Social Service Worker Program to Deal with Oppression - Research Paper Example

Social Service worker program to deal with oppression Introduction: The oppression of women is especially noticeable on the basis of statistical information available on Canada. While women in Canada won the right to vote in 1918, they were not recognized as persons until the year 1929; Asian Canadian women did not get the right to vote until the year 1947 while aboriginal women could not vote until 1960 (www.stepitupontario.ca). Many legal provisions, both domestic and international, have been instituted in order to improve the rights of women but in actual practice, Canada does not appear to demonstrate that much progress for women in terms of achieving equality. Immigrant women and women of minority races in particular, suffer oppression and racism. Prillentensky and Gonick (1996) in their article titled “Polities change, oppression remains: on the psychology and politics of oppression”, have discussed the psychological and political factors that contribute to continued oppression through the inadequacy of protection offered by rights. They have argued that despite the many changes that are taking place in the economic, cultural and political arenas, oppression remains a constant, because marginalized groups are still victims of a great deal of suffering. Objective of this study/Thesis Statement: This study seeks to investigate oppression of women domestic workers in Canada and how social services that are being dispensed to women in Canada can be improved upon. The Thesis statement is: Domestic workers in Canada are oppressed and this leads to stigmatization, marginalization, discrimination and alienation. Literature Review: Stasiulis and Baken (1997) in an article titled Negotiating citizenship: the case of foreign domestic workers in Canada, discuss the concept of citizenship as a negotiated entity and have used the example of foreign domestic workers in Canada as a means to demonstrate that citizenship is negotiated both on global as well as national levels. They have pointed out that because these domestic workers in Canada are often not citizens of Canada; they are coloured workers originating from different countries but they work for predominantly white and affluent Canadian women. As a result, they are often subjected to abusive conditions at work. The authors have pointed out that in the new era of globalization, the principles of Keynesianism which were in favour of expanding the social services network, have given way to a need for a higher level of competitiveness in order to succeed in the marketplace. In response to these changing world conditions, many Governments are re-formulating the concept of citizenship. Stasiulis and Baken (1997) have dealt specifically with the issue of oppression of domestic workers in Canada and how their non-citizenship status has contributed to their oppression and suffering. They point out that the notion of citizenship itself may need to be renegotiated, away from its earlier view as the relationship between a single individual and the nation state. Applying that earlier definition, domestic workers who may be from third world countries would be classified as non-citizens and would not therefore be entitled to rights of access to and benefits from social services which citizens would enjoy. This places them in a vulnerable position, where they can be exploited because they do not have any means to seek help from the Government to redress injustices and oppression they may be subjected to. It may be noted that the position of domestic workers as non citizens subjects them to oppression through (a) discrimination (b) alienation (c) stigmatization and (d) marginalization. As the authors point out, in the context of Canada, domestic workers may retain their legal citizenship from their own countries; however this is of little help to them in Canada, where the ability of their home states to enforce their interests and ensure equitable conditions of work remains ineffectual. Thus, they are isolated in a strange country and suffer from alienation because their non-citizenship status denies them the access to the rights they would normally enjoy and be entitled to as Canadian citizens. As a group of workers in residing in Canada for work purposes but without the protection of rights which would be allowed to them if they were citizens, they are effectively pushed to the fringes of society. Since they are unable to access the rights granted to other people living in the country, they are treated in a manner that would push them out of the mainstream, thereby leading to marginalization that would cause oppression of these female domestic workers. Stasiulis and Baken (1997) have also pointed out that in conditions of globalization; there have been some positives in terms of addressing issues of oppression and suffering of some of the marginalized communities. Some of these include the recognition of human rights as universal, so that it would be accessible to everyone, including domestic workers and other oppressed classes. The lack of adequate access to rights and the lack of ability to seek the rights accorded to citizens also give rise to the issue of discrimination. In the case of domestic workers, they are subjected to such discrimination not only on account of their lack of citizenship but also due to their gender. These domestic workers are being treated