Questioning the Asymmetry of Power in the Care Professions in a Gender Perspective: An Overview
While it is missing an exhaustive formulation that gather power, control and ‘person-centred care’ dimensions in a gender perspective, another implicit dinamic regards those individuals who exercise power and control during their care-works through their know-how and professional practices. Actively does not mean consciously but it refers to something empirically observable. It regards social workers and nurses’ activities that put in action implicit form of power and control over users or part of them. These concern men and women, while women have been for long time stereotypically intended as care givers mainly. However, the non-dominant masculinities are shaping innovative workforce scenarios by establishing new working relations and theoretical assumptions.
This proposal was developed within a still running field-reseach and university course of nursing students, and some data will be presented. I hypothesize that some form of control performed by social workers and nurses exist and are required to be deconstructed to understand implicit gender inequalities. In doing so, I will be able to underline implicit failings. I will consider those structural constrains within which individuals act and analyse intrinsic asymmetry of power in caring relationships by focusing on the stereotyped masculine (un)ability to carry these activities out.
A literary review and the fieldwork are being carried on. Data will be analysed, and I expect that preliminary literature research on nurses and social workers power and control dynamics will provide missing dimensions. The gender and masculinity dynamics are seen as intertwined and for this reason, I suggest that further evidence will be required. While power and control were often been described as part of institutional actions, an organisational self-reflexive process might be included providing more suitable services for those involved.