Understanding Gendered Practice in Child Protection

This article debates several theoretical perspectives that may have potential for explaining the gendered nature of child protection work, and aims to contribute to understandings of the gendered discourses and practices within which child protection work is situated. The article explores the potential contributions of concepts such as patriarchy, gender identities and occupational culture, and considers the gender inequalities generally present in social services departments. We argue that each of these perspectives is partially illuminating, but also limited in its conceptual relevance. More helpful is a post-structuralist emphasis on occupational discourses. The latter sections of the article draw on other theoretical frameworks for understanding the gendered contexts and realities of child protection work. In particular attention is paid to the regulation of the body, and to the interrelated discourses of class, gender and crime.