Constructing women in child protection work

This paper is based on an ethnographic study of the occupational culture of a social work team in the UK. It is a discussion of some key aspects of social workers’ construction of women as clients. Data were collected from observation of routine case talk, reading of case files and in‐depth interviews with social workers. The conclusion of the research is that three defining discourses can be identified in the culture of the social work office: women as oppressed, women as responsible for protection, and women as making choices.