Comparing Social Welfare Policies and Programs - Essay Example

Order No: 186260 Topic Comparing Social Welfare Policies/Programs Prepared By Dr. Zulfiquar Ahmed ID: 10131 30-102007 Order No: 186260 Topic: Comparing Social Welfare Policies/Programs Introduction Since the historical and political changes have occurred, women have moved into paid work but these women are still struggling to earn a subsistence level of pay as well as the possibility to manage work and care simultaneously and those women who need to take care of elderly people have imposed additional stress on their own selves. The need for available child care, individualized insurance for married women or the introduction of widowers' pensions etc. are not only and not necessarily claimed or implemented in order to fight poverty. Their absence, however, is not in accordance with the law and the regulatory framework of the environment. The study is to explore the origins of public welfare policy created specifically for mother-only families. At first, the Government of Chicago initiated the largest mothers' pension program in the United States in 1911. Evolving alongside movements for industrial justice and women's suffrage, the mothers' pension movement hoped to provide "justice for mothers" and protection from life's insecurities. However, local politics and public finance derailed the policy, and most women were required to earn. Widows were more likely to receive pensions than deserted women and unwed mothers. And African-American mothers were routinely excluded because they were proven breadwinners yet did not compete with white men for jobs. Ultimately, the once-uniform commitment to protect motherhood faltered on the criteria of individual support and wage-earning became a major component of the policy (Goodwin). On the other hand, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), commonly known as welfare, is the monthly cash assistance program for poor families with children under age 18. A family of three (mother and two children) may qualify for TANF if their gross income is below $784 a month and assets are worth less than $1,000 (TANF, 2000). This revealing study shows how assumptions about single mothers' roles have traditionally shaped public policy and sheds new light on the ongoing controversy of welfare reform. Mothers' Pension Policy and TANF Mothers' pension system is a magnificent addition to the vast scholarly literature on women and the welfare state. There are some analysis of the compromises and contradictions that plagued mothers' pensions from the beginning provides a much-needed historical perspective on the current welfare mess (Goodwin, 1997). Where most previous scholars have examined the motivations, ideology, and political organization that made possible the enactment of mothers' pensions laws in the 1910s, Gender and the Politics of Welfare Reform is the first monograph to analyze their implementation at the local level. Chicago had the largest pension program in Illinois, the first state to enact a mothers' pension law. The 1911 Funds to Parents Act, which permitted counties to provide cash (as opposed to in-kind) assistance for poor parents to raise children in their own homes, set a new direction in social policy by distinguishing pensions from poor relief. In the same way, the TANF is only for low-income families include those with children who: Lack the support of one or both parents because of a parent's absence, disability, unemployment, or underemployment. Are less than 18 years old (they may be 18 if attending school and are expected to graduate before age 19). Are U.S. citizens or legally admitted residents of the United States. Live in Texas with a parent or close relative. Unfortunately, political opposition and fiscal constraints worked to limited the new program almost immediately. In keeping with other recent scholars, it is the matter consideration that how mothers' pensions developed as a component of women's rights (Ladd-Taylor, 1998). However, unlike Theda Skocpol, who stresses the role maternalist women's organizations played in enacting mother's pensions nationally, In Chicago, "social justice feminists" such as Edith Abbott, Sophonisba Breckinridge, and Julia Lathrop played the decisive role. These women, all associated with Hull House, conducted the research on child welfare and single mothers that helped shape mothers' pensions policy. Linking mothers' aid to broader issues of women's economic vulnerability and low wages, they promoted an activist state that guaranteed support for single-mother families. While not directly involved in the bill's enactment, after it passed they worked tirelessly to centralize the mothers' aid program and to ensure that it was securely funded and professionally staffed. Skocpol argued that mothers' pensions programs became weak and miserly partly because the maternalist lobby lost interest once the laws were passed. In Chicago, women's clubs intensified their lobbying activities after the program began, campaigning to expand eligibility and increase appropriations well into the 1920s. Because of their efforts, appropriations for mothers' pensions outpaced those for both general relief and the Cook County budget. The fiscal politics weakened the program from the start. Despite the broad consensus among policy makers, charities and women's groups in favor of some form of subsidy for poor mothers, the passage of the mothers' pensions bill led to sharp conflict over the program's cost, and who would control it. In 1913 a revised bill drastically restricted eligibility and specified wage-work requirements for recipients. Although the women's lobby managed to soften the eligibility restrictions and expand benefits, the central concept of mother's pensions had changed from one that sought justice and a minimum standard of living for single mother families to one that mirrored relief policies. The most