The article by Birkenmaier (2003) discusses social justice, particularly how social workers can develop social justice perspective while engaging in various social work. Part of the discussion is the strategies the social workers can promote social change activities and introduce professionalism in the field. From the study, it is evident that social work and social justice should communicate similar issues. Together, they should have the NASW Code of Ethics as their foundation . Social justice deals with equity, inequality, and fairness in society. According to Birkenmaier (2003), social workers fight for a society where truth, integrity, and equity prevail. Therefore, social work and social justice should be indistinguishable. Despite that, the author underlines the gap that exists between social justice as a professional field and various social work activities in the society.
Social workers are not practicing their work as a profession, and this makes it difficult for them to promote social justice. The hindrances are numerous, and they range from lack of support to private practices and lack of education framework in the field of social justice to promote its professionals among the social workers (Birkenmaier, 2003). As Birkenmaier(2003) notices, most social workers engage in social work activities as a hobby but not as a professional field(Birkenmaier, 2003). Birkenmaier (2003), therefore, claims that making some changes in the social work courses should be the best way to enhance professionalism in social work. The author further reveals that a program such as a Practicum Stipend Program by Social Justice Education and Research (CSJER) provides the best framework for enhancing professionalism in social works as it increases the participative approach to social justice.
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Social Work Activities
Currently, I am undertaking a critical social justice work in my community and at an organization where I take my social justice placement program. At the community level, I am working with a team of youths in collaboration with local agencies to improve the state of the older people in the community. In my community, I noticed that the majority of elders were suffering because of isolation, self-neglect, and possible malnourishment. As a person taking a social work program, I believe that there should be equity among all people in the society, including the elders. To fulfill my quest to make their life better, I invested time and mobilized the local community agencies such as hospitals, schools, and local authorities to come up with programs to increase community awareness on the best ways to care for the elders in the community. I also found support from friends and people with similar interests and teamed to make people aware of the possible complications that elders may develop due to isolation and inadequate care. We went from part of the community to another to educate people on the benefits of caring for the elders and the best way to care for them.
The other macro social justice activity I undertook focused on justice for the female gender in the workplace. In the organization where I take my placement, I noticed that it was difficult for women to get a chance at the top level position despite their qualifications. A lady filed a lawsuit suing the organization for not considering her for Human Resource Management position despite being the best for the job due to her experience and academic qualifications. Her story was one of the many stories of female gender discrimination in the organization. I teamed up with different individuals in the organization as a social justice professional to lobby for organization policy change to be inclusive and non-discriminative. We organized peaceful demonstrations and also held several meetings with the administration until there was a policy change that allowed competency-based hiring and promotion in the organization.
Effectiveness of the Social Work Activities
So far, I think that the social justice work I am currently taking, and the one I previously took are admirable and useful to the community and the target individuals. Assessing its effectiveness, my social justice activity that focused on gender discrimination elimination in the organization where I take my social work placement program was successful. According to Birkenmaier (2003), social workers need to target equity and justice for society. Furthermore, a macro-level social justice program needs to benefit either an organization, community, or enhance a policy change. My social justice activity against gender discrimination aimed to change the organization’s hiring and promotion culture or policy that was discriminating against the female gender. It was successful and productive because, in the end, the organization made some changes to their policy system and introduced a competency-based hiring approach that was fair for all genders.
Assessing the effectiveness of the social activity I am currently taking about educating people on the best way to care for the elders. I think it is excellent and effective because of the milestones we have achieved. Since its initiation, most local hospitals have introduced teaching about caring for elders as part of their educational programs for the outpatients. Moreover, the local social organization agencies have also allocated for us some funds and means of transport to help us access broad areas to facilitate education programs that aim to make people aware of the best ways to care for the old. In this sense, the nature of professionalism that I have injected on my social justice work has been compelling. Therefore, I side with (Birkenmaier, 2003) that introducing professionalism in social work makes it useful.
Reference
Birkenmaier, J. (2013). On Becoming A Social Justice Practitioner. In Practicing Social Justice (Pp. 46-59). Routledge.
