Research Accounts of Female Drug Use and their Implications for Social Work

Magda Frišaufová

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Research Accounts of Female Drug Use and their Implications for Social Work

Magda Frišaufová

Medailon autora:

Mgr. Magda Frišaufová is a PhD student at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Masaryk University Brno. She worked in Sdružení Podané ruce as a social worker with drug users. Currently she is teaching courses on gender perspectives in social policy and social work practice. With the financial support of Masaryk University she studied a Master’s program of European Political Sociology at Dalarna University, Sweden and stayed as a visiting researcher at the Centre for Gender Studies at Lund University, Sweden.

Abstrakt:

Based on a critical review of social science research into female drug use, the author identifies a tendency to lay particular emphasis upon two roles: that of structural constraints or that of individual agencies. This dichotomous perception portrays women drug users as either powerless victims of oppression, or as volitional agents unrestricted by structural limitations. The author explores the implications of such specialised discourse upon social work practice and how it may contribute to further stigmatization and disempowerment of female drug users. Using intersectionalism and broad definitions of agency and social structure, the article suggests a basis for empowering social work practice.