment to work with government, coalition partners, and various impacted communities to collaborate on eliminating or at least mitigating systemic injustices.

Foundations of our Social Justice Work

Overview

The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. Social workers are committed to economic and social justice ideals, including fairness, equity and equality. Social justice priorities serve as guiding principles for NASW's national office and Chapters.

Criminal Justice

NASW strongly advocates for a reform of the criminal justice system that eliminates racial disparities, promotes fairness and equality, and steers criminal justice policy towards progressive change.

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Economic Justice

NASW has a strong and unwavering commitment to economic justice and advocates for federal funding assistance and addressing barriers that keep individuals from being employed.

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Environmental Justice

NASW continues to support and complement efforts by social workers to address the relationship between environmental justice issues and the principles and methods of social change. Social workers are committed to reducing health disparities by addressing social and economic needs as the environmental landscape continues to evolve.

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Immigration

The social work profession must assume a vocal role in advocating for systemic changes that will lead to balanced and humane immigration enforcement policies that place a high premium on protecting children and families.

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Voter’s Rights

The social work profession must assume a national leadership presence, along with other non-social work voting rights organizations, to respond to the threats against equitable, fair, and accessible voting in the United States. Social workers cannot sit out any election, but must take deliberate actions and purposeful force to bend the arc of justice toward equity for all.