Social Work and Domestic Violence in Croatia Through Gendered Lens: Between Power and Precarity

Abstract

This article examines the gender-blind perception of the social work profession in Croatia and its relation to domestic violence cases. In the past few years, media and the public have routinely expressed outrage at social workers for not preventing severe cases of violence against women and children. However, the position of social workers in Croatian society has drastically changed from the previous system of state socialism to capitalism which mitigated defunding and understaffing of the sector. I argue that a more nuanced, gendered approach is needed in demanding prevention work from social work centres (SWC). Most studies on causes of burnout for social workers ignored the feminisation of the profession and the gendered implication for their precarious professional position and responsibility to protect and help the most vulnerable members of society. The perceptions of social work by other experts working with cases of domestic violence, as well as social workers themselves, are important to comprehend a bigger picture of professional judgment and attributions of blame. In-depth interviews were conducted with experts working with domestic violence including the police, judges, prosecutors, social workers, feminist NGO coordinators, and women’s shelter workers. The feminisation of social work and systemic undervaluing of care work contributes to easy targeting of social workers while at the same time leaving the patriarchal institutionalisation unexplored. In this article, I argue that social workers would benefit from class and gender solidary with their clients to fight patriarchal biases.