Social Work Responds to the Women's Movement

Despite the activism of many individual social workers in the first decade of the second wave of the U.S. women's movement, 1963-73, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the largest and most visible organization representing professional social workers, was slow to respond to the challenge put forth by liberal, radical, and socialist feminists. However, this delay in response was replaced, from 1973 onward, with an explosion of activity on feminist topics in NASW and in the profession's publications, agencies, and schools. Fifteen years later, feminist activity by social work organizations has become institutionalized and widespread in the face of the assault by the Reagan administration.