differently from Canadian workers who are citizens. Since they do not have complete access to rights, they are placed in a position where they are treated like inferior citizens, different from the rest of the population. The oppression they are subjected to arises out of such treatment, because they become akin to second class citizens. These domestic workers are also stigmatized because the nature of the work they do is servile and leaves them open to ridicule and ill treatment. The website stepitupontario.ca deals specifically with the subject of oppression in Canada against women and details various other legal provisions that have been instituted specifically to address the needs of women, such as the United Nations declaration on the elimination of violence against women (CEDAW), the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women as well as the Beijing Platform for Action. It may be noted however that none of these appear to have been a priority for Canada, in terms of the execution of the provisions contained therein (www.stepitupontario.ca). In specific reference to Ontario in Canada, racism and oppression against women appears to be very much in force still, as evidenced by them being under-represented in the work force, suffering discrimination from landlords, the education and social service systems (www.stepitupontario.ca). But along with the improvements resulting from the enhancement of rights, the downside is that in most of the developed nations including Canada, there are also tighter restrictions on the rights of immigrants which in practice, makes those rights less accessible to those who really need it and are suffering oppression, such as domestic and immigrant workers, for example. Social work services developed in Canada in the 20th century, with the primary objective being the social well being of all people. They focus upon improving the relationships between people, improving their access to resources and enabling them to fit better into the formal structures of their communities (www.casw-acts.ca). The social work profession within Canada is comprised of workers who are educated to the secondary school levels and includes both general and specialist practitioners. The training that is provided to social workers also includes sensitivity to discrimination and oppression, but it is quite possible that this may need to be improved in actual practice. Methodology: The methodology proposed to be used in this study is a qualitative one, because it lends itself best to the analysis of subjective views of participants. It is proposes to carry out a research study focusing specifically on the Ontario region in Canada by administering survey questionnaires to social workers. These questionnaires would examine how the workers dispense their services, the criteria they follow and their own perceptions of the kind of service that they are providing. These questionnaires provide the option of collecting subjective responses in a numerical format by listing a range of responses from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree” and then assigning a numerical value to each. These responses can then be statistically analyzed using correlations or chi squares for instance, to determine the significance of various variables. Conclusions: Based upon statistical figures and information as presented above, the reality that faces women in Canada and in particular, immigrant and minority women, is one where they are still exposed to oppression and racism. Due to their lack of citizenship status, they are subjected to discrimination, marginalization, stigmatization and alienation. Despite being a developed country, Canada in practice, has not shown the degree of improvement that it should have and oppression does not appear to be under control. The only recourse that such oppressed women would have to gain some relief would be through gaining access to a high quality level of social services. Social workers are expected to address the issues of discrimination and oppression by developing sensitivity to such issues and helping to alleviate them, to the extent possible through provision of assistance in improving relationships or a removal from the oppressive situation. But the reality demonstrates that the work being provided by social services may be lacking in some aspects and there may be a need to improve them. In particular, Ontario demonstrates a higher incidence of such inequalities and oppression, therefore the social work functions in this region may be lacking even more. Since this study aims to investigate the activities and perceptions of social workers, it is possible that it could shed new insight into underlying factors that could be responsible for the trend and how they could be addressed in actual practice. References: ACTS/CASW, 2008. “Social work scope of practice”, Retrieved February 23, 2010 from: http://www.casw-acts.ca/advocacy/scope_e.pdf Prilleltensky, Isaac and Gonick, Lev, 1996. “Polities change, oppression remains: on the psychology and politics of oppression”, Political Psychology, 17(1): 127-148 Stasiulis, Daiva and Baken, Abigail B, 1997. “Negotiating citizenship: the case of foreign domestic workers in Canada”, Feminist Review, 57: 112-139 “Stop racism and oppression: Make Ontario accessible”, Retrieved February 23, 2010 from: http://www.stepitupontario.ca/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=43 Read More