La identidad “personal”

The guiding principles outlined above, provide the methodological framework for my research. How far they are attainable and the issues they raise provide the focus for the final part of this discussion.

Research FOR women

My study grew out of a concern that health and social care services were failing to meet the needs of women who use illegal drugs, a concern generated by my own experience as a social care practitioner and reflected in the literature on substance misuse. The requirement that feminist research be women-centred is thus met.

My research is best described as being for women but not on women since the study is directed at service providers rather than women users themselves. It is an attempt to critically examine policy and provision designed to support women users and control their illegal drug use. The value of feminist research which does not directly focus on women is recognised by McRobbie (1982) when she asks:

Is there a case fo r arguing that some research works more effectively and avoids being condescending by addressing itself to making demands o f and challenging the institutions, structures and those who inhabit them, and occupy positions ofpower within them?

(p.52)

View from below

By adopting a critical perspective on current service provision - one which goes further than asking how current provision can be made more ‘woman-friendly’ - 1 consider that I am seeking to examine the ‘view from below’ rather than aligning myself with the perspective of policy-makers and service providers. The research may

nevertheless remain open to the charge of seeking reformist solutions which fail to challenge the way in which illegal drug use is socially constructed as a problem requiring treatment. The orientation of the research is one which seeks to explore health and social care practice rather than to critically analyse the state’s response to drug use. To this extent I am working within, rather than critically analysing, the construction of drug use as a problem which needs treating. This orientation is, I believe, justified as services to drug users are expanding rapidly and if they are to operate in women’s interests, feminist principles of practice need to be operationalised. In addition, account must also be taken of the fact that individual women, and men, as well as policy-makers, perceive chemical dependency as a problem in their lives and seek effective services which meet their needs..

Commitment to social change

My research is politically engaged inasmuch as it echews the neutral stance of detached observer and aligns itself with feminist political theory. A basic premis is that society is structured by divisions of gender, race and class and that research should both recognise and challenge these divisions. My research aims to challenge the subordination of women, by revealing the part played by service providers in perpetuating gendered power structures.

While the research is politically engaged it is difficult to see how it can claim to be a vehicle for social transformation. It may bring about some incremental change through raising the awareness of service providers but its claim to be underpinned by feminist principles is weak in this respect. Maynard (1994), however, is reluctant to accept that “studies which cannot be directly linked to transformational politics are not fem inist’ (p.7). She suggests that the researcher may not be in a position to control the

extent or direction of change and this is most certainly true in my case.

Maynard goes on to suggest that different kinds of change are involved in feminist research. One way in which change can occur is through empowerment

generated by participation in a research project. This might serve to render visible social issues or it might enable reflection and re-evaluation as part of the interview process. In terms of these more limited aims for feminist research my study might stand up to scrutiny. There is some evidence - discussed in Chapters 8 and 10 - to suggest that my presence in the agencies generated a heightened awareness of the impact of gendered power relations on service provision.

‘Quantitative’ versus ‘Qualitative’ research

If my claim to be engaged in feminist research is at its weakest in relation to its contribution to bringing about social change, it is at its strongest in terms of its

commitment to qualitative research techniques. In-depth interview, used extensively in the research, gives service providers a good deal of control over the research encounter. Transcripts of interviews demonstrate a willingness on the part of the interviewer to ‘hand over’ to the interviewee. Participant observation, while allowing the researcher some control over the selection of what she considers to be significant events,

nevertheless serves to equalise relationships between the researcher and the researched. Again, there is evidence (see Chapter 7) to suggest that there were occasions on which a partnership approach to the research was established.

Ultimately, however, the research remains ambivalent in relation to establishing non-hierarchical relationships with service providers and the subjects of the research. The reasons for the ambivalence are explored in Chapter 7 and centre on the problem of doing feminist research in a situation where men predominate and where an allegiance to feminist politics cannot be assumed.

The researcher in the research

The study demonstrates a clear commitment to locating the researcher in the research and to exposing the knowledge creation process to critical scrutiny. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 offer a sustained analysis of the impact on the research of the researcher’s

previous identity as a social care practitioner, of the fragmentary nature of data collection and of the problems of doing feminism while doing research. Chapter 7 in particular grapples with issues arising from this discussion of feminist research principles. It is at attempt to ‘pin down’ some of the abstractions outlined here.

CHAPTER 4

FEMINIST PRACTICE

The previous chapter has outlined some guiding principles of how the research should be conducted. Chapter 4 attempts to identify what the researcher might be looking for in considering how far the services under scrutiny succeed in challenging women’s subordination. The feminist literature provides an obvious starting point for marking out the contours of a feminist social work practice, against which the services can be measured.

The following discussion aims to establish the principles which underpin feminist social work and social care practice before considering how they might be discernible in the two research sites. A necessary starting point for this exploration is the feminist critique of mainstream social work/social care which forms the backdrop to the development of a feminist practice.