March is Women’s History Month: a good time to reflect on the role of women in establishing modern social services, the role of DSS in addressing poverty and family needs, and the disproportionate impact of poverty on women (particularly heads of household).
Women are largely responsible for establishing the social services and social work programs and practices that we carry out to this day. From the settlement houses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to present-day public and nonprofit social service organizations, women have played a crucial role in providing care, support, and vital assistance to individuals and families in need, particularly in times of crisis; developing research and best practices for this work, and shaping public policies to fund and support it.
Read on to meet some of these social work pioneers and learn more!
Notable figures in the history of social services include:
- Jane Addams, whose settlement house movement provided wraparound social services to low-income communities
- Mary Richmond, who worked to establish social work as a profession and developed the concept of individualized casework
- Grace Abbott, who pioneered the process of incorporating sociological data relating to child labor, juvenile delinquency, dependency and statistics into the lawmaking process
- Lucy Flower, who helped establish the country’s first juvenile court, which aimed to provide rehabilitation rather than punishment for young offenders
- Figures like Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Lucy Burns, who worked to secure women the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920
- Activists such as Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Anna Julia Cooper, and Dorothy Height, who worked to advance civil rights and include African-American women in reform movements
- Frances Perkins, who helped create policies such as Social Security, unemployment insurance, and the minimum wage
- Eleanor Roosevelt, who advocated for civil rights, labor unions, working women, public social services, and universal human rights
- Women such as Frances Lucero, Lilian Roybal Rose, Sylvia M. Arrom, and Carmen Ortiz, who have made social work more culturally and linguistically inclusive and responsive
- Lupe Anguiano, who worked to help single mothers move toward self-sufficiency, with many of her ideas incorporated in the 1996 welfare reform law
- and many more.
Today, women continue to comprise the majority of the workforce in fields such as social work, nursing, and teaching, which are all crucial to addressing poverty and providing support to vulnerable populations.
Single mothers disproportionately experience poverty due to factors including the gender pay gap, domestic violence, divorce, and caregiving responsibilities. Programs such as CalWORKs, CalFresh, and MediCal provide crucial support to help low-income families access to basic needs such as food, healthcare, and housing.
Women have played trailblazing roles in relief work and social work throughout our country’s history. Public social services agencies have played a crucial role in addressing poverty, particularly for mothers and families. And ongoing social issues highlight the continuing need for effective policies and programs to address poverty and family needs.