Jennifer Mitchell, aged 43 years, lives with her two children, Thomas (13 years) and Amelia (six years). They live in a private rental property in a suburb of a major city. Jennifer migrated to...

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Jennifer Mitchell, aged 43 years, lives with her two children, Thomas (13 years) and Amelia (six years). They live in a private rental property in a suburb of a major city.



Jennifer migrated to Australia from England in her twenties. She met Mark, Thomas and Amelia’s father, a few years later. Three years ago, Mark was made redundant, so accepted some casual work interstate. He was away from home for long periods, and when he returned, Jennifer and Mark argued a lot. They separated 12 months ago. Mark now lives interstate and visits Thomas and Amelia occasionally.



Jennifer is the primary caregiver for Thomas and Amelia and hadn’t been in paid employment since Thomas was born. After she separated from Mark, and Amelia started school, she returned to work as a childcare worker.



Six months ago, Jennifer was involved in a major motor vehicle accident while driving to work. She was in hospital for two months. Thomas and Amelia mostly stayed with Jennifer’s friends during this time. Jennifer has an acquired brain injury and is not able to work or drive. Since the separation and her accident, Jennifer has experienced periods of moderate depression.



Since Jennifer only returned to work for a short period, she doesn’t have significant savings or income protection. Jennifer is receiving some financial support via Centrelink. The hospital social worker helped Jennifer to register with the National Disability Insurance Scheme and she is on a waiting list to determine whether she is eligible to receive funding.



Their landlord has informed Jennifer that the lease will not be renewed, as they wish to sell the property. The lease ends in one month. There are limited private rental properties in the area and rent has increased significantly in the last few years. With help from her friends, Jennifer has applied for a few rental properties, but the applications have been unsuccessful since she’s not currently employed. Jennifer went to Housing SA but was told that there is a ten-year waiting period. Jennifer is hesitant to move away from her friends and her doctor. She doesn’t know where they will live when the lease ends.



Thomas has recently started high school. He has been busy caring for his Mum and Amelia. He does much of the cooking and cleaning. He is often tired at school and has trouble concentrating. His teachers are concerned that he’s falling behind.



Since the accident, going to school has become very distressing for Amelia. When Jennifer’s friend picks Amelia up in the mornings, she becomes very upset, and screams and cries for hours. Jennifer often allows her to stay home. At times Amelia is inseparable from her Mum. At other times, she plays alone in her room for hours. Amelia says that she misses her Dad.



Task overview:



  1. Choose 1 of empowerment, anti-oppressive practice OR feminism

  2. Choose 1 of post-structuralism OR strengths perspective

  3. Analyse the case study from the perspective of the 2 theories you have selected. You need to:


    1. Describe the main arguments of each theory (approx. 250 words per theory)

    2. Explain why you selected that specific theory; why it is helpful in understanding the case study? (approx. 150 words per theory)

    3. Identify 2 key principles from each of the theories (4 in total)

    4. Apply the 4 principles to aspects of the case study; how do they inform your understanding of the case study? How would they shape your practice? (approx. 200 words per principle)


  4. Reflect on the theories you have applied to the case study throughout this topic. How were they similar or different? What do they focus on/not focus on, and what are the strengths/limitations of this? Which theories do you think you will use in your own professional practice and and why? (approx. 150 words)

  5. Reflect on the historical and geographical context within which these theories were developed (Healy, 2014, pp. 23, 229). Do social work theories privilege some ways of knowing over others? How can Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' ways of knowing, being and doing transform social work practice? (Green, 2019, p. 98) (approx. 450 words)


Please use sub-headings and include a brief introduction and conclusion (i.e. 150 words each).


The word limit is 2500 words. 10% variance is allowed.


It is acceptable to write in first person and use personal pronouns such as "I" or "my" in this assessment.


This assessment must be supported by at least 10 academic references. You will need to use topic materials and undertake wider research. APA referencing conventions must be used

Answered Same DayMay 21, 2021

Answer To: Jennifer Mitchell, aged 43 years, lives with her two children, Thomas (13 years) and Amelia (six...

