"I work hard for no money": The Work Demands of Single Mothers Managing Multiple State-Provided Benefits
Abstract
The role of social assistance in structuring the lives.of women has been well-documented. However, it is only one of a number of programs used by low-income single mothers, and there has been little attention paid to how these programs interact to form a web of rules and obligations for recipients. Through analysis of in-depth interviews with a small sample of single mothers and caseworkers, this paper e~ploresth e effects of each policy on women's day-to-day lives. We demonstrate the important amount of paid and unpaid work already done by these women, but argue that receiving multiple benefits requires additional work as conditions of individual programs, as well as work to coodinate various program requirements and to avoid gaps in benefit coverage. Future research should consider both the formal and informal program requirements, as well as how the requirements of various program may be contradictory. Keywords: poverty, single mothers, social assistance, welfare reform Le r61e de l'assistance sociale dans la vie des femmes est bien document& Pourtant, l'assistance sociale n'est qu'un des programmes auxquels les m&res inonoparentales recourent, et peu d'attention a et6 portbe 5 l'interaction entre les diffkrents programmes, tels l'assistance sociale, les logements subventionn6s, les subventions pour frais de garde d'enfants et les pr&ts etudiants, bien qu'ils cr6ent un ensemble de r&gles et d'obligations pour leurs benkficiaires. Grgce 5 des entrevues de fond conduites aupr&s d'un petit Cchantillon de m&res monoparentales, nous analyserons les effets de ces obligations sur leur vie quotidienne. Nous y dCmontrerons l'imnportante charge de travail, tant r6munerC que non remunerk, que cela represente pour ces feinmes et nous soumettrons qu'une autre forme de travail doit aussi Ctre assumke par celles-ci afin de ben6ficier de ces programmes. Aussi, les feinmes doivent coordonner les besoins de ces divers programmes. Des recherches futures devraient considkrer les exigences, tant formelles qu'informelles, rattachkes 5 ces programmes et ainsi faire ressortir comment elles peuvent Ctre contradictoires. Mots clis: Assistance sociale, pauvretf', rkforme de l'assistance sociale
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
1-The author guarantees that the manuscript is an original work not published elsewhere in print or electronically in whole or in part, except in abstract form, that the author has the full power to make this contribution, and that the manuscript contains no matter libelous or otherwise unlawful or which invades the right of privacy or which infringes any proprietary right.
2-The author guarantees that the manuscript has not been previously published in print or electronically and that if the manuscript contains any tables, figures or images fully reproduced or closely adapted from previously published material, the author must obtain the necessary permission from the author/publisher holding the original copyright prior to publication in CRSP. The author may be required to produce evidence of permission granted to CRSP’s editors.
3-As a condition of publication in CRSP, the author assigns all copyright to CRSP, including but not limited to the right to publish, republish, and otherwise distribute this manuscript in print, electronic, or other formats. As CRSP is a non-profit interdisciplinary scholarly journal, the author will receive no royalty or other monetary compensation for the assignment set forth in this agreement.
For the purpose of full disclosure, CRSP will not normally use the content provided by the author in a commercial venture, but for the purpose of disseminating the author’s content to as many readers as possible. For distribution, third parties engaging in commercial activities may be contracted to distribute the content globally, and such parties may make a profit out of the author’s content in their normal course of business. CRSP will not pay the author or reimburse the author in any form based on such commercial activities because the conduct of such commercial activities is outside the control of CRSP.
Any future reference to or use of this published material by the authors must acknowledge CRSP as the original place of publication.
PERMISSION REQUEST/ARCHIVING
Permission is given to author(s) receiving funding via Tri-Council Agencies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), to make their publications freely available in an Open Access repository within the stated deadline by the Tri-Council Agencies (12 months following publication). Archiving of publication must be a manuscript copy bearing none of the CRSP headers, footers or any other distinguishing marks. No links to the article on the CRSP website is permitted.
Permission requests from third parties to reproduce articles in part or full in academic/educational publications can be directed to the managing editor of CRSP, and will not be unreasonably denied.
