Beggars and Choosers

Beggars and Choosers
Author: Rickie Solinger
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2002-09-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0809028603

"In Beggars and Choosers, Rickie Solinger shows that historical distinctions between women of color and white women, between poor and middle-class women, persisted and were used in new ways during the era of "choice." Politicians and policy makers excluded certain women from the class of "deserving mothers" by using the language of choice to create public policies concerning everything from Medicaid funding for abortions to family tax credits, infertility treatments, international adoption, teen pregnancy, and welfare. Solinger argues that a guarantee of "choice," when the word is imbued with the old prejudices of class and race, is a shaky foundation on which to build our concept of reproductive freedom."--BOOK JACKET.

Women's Rights in the USA

Women's Rights in the USA
Author: Dorothy E. McBride
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2014-06-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1135218137

In Women’s Rights in the USA, Fourth Edition, Dorothy E. McBride again examines the policy debates critical to women in politics. Tracing the development of these debates over time in order to illustrate their historical context, McBride shows how these issues have evolved and how they have led to the policies and laws of today. She also examines the evolving attitudes of the feminists and advocacy groups behind these debates as they grapple with the tensions between the themes of equality and sex difference as they relate to women’s rights. The book also looks at women’s place in shaping the policies, statutes, and laws—from "liberal" activists to policy insiders—and how those roles shape the debates and issues that move forward today. In a broader context, by following these debates as they move through government institutions to become policies and laws, this book shows students the law-making process through issues that directly affect their lives. Of crucial significance is the acknowledgement that these debates do not end when court decisions, policies, and laws are made, but continue on to foster further movements, viewpoints, and political change. This fourth edition features updates on the most vital issues concerning women’s rights today: constitutional equality, reproduction, education, family, work, work & family, regulation and intimidation of sexuality, and economic status.

Whose Welfare?

Whose Welfare?
Author: Gwendolyn Mink
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2018-09-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 150172889X

Over the past few decades, the goal of welfare reform has been to move poor families off of welfare, not necessarily out of poverty. By that criterion, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 has been successful indeed: throughout the nation, millions have vanished from the welfare rolls. But what has been the cost of this "success" to the women and children who were the overwhelming majority of recipients? Here a group of distinguished feminist scholars examines the causes and the impact of recent changes in welfare policy. Some of the authors trace the politics of welfare from the 1960s, emphasizing how attitudes toward "motherwork" and "working mothers" have evolved in the backlash against poor women's motherhood. Several other authors consider the effects of the new welfare policy on employment and wages, on the lives of noncitizen immigrants, on poor women's ability to escape domestic violence, and on their reproductive and parental rights. A third set of authors explores dependency and caregiving, along with the role of feminist thinking on these issues in the politics of welfare. Whose Welfare? concludes with a historical analysis of activism among poor women. By illuminating that legacy, the volume challenges readers to build progressive agendas from the demands and actions of poor and working-class women.