Leading gender and sexuality in social work

Gender and sexuality issues in care organisations are not usually well interrogated within mainstream practice, education and research. This seminar reviews the evidence that surrounds this assertion and elaborates on the ways gender and sexuality issues are enacted, reproduced, sustained and generated across the everyday structures and processes of organizational life. Drawing on some of my own recent research, I will review some of the key discourses about ‘gender’ and encourage you to think about how it might be practiced more critically in social work. Democratic and participative leaders are needed to challenge the status quo and to support equitable relationships in their organisations so that parallel commissioning and service developments are able to address any notion of fixed identities.