Author: Harriet M. Phinney
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 029574944X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
In the mid-1980s, after the Indochina Wars, a shortage of men meant that many single women in Vietnam found themselves without suitable marital prospects. A number of these women chose to pursue single motherhood by “asking for a child” (xin con)—asking men to get them pregnant out of wedlock. Xin con appeared to be a radical departure from traditional Vietnamese kinship values and practices, which were based in Confucian patriarchal and patrilineal reproductive interests. However, this innovative solution was rooted in both pre- and postwar values, practices, and notions of gender, kinship, love, and sexuality. This ethnography explores the practice of xin con among single mothers in the postwar era and today, and considers the ways their reproductive agency was embraced rather than rejected by the Vietnamese state as it entered the global market economy. Rather than condemning or trying to restrict older single women’s reproductive agency, government officials enacted policies that would accommodate both the women and the state—a strategy that represents an intriguing alignment of Confucian heritage, Communist ideology, and governing tactics and demonstrates the social power of women.
Single Mothers and the State’s Embrace
Author: Harriet M. Phinney
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 029574944X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
In the mid-1980s, after the Indochina Wars, a shortage of men meant that many single women in Vietnam found themselves without suitable marital prospects. A number of these women chose to pursue single motherhood by “asking for a child” (xin con)—asking men to get them pregnant out of wedlock. Xin con appeared to be a radical departure from traditional Vietnamese kinship values and practices, which were based in Confucian patriarchal and patrilineal reproductive interests. However, this innovative solution was rooted in both pre- and postwar values, practices, and notions of gender, kinship, love, and sexuality. This ethnography explores the practice of xin con among single mothers in the postwar era and today, and considers the ways their reproductive agency was embraced rather than rejected by the Vietnamese state as it entered the global market economy. Rather than condemning or trying to restrict older single women’s reproductive agency, government officials enacted policies that would accommodate both the women and the state—a strategy that represents an intriguing alignment of Confucian heritage, Communist ideology, and governing tactics and demonstrates the social power of women.
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 029574944X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
In the mid-1980s, after the Indochina Wars, a shortage of men meant that many single women in Vietnam found themselves without suitable marital prospects. A number of these women chose to pursue single motherhood by “asking for a child” (xin con)—asking men to get them pregnant out of wedlock. Xin con appeared to be a radical departure from traditional Vietnamese kinship values and practices, which were based in Confucian patriarchal and patrilineal reproductive interests. However, this innovative solution was rooted in both pre- and postwar values, practices, and notions of gender, kinship, love, and sexuality. This ethnography explores the practice of xin con among single mothers in the postwar era and today, and considers the ways their reproductive agency was embraced rather than rejected by the Vietnamese state as it entered the global market economy. Rather than condemning or trying to restrict older single women’s reproductive agency, government officials enacted policies that would accommodate both the women and the state—a strategy that represents an intriguing alignment of Confucian heritage, Communist ideology, and governing tactics and demonstrates the social power of women.
Single Mothers In International Context
Author: Simon Duncan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134227949
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
Single mothers caring for dependent children are an important and increasing population in industrialized countries. In some, single mothers are seen primarily as mothers and few have paid work; in others, they are regarded as workers and most have paid work; and sometimes they are seen as an uneasy combination of the two with varying proportions taking up paid work.; This edited collection explores these variations, focusing on the interaction between dominant discourses around single motherhood, state policies towards single mothers, the structure of the labour market at national and local levels, and neighbourhood supports and constraints.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134227949
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
Single mothers caring for dependent children are an important and increasing population in industrialized countries. In some, single mothers are seen primarily as mothers and few have paid work; in others, they are regarded as workers and most have paid work; and sometimes they are seen as an uneasy combination of the two with varying proportions taking up paid work.; This edited collection explores these variations, focusing on the interaction between dominant discourses around single motherhood, state policies towards single mothers, the structure of the labour market at national and local levels, and neighbourhood supports and constraints.
Single Mothers by Choice
Author: Jane Mattes, L.C.S.W.
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0812922468
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
The first handbook for the paoidly growing number of American women choosing single motherhood, written by the director of the national organization, Single Mothers by Choice.
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0812922468
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
The first handbook for the paoidly growing number of American women choosing single motherhood, written by the director of the national organization, Single Mothers by Choice.
Overwhelmed
Author: Jennifer Barnes Maggio
Publisher: Tate Publishing
ISBN: 1616633611
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 205
Book Description
Follows the author's journey from homeless teenage mother to successful corporate executive.
