Māori and Welfare PDF Download

Author: Lindsay Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781877394249
Category : Maori (New Zealand people)
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description
The paper tracks the prevalence of social problems among Maori as a proportion of the population from the earliest recorded statistics through to the present. It finds that Maori were not always over-represented in dole queues, prisons and the courts, in high rates of gambling and alcohol addiction, youth suicide, substance abuse and smoking. Author Lindsay Mitchell notes that this may in part be an effect of Pakeha officially ignoring Maori health and welfare problems - for example, Maori ex-nuptial births were not documented until the 1960s, Maori were not included in Census unemployment data before 1951, and welfare benefits were either not available at all to Maori or were paid at lower rates until 1946. "Despite these issues and attitudes, it is clear that Maori were at some point not as widely afflicted by the social problems that many experience today. Furthermore, while Maori have generally become more prosperous, are better educated and live longer, it appears that the socio-economic and skills gap within Maoridom is greater now than that between Maori and non-Maori", Mrs Mitchell said. Maori and Welfare goes on to explore the role welfare policies have played in both creating and perpetuating this gap, and why the associated social dysfunction and crime are more prevalent among Maori. Among the problems considered are the disproportionately high rate among Maori of crime and incarceration, drug and alcohol abuse; teenage births and single parenthood, child abuse, and unemployment.