Taruna answered on Jun 06 2021
143 Votes
10
Women Empowerment, Post-Structuralism and Its Application to the Given Case Study
Introduction
The evolution of the societies across world has undoubtedly helped in reducing the boundaries between the genders. However, the biases and prejudices of people still remain somewhere as the undercurrent of this development against women. In spite of the emerging waves of feminism that work for women empowerment, the global societies have seen and experienced that set bias or gender based segregation that does not imply the laws of
equality. In other words, the women have to suffer on the grounds of the pre-established mentality that she is weaker than man and she is responsible to carry out the roles and responsibilities of the household only. As per the observation of the given case study of Jennifer, her life is full of struggles; she confronts challenges at her workplace as well as in her personal life, including the formal caretaking of her children alone. Her exemplary case adheres to the basic implication of fundamental rights of woman of having equality as well as of post-structuralism which discerns the fundamental understanding of human consciousness.
Main Arguments of Women Empowerment
    At first, it is significant to note here that the concept of women empowerment is driven from the fights against the social evil of gender based biases and prejudices. For centuries, women have been subjected as the weaker sex than men and they are expected to live as the subordinates of men in a male dominated society. In the past, in almost every part of the world, women were not supposed to work outside their homes because it was perceived that they are made to take care of household duties and rearing children at home. When modern values in societies across globe were implemented, supporters of women empowerment began raising voice against these prejudices.
The revolutionary ideas appeared on social surfaces of people, challenging the capacity of males to work hand in hand with females. In other worlds, women empowerment theory argues for equality of living and earning and, therefore, it sought equality in the rightful place given to females in societies. The argument was focused on maximizing the opportunities given to women to participate in social, political and economical activities like men did. The same arguments continue to dominate at present. The equality of living not only let women to work precisely over their personal alleviation, but also it posed grave challenges to male dominance in general, calling for an action that women needed so that they can have exclusive privileges of sharing the society equally with males. It was more like bringing equality by all means and no by dealing with one aspect of social security only—the social security for women already existed to some extent. The demand was to expand working criteria for women so that they can be made financially equivalent to men.
Main Arguments of Post-Structuralism
    The theory of post-structuralism confronted human consciousness based on their approaches to deal with the social problems. The philosophical approach with which, the theory of post structuralism argues is that the consciousness of human beings is the guiding light within them that leads on the path of truth. However, not always, people tend to listen to their consciousness especially when the matters are related to their personal interest. Oppressive attitude and restrictions posed over the social and economical independence of women is one of such issues. The laws in society—no matter how biased they were for centuries—were implemented against women and in spite of knowing that the laws were prejudiced against one gender, they were accepted and it gave people a strong weapon to keep women subdued within the premises of homes.
    Additionally, post-structuralism did not present any direct challenge to the existing social laws—the nature of this law remains the same still. However, the abstract perceptions about making the social laws and keeping them intact somewhere existed. In other words, the actions of men in society were not relevant with a view to social equality and some people thought of changing the laws as well. But the majority of people always overlooked the insightful views based on their consciousness appeals. In resulted in the silent acceptance of biased laws that was applied over women for centuries.
Rationale for Selecting Women Empowerment
    In the context of examining the rationale for selecting women empowerment as relevant to the given case study, Jennifer is the clear example where her social rights are violated. Being a single mother, it is hard for her to manage the responsibilities of her two children alone. Her husband, Mark, did not assist her in the time of crisis. Her financial status is low due to the unfortunate accident she met with. She is the perfect example that should be given space and liberty of living in society. Securing her employment status would help her empower her financial conditions and it will reduce her tensions to a large extent. She requires stability not only on the grounds of economical stability but also on social sphere as well. She fulfills the requisites of being victimized by the social and financial circumstances and through women empowerment, sustainability objectives can be...
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