The majority of basic grade social workers are women bet the great ma jority of management in the personal social services are men. Women in the personal social services are mare involved than men in low status tend ing work, particularly curing for the elderly. There is a vertical and hori zontal sexual division of labour in social work. The Seebohm reorganis ation extiended and strengihened male dominance in management. This paper critically reviews this situation and examines strategies for changing it. These range from more effective competition by women within present structures to radically changing the definition of skill and management roles.

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In 1971, the personal social services provided by local authorities in England and Wales were reorganised to create the new Social Services Departmentsl, in large measure along the lines recommended by the Seebohm Report.2 The work and the workers of the old constituent departments were brought together so that the new departments and their fieldworkers became responsible for a wide range of services for a highly varied clientele, including children and their families, the mentally ill and handicapped, and the elderly and physically handicapped.It is only recently that any close interest has been shown in the way these large organisations have responded to the very diverse makeup of their clientele, especially at the fieldworker level. However, questions are now being asked about the range and composition of the work being undertaken by field staff who work in the area teams of Social Services Departments. A second line of enquiry looks at the variety of fieldstaff available in the area teams and asks: 'Are different types of fieldworker more likely to be working with some client groups and problem areas than others?' The distribution of work and workers, seen as a function of the characteristics of each, thus offers a second order of comment and analysis.

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