The Gender Division Of Welfare

The Gender Division of Welfare is an ambitious study that raises interesting and important questions concerning the relationship among welfare states, gender differentiation and social inequality. The book traces the consequences of different welfare state and social policy arrangements for women and men and the households in which they live. Mary Daly examines the British and German welfare states showing that both countries differ markedly in the measures they have instituted in various areas.

This book, first published in 2000, compares gender, social equality and welfare issues in Britain and Germany.

Gender equality has been one of the defining projects of European welfarestates. It has proven an elusive goal, not just because of political opposition but also due to a lack of clarity in how to best frame equality and take account of family-related considerations. This wide-ranging book assembles the most pertinent literature and evidence to provide a critical understanding of how contemporary state policies engage with gender inequalities.

What differences do welfare state variations make for women? How do women and men fare in different welfare states? Diane Sainsbury answers these questions by analysing the situation in countries whose welfare state policies differ in significant ways: the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Building on feminist criticisms of mainstream research, Professor Sainsbury reconceptualises the crucial dimensions of variation, notably those relevant to gender. She determines the extent to which legislation reflects and perpetuates the gendered division of labour in the family and society, as well as what types of policy alter gender relations in social provision. She thereby increases our understanding of how policy mechanisms, especially the bases of entitlement, exclude or incorporate women and offers constructive proposals for securing greater equality between women and men.

A fresh look at the balance of responsibilities and control in care-giving, both in the public and private spheres. Using previously unpublished empirical data, contributors focus on male experiences of welfare services.

Estudio critico que pretende investigar, desde un punto de vista teorico, los efectos que produce el estado de bienestar en las relaciones de genero y viceversa. Se observa como las relaciones se articulan basicamente siguiendo dos tipos de modelos opuestos: 1/el estado reproduce modelos de genero jerarquicos 2/el estado actua de acuerdo a una politica que pretende aminorar la desigualdad social y, por tanto, generica. Se analiza asimismo el concepto de politica maternalista, para finalizar con un estudio comparativo de las relaciones de genero en los distintos estados delbienestar contemporaneos.

Abramovitz argues that welfare reform has penalized single motherhood; exposed poor women to the risks of hunger, hopelessness, and male violence: swept them into low paid jobs, and left many former recipients unable to make ends meet.".

Widely praised as an outstanding contribution to social welfare and feminist scholarship, Regulating the Lives of Women (1988, 1996) was one of the first books to apply a race and gender lens to the U.S. welfare state. The first two editions successfully exposed how myths and stereotypes built into welfare state rules and regulations define women as "deserving" or "undeserving" of aid depending on their race, class, gender, and marital status. Based on considerable new research, the preface to this third edition explains the rise of Neoliberal policies in the mid-1970s, the strategies deployed since then to dismantle the welfare state, and the impact of this sea change on women and the welfare state after 1996. Published upon the twentieth anniversary of "welfare reform," Regulating the Lives of Women offers a timely reminder that public policy continues to punish poor women, especially single mothers-of-color for departing from prescribed wife and mother roles. The book will appeal to undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students of social work, sociology, history, public policy, political science, and women, gender, and black studies – as well as today’s researchers and activists.

A comparative picture of the welfare state and gender relations.