Publisher: Tate Publishing
ISBN: 1616633611
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 205
Book Description
Follows the author's journey from homeless teenage mother to successful corporate executive.
Single Mothers and the State
Author: Celia Winkler
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780847691319
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 310
Book Description
U.S. welfare rights activists have long envied women in Sweden, who benefited from social policies that made the incidence of poverty among children and solo mothers among the lowest in the world. This situation has begun to change with the rise of neoliberalism in Sweden from the late 1970s to the middle of the 1990s; social policy that had once dramatically improved the lives of solo mothers began to give way to policies that privatized their problems. Solo mothers in the United States were worse off, as conservative policymakers launched a clamorous campaign to restore the "traditional nuclear family" as the only guarantor of women's and children's well-being, blaming solo mothers for everything from juvenile crime to their own poverty. In this revealing and timely book, sociologist and former legal services attorney, Celia Winkler, charts the policies in Sweden and the United States that transformed the social and economic situation of solo mothers, who are an early warning of more general danger: the canary in the coal mine.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780847691319
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 310
Book Description
U.S. welfare rights activists have long envied women in Sweden, who benefited from social policies that made the incidence of poverty among children and solo mothers among the lowest in the world. This situation has begun to change with the rise of neoliberalism in Sweden from the late 1970s to the middle of the 1990s; social policy that had once dramatically improved the lives of solo mothers began to give way to policies that privatized their problems. Solo mothers in the United States were worse off, as conservative policymakers launched a clamorous campaign to restore the "traditional nuclear family" as the only guarantor of women's and children's well-being, blaming solo mothers for everything from juvenile crime to their own poverty. In this revealing and timely book, sociologist and former legal services attorney, Celia Winkler, charts the policies in Sweden and the United States that transformed the social and economic situation of solo mothers, who are an early warning of more general danger: the canary in the coal mine.
The Triple Bind of Single-Parent Families
Author: Nieuwenhuis, Rense
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447333640
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 504
Book Description
Single parents face countless hardships, but they can be boiled down to a triple bind: inadequate resources, insufficient employment, and limited support policies. This book brings together research from a range of disciplines from more than forty countries--with particularly detailed case studies from the United Kingdom, Iceland, Sweden, and Scotland. It addresses numerous issues related to the struggles of single parents, including poverty, employment, health, children's development and education, and more.
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447333640
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 504
Book Description
Single parents face countless hardships, but they can be boiled down to a triple bind: inadequate resources, insufficient employment, and limited support policies. This book brings together research from a range of disciplines from more than forty countries--with particularly detailed case studies from the United Kingdom, Iceland, Sweden, and Scotland. It addresses numerous issues related to the struggles of single parents, including poverty, employment, health, children's development and education, and more.
Sinners? Scroungers? Saints?
Author: Pat Thane
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199578508
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
Covers the stories of unwed mothers and one of the voluntary organization that supported them throughout the century: The National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child (which renamed itself), The National Council for One Parent Families, (and is now, after a merger, called Gingerbread).
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199578508
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
Covers the stories of unwed mothers and one of the voluntary organization that supported them throughout the century: The National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child (which renamed itself), The National Council for One Parent Families, (and is now, after a merger, called Gingerbread).
Ineligible
Author: Krys Maki
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
ISBN: 1773634941
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
A comprehensive examination of welfare state surveillance and regulation of single mothers in Ontario.
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
ISBN: 1773634941
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
A comprehensive examination of welfare state surveillance and regulation of single mothers in Ontario.
