ABSTRACT
As we saw in Chapters 1 and 2, writers have called upon women social workers to align themselves with and affiliate to a feminist social work identity, as the basis for establishing egalitarian relationships with women service users, with the goal of empowerment. The advocacy of this ‘ethic of empowerment’ (Wise 1995) has encompassed statutory settings, albeit with some difference of views concerning the relationship between feminist approaches to social work and other theories and methods (see, for example, Langan 1985; Hanmer and Statham 1988; Phillipson 1991; McNay 1992: 48-66).