important and innovative argument pertains to the centrality of wage-earning in mothers' pension policy. Despite the lofty rhetoric of supporters, mothers' pensions never paid enough to permit women to stay home with their children. In reality, pensions were a wage subsidy, not a replacement, and most recipients were required to earn part of their support. Social workers paid lip service to the value of women's work in childrearing, but insufficient funds kept pensions low. At the same time, dominant ideas about race and morality led social workers to see some mothers as having a greater "ability to earn" than others. African Americans, deserted and divorced mothers, and women with only one child were most likely to be considered employable; they were frequently denied pensions and directed to other programs (such as relief) that had lower benefits and higher expectations for earning. The pension programs are embedded the racial discrimination and moral regulation, but highlights how they intersected with fiscal politics (Ladd-Taylor, 1998).. There is a four-year lifetime limit on cash assistance. Work is a major component of TANF; adult recipients with a child over age 1 will be required to participate in a work activity. These work activities help recipients gain the experience needed to find a job and become self-sufficient (TANF, 2000). Total TANF recipients (February 2000): 129,822 (99,817 children, 30,005 adults) Number of cases (families): 53,171 TANF budget, FY 99: $184.8 million ($54.4 million state funds) From January 1997 to June 2000, the number of families receiving cash assistance has decreased by 53.8 percent, or 61,994 families. TANF makes up 11 percent of DHR's budget, or 2 percent of the state's FY 2000 budget. Average number of families and individuals receiving cash assistance each month. The following Figure 1 deliberately shows that coverage of TANF from 1995 to February 2000 of Chicago. Figure 1: Coverage of TANF 1995-Feb, 2000 TANF facilities have been benefited a lot of Americans in the following ways (TANF, 2000): Legal immigrants make up about 2.4 percent of those receiving cash assistance. About 82 percent of all families receiving TANF have three or fewer people in the family; 11 percent have four, and 7 percent have more than four. The average length of time families with an adult included in the grant have been receiving TANF is 18.3 months. As of September 1999, about 17 percent of all families with an adult had been receiving TANF continuously since January 1997. Average monthly cash benefit through February 2000: $223 Average family size: 3 (mother, 2 children) Maximum monthly benefit for family of three: $280 Poverty level for a family of three: $1,157/month Standard of need for family of three: $424/month Percentage of TANF families with a working member: 9 percent According to the statistics households managed by single mothers in 1970s were 12% of the total US household population; it grew to reach 18% of the total in 1980s and in 1990s it reached around 21% approximately. Over these years this has been responded in a different manner compared to the previous responses it received. Initially, there was slow acceptance of single mothers in society but today it is accepted more easily; but still the concept differs society to society. Being a single mother was looked down upon and was negatively viewed in many cultures. But, today societies are becoming more individualistic and lives are changing. This has resulted in changes in two areas specifically. First, more women are entering the workforce because they are in dire need of earning the money to support their families and maintain a certain standard of living. Previously, people were more bonded with their families, neighborhood and kinship, but today, being individualistic has caused people to act independently and do not care much about what and how others are affected. This as opposed to the 1990s has changed the labor market structure also; today women are more dedicated to work and less towards their family which is the need of the employment. Another change that has occurred in the social condition of women is that they are more status quo oriented while previously they identified themselves with their families. A very imperative implication is the change in the social values and trends, since women are the driving force to shape these values and inculcate them in the generations to come. As mentioned earlier, female employment rates have increased considerably, and to this change pension policy makers have responded differently in different organizations. The policy makers is seeing it as a challenge because of legal marriages loosing there value because of increase in the number of divorces, more people, especially women are living as single parents or otherwise the general trend is towards decreasing marriage rates in the masses. So, now the issue here is the response of the pension policy makers. In past, marriage was considered as a financial necessity. But, women as they work, now stay out of home more than usual and du rot their increased outside activity marriage is no more the regular norm as it once was. The trend has given rise to extra marital births, previously in 1980s and 1990s every tenth child was born outside marriage but in the contemporary period the count shows that every fourth child is outside marriage born. This resulted in increasing problems for young adults in starting the family. Considering European Union as an example where majority of the work force comprises of older women; these women earned lower pensions because they constituted a minority sector of the participation in the labor force. Conversely, the later reform of old age pensions as well as the first reform of the occupational pension scheme in 2003 indeed combined several issues that respond to very different sorts of needs. In the 10th reform of the basic pension scheme, an