Finnish welfare service system from the standpoint of women in vulnerable life situations
Year of publication
2021
Authors
Virokannas, Elina; Salovaara, Ulla; Krok, Suvi; Kuronen, Marjo
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors analyse how the Finnish welfare service system, as it consists of different institutions and professionals, meets or fails to meet the needs of women in varying vulnerable life situations. The participants are women with severe substance abuse problems, women sentenced for committing a crime and poor lone mothers living on basic social benefits. The findings show that women’s experiences of encounters with welfare professionals as well as their access to and use of the services share a number of characteristics. They described several barriers and problems related to the complexity of the service system. These included receiving only limited support for basic needs combined with the experiences of stigmatisation and the lack of trust in professionals and problems with face-to-face interaction with them. There is a moral stigma on these women, who have failed both as ‘active citizens’ and as ‘decent women’. The welfare system does not recognise their specific needs as women. The guiding principle of the Finnish welfare service system is gender equality rather than a feminist or gender-sensitive approach, and women-specific welfare services are rare.
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Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Compendium
Article type
Other article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Non Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
B2 Book sectionPublication channel information
Journal
Routledge Advances in Social Work
Parent publication name
Parent publication editors
Kuronen, Marjo; Virokannas, Elina; Salovaara, Ulla
Publisher
Routledge
Pages
26-38
ISBN
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
No
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Social policy
Keywords
[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Publication country
United Kingdom
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
No
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.4324/9780429276910-4
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes