The History of the Welfare Programs in America - Essay Example

?(Single mothers and Welfare) By (Insert Presented to Location Due The welfare fund was developed to help eradicate poverty in America and enable people who are jobless to live decent lives. There have however been controversies arising about the welfare programs that have been developed. It has been observed among several American especially those of the minority race that they have become overly dependent on the welfare fund. Most of these families have grown on support from welfare and this does not encourage them to look for jobs or even empower themselves by getting a good education. This has become a burden on the working nation who has to pay huge taxes to support the unemployed. There people who are of the view that people who are under welfare should not have children . This is because if the working population make effort in planning the size of their families why should those that rely on welfare not do the same (Daguerre & Nativel, 2006: 412)? This article discusses whether single mothers take advantage of the welfare money and what steps can be taken to address these issues. The history of the welfare Programs in America American has created welfare programs aimed at helping people who are economically disadvantaged in the society. Some of the contemporary program in place today include the women, infant and children (WIC), Medicaid and aid to family with dependent children (AFDC) programs. The creation of these program started a long time when American was still a British colony. The British colony has created the poor laws that were used to distinguish those people who were unable work because they were physically challenged or old and those who had no jobs but were able bodies. The formers would be given assistance in form of cash and the latter would be given employment in the workhouse as public servants. Before the onset of the great depression, the government had created a pension scheme to assist war veterans and their families. This is because the men in the US army were the hardest hit by poverty because as they raged in battles, the other civilians were busy amassing wealth. When they came back home, they had no means to support themselves and the remuneration they got from the government was not enough to support them and their families. The great depression hit the American economy very hard. It left about have of the population unemployed. The government had to intervene to salvage the situation. The first welfare programs were developed by the former president Roosevelt in 1935 which were the Aid to dependent Children and unemployment compensation which are still in place today. These were created under the Social security Act that was created in the same year. Several government agencies were also developed to oversee the implementation of these programs (Mittelstadt, 2005: 130). These include the Department of Housing and Urban Development, department of education, department of agriculture and the department of healthcare and human services. In 1996, former president Bill Clinton authorized the Personal Responsibility and work reconciliation act. This allows the government to give a certain amount of money to the state mandated to be used in assisting the poor. Are the Single Mothers without Partners taking Advantage of the welfare programs? In addressing this area, president Barrack Obama is of the view that some of the welfare programs increase dependency. He says that some of the programs that have been developed in the past have been designed in the wrong way encouraging dependency. He said that having government in a poor neighborhood, he has observed how these programs have made people complacent in their way f live. They are not motivated to upgrade their skills or even get a college education. I totally agree with him. It is not wrong to help the poor in the society especially the women and children who happen to be the hardest hit by poverty. However, the government needs to not only provide the fish to the poor people but also encourage them to fish. This would lead to the complete eradication of poverty. Since the enactment of the social security welfare act in 1960, the poverty levels in American have not improved. However, the government funds being sent into welfare programs continue to soar. Currently the government spends over 1 trillion dollars on about 70 welfare programs which is 13 time the money that was spent on welfare in the 1960. However, although the president has said that the program in the past well ill designed, the case has not changed in the present situation. Only one program of the 0 welfare programs encourage able bodied people to seek jobs. The rest including those geared towards helping the children have not been checked. People who are naturally lazy have then used this as an avenue of getting the government to support their lifestyle. This includes the single mothers who fail to look for jobs or make the fathers of their children to take care of the children. This has created a huge burned on the government who has to support many children. Research has shown that most of the children on welfare are of single parents. Nevertheless, although there may be a portion of the people under welfare who may be taking advantage of the provision, providing welfare to single parents in justified in many ways since they are the most disadvantaged of the whole population. From the population survey conducted, there is no doubt that children raised by a married couple are better off than those from households headed by mothers. For instance, in the year 2000 only 6% of married couples lived in poverty in comparison with 33% of the single mothers headed households. Furthermore, mothers who never get married are the most vulnerable to becoming poor in comparison to any other group of people including those who have been divorced. Another factor that influences the issue of poverty in America is the uneven income distribution. American has the most uneven income distribution and this makes it