F

Facilitating programs - Many changes, other than directly labour-related legislation, have been introduced to help put women on an equal footing with men in the Canadian labour market. Among other things, these include changes in divorce laws, policies against sexual harassment at work, expanded maternity leave provisions, policies to protect part-time and temporary workers and policies designed to ensure women have equal access to higher education.

Family or household group - Any combination of two or more persons who are bound together over time by ties of mutual consent, birth and/or adoption/placement and who, together, assume responsibilities for variant combinations of some of the following: physical maintenance and care of group members; addition of new members through procreation or adoption; socialization of children; social control of members; production, consumption and distribution of goods and services; and affective nurturance - love. The definition of family in Canadian Family Law is extremely restrictive not recognizing gay and lesbian couples

Federalism - A system of government in which sovereignty is divided between a central government and several provincial or state governments.

Feminist social work practice - Many of the principles of feminist social work are similar to those of social work practice in general, such as the empowerment of the individual and examining society through a critical lens, egalitarian client-therapist relations and working at both the individual and social, although to varying degrees. As with other approaches to social work, feminist social work practice seeks to understand a client's situation by acquiring knowledge of the client's history, family and social relations, and cultural context. However, in analyzing individual problems and working out effective interventions, the feminist approach gives greater emphasis to the harmful role of patriarchal relations within the family and within the wider society.

Feminist theory - There are different definitions of feminism and numerous formulations and debates in feminist theory. There is, however a common core theory asserting that sex-role stereotypes and social structures perpetuate women's subordination.

Feminization of poverty - The number of women in poverty is increasing faster than that of men.

Food banks and feeding programs - With cutbacks in many income security programs, Canadians are increasingly resorting to food banks and feeding programs in order to survive.

Freudian thought - Freudian thought played an increasingly important role in social work in the 1920s. Social work shifted from a concern with the societal context to a concern with a person's psychological make-up as the source of problems.

Friendly visitors - People charged with doing home visits to determine if a person was deserving of charity or relief in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They provided out-of-door relief during the 19th century. Those who provided the early forms of relief were known as charity visitors. They were wealthy and it was hoped that the moral rectitude of the wealthy would rub off on the needy.

Functional approach - Attitude theories that emphasize that people develop and change their attitudes based on the degree to which they satisfy different psychological needs. To change an attitude, one must understand the underlying function that attitude serves.

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