Girl power? the perceptions and practices of employment promoting social workers supporting women's labour market integration

In recent years, there is an emerging sub-field of employment-promoting practices (EPPs) in the social work profession, designed to empower individuals to successfully integrate into the labour market as part of a welfare-to-work (WTW) policy. EPP social workers often work with female service users, facing additional challenges in the labour market. This study examines the perceptions of EPP social workers regarding gender-related barriers for labour market integration, as well as the professional practices they employ to address these barriers. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with twenty-one EPP social workers employed in various social services in Israel. Thematic analysis revealed four main levels of gender-related barriers: individual, familial, cultural, and social policy. While barriers were identified across multiple dimensions, the findings indicated that interventions predominantly targeted the individual and, to a lesser extent, the familial level, while the cultural and social policy levels were mostly ignored. These findings emphasize that EPP social workers tend to neglect critical feminist perspectives in their practice and focus on neoliberal perspectives, which are less empowering for women's labour market integration. Implications to policy and practice are discussed.