Power and Oppression Essay

The feminist perspective argues that the oppression of women is morally wrong and structural changes need to be adopted to stop the oppression of women (Francis, 2000 p. 20). It tries to end oppression through structural reform and challenging unfair social structures (Morley & Macfarlane, 2012, p. 689). Feminist theories have helped identify ways to remove oppressive practices in many female-oriented organizations. This perspective is critical to addressing the power differences between men and women and can be used to guide the implementation of emancipate practices (Keane, 1994 p.218). The feminist perspective is particularly important for the reconstruction of my critical incident due to the significant amount of oppression experienced by women. To facilitate the reconstruction of my critical incident I will explore my practice through a feminist lens.

My critical incident occurred at an organization that predominately services disadvantaged female clients. Before being offered employment at Parents Next, I worked with these women daily. As explained above, I assumed that Parents Next focused on supporting neoliberal goals and helping people gain employment or educational opportunities. I also felt that I had little power to limit the oppressive practices at Parents Next.

Using feminism as a guiding theory can help me alternative discourses and oppressive practices at Parents Next. The principles of feminism can be used to argue that Parents Next is an example of patriarchy, as it is another form of structural oppression of women. In Australia, women are generally deemed to be the principal carers of their children. As a result, men are generally excluded from the program and are not subject to the extensive surveillance and control exerted by Parents Next. The feminist perspective would argue that Parents Next should work with both parents of the child to prevent the unequal distribution of parental obligations to receive Centrelink payments. This perspective would suggest that if I decided to accept the employment offer, I would be a part of and responsible for the oppression of women. Feminism argues that power is held by men and women have little power to challenge the structural forces that oppress women (Keane, 1994 p.218). This assumption of power is in congruence with the assumption of my power to stop oppression in such an oppressive organization.

As an individual, challenging social structures that create oppression can seem like an impossible task. However, as shown during the reconstruction of my critical incident, the feminist perspective can be used to highlight forms of oppression and to identify new ways of understanding how critical incidents can be seen from alternative viewpoints. For example, feminists can assist me in adopting emancipatory practices by allowing me opportunities to identify sources of oppression and ways to use professional discretion to reduce the oppression of women.

Postmodernism considers power as something that can be exercised, rather than being helped by social structures (Healy, 2000 p.44). This version of power can be used to challenge dominant discourses such as neoliberalism. Structural understandings of power such as feminism argue that power is by dominant groups (Healy, 2000, p. 45). Postmodernists argue that there can be multiple and diverse perspectives of a particular incident. Postmodernism allows for alternative discourses to the feminist belief that emancipatory practices must challenge the social structures that create oppression (Fook, 2002).

For example, postmodernism argues that feminism can play a role in marginalizing women who do not fit into the dominant category of white and middle-class women. Feminist theory was created by white women in Western society and does not represent the diverse experiences of women (Fook, 2002). Postmodernism argues that women are not a homogeneous group and that failing to understand their diversity increases oppression based on ethnicity, age, socio-economic status, and many other factors (Morley & Macfarlane, 2012, p. 689).

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Critical social work practice can be enhanced by the alternative perspectives provided by postmodernism. It allows for the reconstruction of power structures in uncritical organizations. It can be used as a tool to challenge the dominant discourses in non-oppositional ways by building alliances within the community (Morley & Macfarlane, 2012, p. 689).

The postmodern perspective is a useful tool to help identify hidden discourses within my critical incident. Although feminism is useful in helping identify how I may inadvertently oppress women in my organization, it does little to highlight the experiences of women who do not fit within the dominant category of women. One of the most oppressive experiences I had Parents Next, had a profound effect on my decision to accept or not accept the job offer. These experiences occurred whenever I interviewed Kurdish women. I had performed over 20 interviews with Kurdish women and the oppressive nature of the interviews was similar in each case. In my experience, Kurdish women who attended (nearly always with their husbands) my office as clients of Parents Next did not speak English and required a Kurdish interpreter.

However, Kurdish interpreters were rarely available. As a result, the husband was generally used as an interpreter for his wife. Due to cultural barriers (and many other factors), the husbands rarely speak with their wives and prefer to answer my questions directly. Following these sessions, I would speak to my supervisor about the oppressive environment these interviews created for our female clients. My supervisor advised me that there was little we could do to change our practices due to financial and staffing constraints. As a student, I accepted this explanation as I felt that I had no power to change such an organizational practice.

However, I thought that, as an employee, I may be able to begin to challenge this discourse as my ability to make discretionary decisions increases. Although I may not have the power to challenge the structural forces that create oppression in my organization, I may have the ability to use professional discretion to limit or reduce the oppressive forces exerted by Parents Next. For example, when working with Kurdish women I can be stricter in ensuring that the husband is communicating with his wife rather than accepting what he says at face value. Alternatively, I could request that the husband stay outside of the room and not book appointments without having a Kurdish interpreter available. This small act of discretion highlights how small actions and be used to reduce or limit the oppression of vulnerable groups.

The above example shows that if only modernist perspectives such as feminism are used to challenge the dominant discourses, alternative discourse may be missed. Postmodernism can help identify gaps in knowledge provided by critical theories and allow for hidden forms of oppression to be brought to light. By using postmodernism and feminism to analyze my critical incident I was able to have a deeper understanding of the oppression I may enact during my practice at Parents Next, as well as ways I can challenge oppression. This process of critical reflection has helped me look at my implicit assumptions about power relationships at my organization and how these relations are constructed.

Conclusion

In this essay, I discussed how critical theories can be used to deconstruct and reconstruct critical incidents to identify dominant and alternative discourses. I explained that initially, I had assumed that I had little power to challenge the dominant discourses at Parents Next. I used feminism as a tool to help me identify an alternative understanding of my critical incident that could be used to challenge the dominant discourse of neoliberalism. Postmodernism was used to challenge the feminist assumption that power was held within the structures of the organization rather than within individuals. I argued that as an employee rather than a student I felt that I would have an increased ability to use professional discretion to reduce oppression of vulnerable people within my organisation. This process is an example of how critical reflection can be used to facilitate emancipatory practices through small anti-oppressive acts in an uncritical organization.