difficult for single parents both male and female to support a family with only one job. Moreover, since there are no public subsidized child care facilities, single mothers find it hard to take more than one job and dedicate the rest of their time to taking care of their children. Women who become single mothers are also likely to become poor because they are unable to attain higher education or may even have low experience to get a good job. In 200, 1.2 % of single mothers with college degree were poor (Johnson et al 2010). For both single parents and couples, working parents incur greater child care costs that the nonworking ones. Why encouraging marriages may not work in reducing dependency on welfare The government has made attempts to reduce funding in order to encourage marriage which has been seen as tool that help eradicate poverty. It has been observed that Children form single parents are many times likely to become poor compared to children that come from a family with two parents. 80% of long-term poverty is seen to arise from single parent household. It thus not surprising, 5% of children in welfare are from single parent households. Most of these women are form low income family and come from communities where marriage is no longer functional as an institution and the values of abstinence are not encouraged. There is no doubt that encouraging marriage has does not help to eradicate the poverty situation. There is no doubt that encouraging marriage has does not help to eradicate the poverty situation. This is because people fail to get into marriage because of low income and not the other way. Moreover, promoting marriage in a community that does not acknowledge the importance of the marriage institution will not bear any fruits. This is because such marriages are not bound to last. The couples may end up getting divorced severally and this puts the child welfare which the state seeks to protect in jeopardy. Moreover, having two parents is does not give a child sure immunity against financial stresses. This is because a third of the children under welfare come from households with two parents (Johnson, 2011: 69). Moreover, being raised by a single mother does not ultimately mean that one will be poor. There are several families led by single mothers especially those with advanced education and they are doing quite well. There is no doubt that marriage increases the stability of a family as people are able to pool resources. As such, women are ken on seeking a marriage partner who is able to support them financially. Men on the other hand seek not from women who they can rescue from poverty but one whom they can share financial responsibilities. This has made it hard for women who may not have graduated from high school to get a suitable spouse. It makes it even harder to women who get babies when they are teenager to get married to a person who is well off. Another study has also shown that poor women regardless of the fact they have been n social welfare or regardless of their age are less likely to be married. Moreover, poor mothers are highly likely to live in neighborhoods where the male are also poor and less likely to keep a job. Such unmarried fathers are less likely to get married because of the irregular jobs and when they do there is a high likelihood of a divorce. All these evidence show that it is not possible to end poverty by marrying off poor mothers. It fails to recognize the various how poverty in itself damages relationships and makes it hard to have stable families. Moreover, the quality of the marriage should be taken into accounts. This is because a stable healthy marriage contributes greatly to a child welfare and growth. Nevertheless, not all marriages fit this kind of description. A child would better off living in a stable single parent household instead of being raised in a marriage full of conflict, jealousy and remorse. Bad fathering is actually worse that no fathering at all (Mceachern, 2009: 429). Good marriages are also bound to dissolution as researches conducted on divorces indicate. Solution to the Welfare problem As has been observed, women are the people who are most vulnerable to becoming dependent on government aid. This is because women end up being single parents as a result of many factors such as a divorce, death of a spouse or even having a child out of wedlock. Taking the welfare away would not solve the problem and they would be left to languish in poverty with their own children following the same route. The manner in which the society is structured leaves women being at the danger of being dependent. Women are the ones who are highly likely to be less educated that their male counterpart and thus are at a greater risk of being poor. This means that having a permanent solution to this problem requires a complete overhaul of how our society is structured. Addressing this issue will require the society to reduce its capitalistic tendencies and instead to seek to ensure that every individual gets a decent lifestyle (Hirschmann & Liebert, 2001: 241). Capitalism has created a situation where man has to earn his position through using his own means and effort. For this to work there must be people at the high level of earning and the rest are at the lower level striving to climb the ranks. This was aimed at increasing competition among the workers and this would increase productivity. Workers therefore receive rewards and benefits depending on their performance. This kind of structure has worked as a disadvantage towards the single women who are mostly concentrated at the lower level of earning. This is because by taking the role of taking care of their children and working at the same time, they are not in a position to give the best performance compared to men who have no such responsibility. Moreover, getting a promotion requires great dedication such as long working hours which may be hard for a single mother to accomplish. One thing that needs to be changed is the norms about women and work. Women have naturally been seen as home makers and who need