The study of girls in social work: Major discourses and feminist ideas

Abstract

Summary

The purpose of this article is to identify the professional discourse on girls over time, and to examine the extent and the ways in which feminist ideas and theories are expressed in this discourse, and in particular, in the scholarly social work body of knowledge in Israel. Thus, the article presents a feminist-historical analysis of research on girls in conditions of distress published in Israel during the years 1970–2010.

Findings

Four main theoretical discourses were found through an analysis of 107 publications: the pathological discourse; the discourse of vulnerability; the discourse of agency; and the intersectional discourse. The findings show that the number of studies on girls and the use of feminist discourses in them are on the rise. The girls’ characteristics, their sexual behavior, and its connections to the characteristics of their families are three focuses of the research all through the years. However, major differences were discovered in the ways these issues were interpreted in accordance with the guiding discourse adopted by each individual study.

Applications

The choice of a specific discourse leads to different social work practice with girls. In order to develop feminist practices with girls and to apply the most appropriate one, one should recognize the different available discourses, and their potentialities to the field.