Exploring feminist egalitarian discourse and sex work for the social work curriculum: a critical pedagogy

This article presents a theoretical exposition of feminist egalitarian discourse for social work education by drawing on research findings from interviews with 15 sex workers in the Republic of Ireland. The study claims that feminist social work is not considered mainstream across social work programmes despite social work’s commitment to human rights and social justice. The article presents the complexities of a feminist standpoint when discussing sex work in Ireland in its current binary context of the neo-abolitionist perspective. We argue for a revised critical feminist egalitarian pedagogical approach to the social work curriculum. We apply a feminist standpoint epistemology and an interpretivist/feminist qualitative framework to examine: (1) feminist social work; (2) feminist theory and sex work; and (3) feminist egalitarian discourse for social work education. The positionality of feminist egalitarian discourse within the social work curriculum has the capacity to improve social work’s commitment to social justice.