to be supported by men. Several polices have thus focused on creating welfare for supporting single mothers instead increasing their ability to get into the workforce. Many legislatures have been developed along this gender lines. For instance, despite the call by feminist for equal pay for both genders, women in almost all industries are given salaries or wages lower than their male counterpart when performing the same roles. There is no doubt that women have tried to break form this cycle of dependency. However, the economic structure of this country makes it hard for them to achieve this. Moreover, those who find work the pay is not enough to cater for all their financial aid. This together with sexual segregation in the work place acts as a disadvantage to the women and makes it hard for them to sufficiently supply for their children. The structure in the workforce also makes it hard for women to rise up the ranks and get prestigious position that would make them support their families adequately (Hays, 2004: 251). This is because women have traditionally been considered as bad leaders and it thus hard for them to get leadership position in the workplace which comes with better salary and benefits. Women who decide to raise a family alone are therefore faces with a lot of economic challenges. It thus follows that if the country would promote the education of women and ensure that they get equal job opportunities in the work place, the high dependency of women on welfare would be greatly reduced. There is again the issue of opportunity cost for women who decide to go back to work after getting children. This is because a woman may decide to work 80 hours a week for minimum wage. If she does this, a large portion of their wage goes to paying for childcare and they do not get time to spend with the children. The alternative option is to stay home with the kids thereby saving money send on child care and rely on the welfare money. Many option for the second options because it has greater benefits. The situation is aggravated by the fact that most single mothers are young girls who gets children out of wedlock. Most often than not, the education of these women is interrupted since their schooling is interrupted by the pregnancy (Davis, 2006: 163). Because of the low education, they are limited to menial jobs paying close to the minimum wage and this is not enough to pay for child care and meet other financial needs. It may not be possible to get rid of capitalism as this is the system that our country economy has been based on and experience has taught us that the alternative communism has greater adverse effects on the economy. However, there is need for creation of policies that will help alleviate poverty among women and promote decent living for everyone. One of this policies is ensuring that the heads of family on welfare seek some form of employment to support themselves within a period of two years after getting aid. This would act as an incentive to the women to seek jobs instead of being satisfied with the aid’s money. Another policy would be to limit the number of children that families on welfare get. This is because if the people who have employment plan their families those on welfare should do the same. The families should also receive welfare aid for a maximum of five years within which the government should have helped the individual get some form of employment to sustain themselves. However, this only applies to heads of families who do not have any form of disabilities and are capable of working. Again if even after five year the mother has not been able to get a good job and this should be satisfied by social welfare officer, they can continue being supported by the welfare up to the time they get good employment. This also applies to those women who may have started doing some form of work but which does not sufficiently support them (Bashevkin, 2002: 43). The aid should however be lesser compared to that of women with no jobs at all. Moreover, the program should also seek to impart skills that will help the beneficiaries of the welfare aid to get meaningful job. For teenagers who get pregnant when still in school, they would be required to continue schooling and live with an adult to help them look after the child. In conclusion, it has been observed that there are many factors that have led to single women being dependent on welfare. The women decide to rely on welfare because the way the society is structured does not give them incentive to look for work. This means that overcoming this problem would require major revolutions in the society. This includes breaking the barriers that has made it hard for women to get good jobs in the work force. Promote equality of treatment of both genders including equal pay at the work place. There is also need to encourage education for women as this would make it possible for them to get greater jobs. Reference List BASHEVKIN, S. B. (2002). Welfare hot buttons: women, work, and social policy reform. Toronto, University of Toronto Press. DAGUERRE, A., & NATIVEL, C. (2006). When children become parents: welfare state responses to teenage pregnancy. Bristol, Policy. DAVIS, D.-A. (2006). Battered Black women and welfare reform: between a rock and a hard place. Albany, State Univ. of New York Press. HAYS, S. (2004). Flat broke with children: women in the age of welfare reform. New York ; Oxford, Oxford University Press. HIRSCHMANN, N. J., & LIEBERT, U. (2001). Women and welfare: theory and practice in the United States and Europe. New Brunswick, NJ [u.a.], Rutgers Univ. Press. JOHNSON, R. C., KALIL, A., & DUNIFON, R. E. (2010). Mothers' work and children's lives: low-income families after welfare reform. Kalamazoo, Mich, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. MCEACHERN, W. A. (2009). Economics: a contemporary introduction. Mason, OH, South-Western Cengage Learning. MITTELSTADT, J. (2005). From Welfare to Workfare the Unintended Consequences of Liberal Reform, 1945-1965. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=413363. Read More