Making Ends Meet
Author: Kathryn Edin
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610441753
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
Welfare mothers are popularly viewed as passively dependent on their checks and averse to work. Reformers across the political spectrum advocate moving these women off the welfare rolls and into the labor force as the solution to their problems. Making Ends Meet offers dramatic evidence toward a different conclusion: In the present labor market, unskilled single mothers who hold jobs are frequently worse off than those on welfare, and neither welfare nor low-wage employment alone will support a family at subsistence levels. Kathryn Edin and Laura Lein interviewed nearly four hundred welfare and low-income single mothers from cities in Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois, and South Carolina over a six year period. They learned the reality of these mothers' struggles to provide for their families: where their money comes from, what they spend it on, how they cope with their children's needs, and what hardships they suffer. Edin and Lein's careful budgetary analyses reveal that even a full range of welfare benefits—AFDC payments, food stamps, Medicaid, and housing subsidies—typically meet only three-fifths of a family's needs, and that funds for adequate food, clothing and other necessities are often lacking. Leaving welfare for work offers little hope for improvement, and in many cases threatens even greater hardship. Jobs for unskilled and semi-skilled women provide meager salaries, irregular or uncertain hours, frequent layoffs, and no promise of advancement. Mothers who work not only assume extra child care, medical, and transportation expenses but are also deprived of many of the housing and educational subsidies available to those on welfare. Regardless of whether they are on welfare or employed, virtually all these single mothers need to supplement their income with menial, off-the-books work and intermittent contributions from family, live-in boyfriends, their children's fathers, and local charities. In doing so, they pay a heavy price. Welfare mothers must work covertly to avoid losing benefits, while working mothers are forced to sacrifice even more time with their children. Making Ends Meet demonstrates compellingly why the choice between welfare and work is more complex and risky than is commonly recognized by politicians, the media, or the public. Almost all the welfare-reliant women interviewed by Edin and Lein made repeated efforts to leave welfare for work, only to be forced to return when they lost their jobs, a child became ill, or they could not cover their bills with their wages. Mothers who managed more stable employment usually benefited from a variety of mitigating circumstances such as having a relative willing to watch their children for free, regular child support payments, or very low housing, medical, or commuting costs. With first hand accounts and detailed financial data, Making Ends Meet tells the real story of the challenges, hardships, and survival strategies of America's poorest families. If this country's efforts to improve the self-sufficiency of female-headed families is to succeed, reformers will need to move beyond the myths of welfare dependency and deal with the hard realities of an unrewarding American labor market, the lack of affordable health insurance and child care for single mothers who work, and the true cost of subsistence living. Making Ends Meet is a realistic look at a world that so many would change and so few understand.
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610441753
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
Welfare mothers are popularly viewed as passively dependent on their checks and averse to work. Reformers across the political spectrum advocate moving these women off the welfare rolls and into the labor force as the solution to their problems. Making Ends Meet offers dramatic evidence toward a different conclusion: In the present labor market, unskilled single mothers who hold jobs are frequently worse off than those on welfare, and neither welfare nor low-wage employment alone will support a family at subsistence levels. Kathryn Edin and Laura Lein interviewed nearly four hundred welfare and low-income single mothers from cities in Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois, and South Carolina over a six year period. They learned the reality of these mothers' struggles to provide for their families: where their money comes from, what they spend it on, how they cope with their children's needs, and what hardships they suffer. Edin and Lein's careful budgetary analyses reveal that even a full range of welfare benefits—AFDC payments, food stamps, Medicaid, and housing subsidies—typically meet only three-fifths of a family's needs, and that funds for adequate food, clothing and other necessities are often lacking. Leaving welfare for work offers little hope for improvement, and in many cases threatens even greater hardship. Jobs for unskilled and semi-skilled women provide meager salaries, irregular or uncertain hours, frequent layoffs, and no promise of advancement. Mothers who work not only assume extra child care, medical, and transportation expenses but are also deprived of many of the housing and educational subsidies available to those on welfare. Regardless of whether they are on welfare or employed, virtually all these single mothers need to supplement their income with menial, off-the-books work and intermittent contributions from family, live-in boyfriends, their children's fathers, and local charities. In doing so, they pay a heavy price. Welfare mothers must work covertly to avoid losing benefits, while working mothers are forced to sacrifice even more time with their children. Making Ends Meet demonstrates compellingly why the choice between welfare and work is more complex and risky than is commonly recognized by politicians, the media, or the public. Almost all the welfare-reliant women interviewed by Edin and Lein made repeated efforts to leave welfare for work, only to be forced to return when they lost their jobs, a child became ill, or they could not cover their bills with their wages. Mothers who managed more stable employment usually benefited from a variety of mitigating circumstances such as having a relative willing to watch their children for free, regular child support payments, or very low housing, medical, or commuting costs. With first hand accounts and detailed financial data, Making Ends Meet tells the real story of the challenges, hardships, and survival strategies of America's poorest families. If this country's efforts to improve the self-sufficiency of female-headed families is to succeed, reformers will need to move beyond the myths of welfare dependency and deal with the hard realities of an unrewarding American labor market, the lack of affordable health insurance and child care for single mothers who work, and the true cost of subsistence living. Making Ends Meet is a realistic look at a world that so many would change and so few understand.
Unequal Family Lives
Author: Naomi R. Cahn
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108415954
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
This volume explores the causes and consequences of family inequality in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108415954
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
This volume explores the causes and consequences of family inequality in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.