Social Work’s Feminist Façade: Descriptive Manifestations of White Supremacy

Abstract

Inspired by Queen Elizabeth I’s Poor Laws, Jane Addams espoused the rhetoric of social justice. Addams is an example of social reform between 1890 and 1930s as tied to eugenics, which is also evident in disagreements between Addams and Ida B. Wells. Despite the contributions of white women to social work, their subtle transgressions exist behind the veil of a feminist façade. It operates as a culture of ideas, and ultimately a prescribed assortment of race-based behaviours. Leading white women such as Addams dedicated their careers aloof to the subjugation of non-white issues that Ida B. Wells challenged via lynching. After constant prodding from Wells, Addams emerged from her silence to oppose lynching. Wells responded to Addams’ discourse that she viewed as passive white rhetoric. According to contemporary descriptive data, white women/students are similarly aloof to non-white issues provoking womanism in response to feminism’s Women’s Ku Klux Klan. Ultimately, in the rescue of social justice, white women activists, including Social Work students, must denounce the feminist façade that social justice rhetoric and social justice activism coalesce for all oppressed populations.