Feminist Contributions to Understanding Women’s Lives and the Social Environment

Abstract

This article traces the tides of three waves of feminism that have flowed within the United States and highlights the critical contributions of theoretical insights from these waves to expand and enhance social workers’ understanding of the lives of women and the social environment. In particular, the article highlights the specific contributions of a set of core concepts (gender, care, power, difference, and diversity) that emerged within feminist theory and analysis during the second and third waves of U.S. feminism to social work’s understanding of women’s lives and the social environment and to assessment of the person—environment interaction.