Women, Poverty and Social Citizenship in the United States

1. Women, Poverty and Social Citizenship in the United States Women's Leadership Conference:Making Connections on Shared Priorities October 2012 Celia Winkler, J.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor, Dept. of Sociology The University of Montana celia.winkler@umontana.edu

2. Social Citizenship • T.H. Marshall (1893-1981) British sociologist • Social Citizenship: “status bestowed on all those who are full members of a community.”

3. Marshall’s Typology of Rights • Civil Rights: right to participate in civil society (negative) • Freedom from assaults on physical and mental integrity • Freedom from discrimination • Political Rights: right to participate in polity • Vote • Speech

4. Typology of Rights, cont. • Social Rights: right to share in the “social heritage” (positive) • Generally speaking, the resources necessary for physical and mental health • “live the life of a civilized being according to the standards prevailing in society” • Interdependency of Rights • Each set of rights is dependent on the others • Without political or civil rights, cannot gain social rights • Without social rights, cannot exercise civil or political rights

5. Social Citizenship: Care • Civil Rights: • Right to own property; testify in court • Right to divorce • Right to control reproduction/family planning • Political Rights: • Women’s suffrage • Bringing issues of care into the public debate • Social Rights: • Supporting care work and reproductive choice

6. Issues: • Women as workers (civil rights) • Women as political actors (political rights) • Women as caregivers (social rights) • Time periods: • Progressive Era (1900-1920s) • Great Depression/New Deal (1930s) • Post WWII (1940s-1960s) • Civil Rights Era (1960s-1970s) • Rise of Neoliberalism (1980s-1990s) • Rise of Neoconservatism (1990s-present)

7. Progressive Era 1900-1920s: First Wave of Feminism Question: Equality or Difference? Protective Legislation Mothers’ Aid Women’s Suffrage

8. Problems • Legal to pay women and children less than men • Normal work day 12 hours • Families needed child wage • Unsafe working conditions • Few childcare options • Birth control information illegal • Women and most racial minorities barred from vote

9. Lewis Hine, sociologist and photojournalist

23. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire 1911

24. Bread & Roses Strike 1912

25. Difference or Equality? • Protective legislation • State limits on women’s work hours upheld • State limits on child labor upheld • Federal limits on child labor struck down • Minimum wage laws struck down • Scattered attempts to provide childcare • Labor unions not protected by law • Mothers Aid: limited assistance to “worthy” mothers, administered by charitable organizations • Women’s Suffrage gained by constitutional amendment 1920

26. The Great Depression 1930s: The New Deal Issues: High unemployment Gendered solutions Racial/ethnic discrimination

27. The Great Depression— Social Issues Unemployment increases: at its height, about 25% Homelessness, poverty increase Unrest increases--fear of Bolshevik type revolution

29. Solutions for male unemployment • Civilian Conservation Corp

30. Solution primarily for male unemployment • Work Projects Administration

31. Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) • 1935 • Established right of private sector workers to organize, bargain collectively with employers, and strike • Established National Labor Relations Board • Promulgate rules • Investigate and adjudicate charges of unfair labor practices • Conduct elections

32. Social Security Act, 1935 • Old Age Pensions and lump sum death benefits • Provide security • Remove elderly from labor market • Unemployment compensation • Provide security • Raise wages • Aid to Dependent Children • Intended as temporary program • For children supported by lone mothers (preferably widows)

33. Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 • Work week: pay overtime for work over 40 hours • Minimum wage: for everyone • Child Labor • Upheld in U.S. v. Darby Lumber Co. (1941)

34. Two track welfare systems • Race discrimination • Excluded as the price of Southern support: predominantly Black, Asian and Latino farmworkers and domestic workers • Gender expectations • Unemployment compensation, Social Security intended for male breadwinners • ADC intended for women and children not supported by male breadwinner • Male track: based on employment • Female track: characterized by dependency, intrusive

35. Post World War II GI Bill Housewife Era

36. Post-WWII: GI Bill • Problem: returning unemployed GIs • Solution: Educational Grants, Housing Loans • Keynesian Economics: • Reduced interest rates • Government infrastructure investment • Creates demand • Demand drives production • Production provides jobs/income • Jobs/income drives production

37. GI Bill Features • Educational grants • Removes pressure from labor market • Intellectual infrastructure development • Schools, academic staff, support for students • Provides educated workforce • Housing Loans • Provided much needed housing • Provided infrastructure development; jobs

38. GI Bill Problems • Male dominated • only about 18% of female GIs took advantage of their GI Bill education eligibility • Discrimination and lack of childcare • White dominated • Discrimination within armed forces • Education: segregated schools • Threats of violence • Poverty of families • Housing : legal discrimination by lenders and communities • Only for GIs—“selectivity”

39. Civil Rights Era 1960s-1970s Civil Rights Legislation Supreme Court cases Vietnam War Liberation Movements Second Wave Feminism

40. Civil Rights Movement

41. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. -- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

42. Welfare Rights and the War on Poverty

43. The Era of Welfare Rights • Welfare Rights Movement linked to Civil Rights Movement • Discrimination in local offices and by private agencies • Racial discrimination • Morality requirements (single mothers)

44. The Era of Welfare Rights • LBJ and the War on Poverty (1964-1968) • Head Start (preschool for poor children) • Legal Services • Community Action advocacy offices • Civil Rights Legislation • Equal Pay Act of 1963 • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Voting Rights Act of 1965

45. Supreme Court Cases • Establishes notion of “entitlement” • Right to pretermination hearing : Goldberg v. Kelly • Question: must one give up one’s constitutionally guaranteed rights in order to receive assistance? • Rightto travel: Shapiro v. Thompson • Right to privacy: • Griswold v. Connecticut (1965); Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) • Roe v. Wade (1973) • cf: Wyman v. James (1971)

46. Rise of Neoliberalism 1980s-1990s “Reagan Revolution” The Decline of the Welfare State and Social Citizenship

47. Neoliberalism under Reagan Administration • Free market • End of “nanny state” • “Truly Needy” • Welfare Queens in Cadillacs

48. Welfare Reform in the 1980s • Replaced work incentives (carrots) with sticks in AFDC • Terminated thousands of “heads, hearts, backs” from Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income • Eliminated food stamp eligibility for students, immigrants, strikers

49. Neoliberal policies • Deregulation • Housing market • Financial institutions • Health and safety • Attacking labor unions • Legislation and board composition • Tighten eligibility for disability and parental benefits • “Tough on Crime”

50. 1980s politics • Backlash against feminism • Second wave feminism loses its voice • Backlash against racial/ethnic liberation movements • “Moral panics” • Child abuse • Crime