The gender related experience of frontline male social workers: What kind of man am I?

This paper examines the gender related experience of frontline male social workers. The vast majority of their colleagues and well as most of their clients are women. Furthermore, social work has most prominently been... [ view full abstract ]

This paper examines the gender related experience of frontline male social workers. The vast majority of their colleagues and well as most of their clients are women. Furthermore, social work has most prominently been associated with non-masculine traits and values, and has been widely perceived to be a female dominated profession. Consequently, the knowledge base regarding the
experience of women in social work has been greatly strengthened, with intense focus given to women's issues and needs, both in the agency and educational setting. At the same time however, scholarship and awareness about men and their gender issues in social work education and practice, has received far less attention. This is despite the presence of males both in the classroom and in many fields of practice and agency settings, as well as calls from various quarters in the profession to further increase their numbers. This paucity appears in contradiction to an emerging awareness that re-gendering contemporary social work must necessarily involve providing significant attention to men.

This paper reviews the small but growing literature on males in female dominated professions, with a focus on social work. It proceeds to highlight the authors own research, using qualitative methodologies, of the gender related experience of 18 male social workers working in public social services in Israel. A particular focus of the study was the intersection between participants' professional experiences and identity as social workers, and their masculinity. Prominent amongst emerging themes was the unique contribution of participants' fathers in the evolution of their professional inclinations and aspirations. The masculinity to which they were formatively exposed was perceived as having commanding importance in their choice of social work as a profession.
Findings are discussed in the context of the emerging scholarship on dominant and alternative masculinities.