The Dilemmas of Lone Motherhood: Essays from Feminist Economics

ISBN-13: 9780415360180 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 288 str.

R. Albelda; Et Randy Albelda; Susan Himmelweit

Opis

Women have entered the workforce in greater numbers worldwide. They are increasingly expected to earn wages, but are still primarily responsible for raising children. While all parents confront the tensions of this double burden, the situation is especially complex and acute for the lone mother, simply because she has no other adult who shares responsibilities, and no access to a male wage. Without strong family networks, decent part-time employment opportunities, extensive and high quality care for children of all ages, or government income support, lone mothers are much more likely to live in poverty and cannot compete with married parents for the resources they need to raise children.
The essays in this volume address these dilemmas and at the same time pay attention to important differences among lone mothers. How can governments help lone mothers without undermining their ability to enter the workforce? Should the state indefinitely support lone mothers? How should we measure the success of a policy? What roles do ethnicity, race, religion, class, and sexual orientation play? The authors in this volume speak from many perspectives and study a variety of places, including Sri Lanka, the US, Germany, England, and Norway, allowing the reader to draw powerful conclusions by comparing across different policies and contexts.
This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal "Feminist Economics."

Spis treści

Part 1: Introduction 1. The Dilemmas of Lone Motherhood: Key issues for feminist economics Part 2: Articles 2. How Men Matter: Housework and self-provisioning among rural single-mother and married-couple families in Vermont, US 3. Lone Mothers in Russia: Soviet and post-Soviet policy 4. Welfare Rules, Business Cycles, and Employment Dynamics Among Lone Parents in Norway 5. Family Economy Workers or Caring Mothers?: Male breadwinning and widows' pensions in Norway and the UK 6. The Commodification of Lone Mothers' Labor: A comparison of US and German policies 7. Welfare as We [Don't] Know It: A review and feminist critique of welfare reform research in the United States 8. Mundane Heroines: Conflict, ethnicity, gender, and female headship in Eastern Sri Lanka 9. The Route Matters: Poverty and inequality among lone-mother households in Russia Part 3: Exploration 10. All the Lesbian Mothers are Coupled, All the Single Mothers are Straight, and All of Us are Tired: Reflections on being a single lesbian mom Part 4: Dialogue, Lone Mothers: What is to be done? 11. Introduction 12. What Policies Toward Lone Mothers Should We Aim For? 13. Is Work Worth it for Lone Parents? 14. An Immodest Proposal 15. Who Cares?

O autorze

Randy Albelda, Sue Himmelweit, Jane Humphries