increase in women's age of retirement from 62 to 64 years was planned in order to secure the pension scheme against overall financial pressure, clearly an "old" reform issue. The same reform, however, also included the introduction of pension splitting for spouses, which clearly refers to concerns of gender equality and individualization. The flexibility of the retirement age is somewhat difficult to qualify, but it also responds to the wish to individualize the personal organization of the employment biography. Even more clearly, the first reform of the occupational pension scheme in 2003 combined elements of retrenchment in the level of pensions (increase in the age of retirement and cuts in pension levels) with expansive measures on behalf of new risk groups, such as part-time and low income earners (lowering of access threshold) and spouses not living according to the male breadwinner model (introduction of a widowers pension). The last issue, i.e. the ceiling of insurable incomes, however, is difficult to classify, because it does not redistribute money, but limits the possibilities for very high incomes to make (tax-free) saving in the occupational pension system. Taking example of Germany (Voegeli), initially prior to 1990s there were equal pension rights for widows and widowers, reforms were made for educational pension credit for one year per child at least which benefited the young mothers who were relatively non active; and there was continuation and extension of the minimum pension for low income earners with insufficient insurance, this benefited mainly people mainly people who did not have any continuous employment biography and also extended to part time workers. Later in the 1990s educational pension credits were extended up to three years compared to just a single year in the 1980s. All educational credits were summed for the early retirement rights, which was a benefit to the mothers and it resulted in years of child rearing count in the waiting period for anticipated retirement. Minimum pension for the low income earners continued throughout as was happening previously and continued to benefit mothers without continuous employment and the part time workers. The retirement age was increased during the decade, possibilities for early retirement were tightened and early retirements if any were forced not to happen by penalizing any case with reduction in pension. This resulted in imposition of loss for any violation of standard. The pension was indexed to the net wages instead of the gross wages which was the norm previously. As we move into today, then there we see extension of educational pension credit, for both part time working and also the non working mothers, according to the number of children they have. There was introduction of the possibility of choosing to split contributions and benefits for spouses who benefited divorced women and also the single mothers. Widow's pensions were lowered which compensated for widows having children. There was introduction and encouragement of private pension schemes with incentives for low income earners and parents. There were cuts in the level of benefits, there was individualization of poverty relief in case of social welfare for poor pensioners, and the income of children is not taken into account any more to calculate the entitlements. And lastly there was introduction of minimum pension coverage for low income earners and people without pension rights. Conclusion Over the years in US too pension policy has been retrenched and expanded. The expansion side includes coverage in the standard number of employees, higher level of benefits, pension indexation; while in the 1980s retrenchment policies have been directed towards the pension reforms, non-indexation of the pension and lower replacements rates were the part. Later in the 1990s expansion elements became the part because of the social changes and the demands placed and the move towards the post industrialist society was also recognized. This transition was characterized by the changing gender roles and the family structures. From the perspective of the 1990s, the failures of mothers' pensions seem overwhelming, but the program's achievements are not overlooked. Mothers' pensions signified public acceptance of providing some financial support for poor women and children. They placed the distribution of aid in new public bureaucracies, detaching them from the more erratic private charity and political patronage systems. Finally, they significantly increased tax dollars for aid. Still, the contradictions evident in the early years of mothers' pensions continue to influence welfare policy. The most significant failure of the mothers' pensions experiment was the disappearance of its recognition of women's domestic labor. Supporters originally advocated mothers' pensions as "justice for mothers" and a reward for maternal service, but the program quickly became a partial subsidy for children. Fiscal politics, conventional ideas about race and morality, and scepticism about government activism tightened the connection between welfare and wage-earning. In the end, support for single mother families was a form of relief, not an entitlement. The mothers' pensions system need for further research into the local implementation of mothers' aid. Did women's organizations serve as a counterbalance to fiscal conservatives in other jurisdictions as well How did welfare politics play out across the country, and what was the impact on recipients The last issue, i.e. the ceiling of insurable incomes, however, is difficult to classify, because it does not redistribute money, but limits the possibilities for very high incomes to make (tax-free) saving in the occupational pension system. The central concept of mother's pensions had changed from one that sought ... pertains to the centrality of wage-earning in mothers' pension policy. References Goodwin, Joanne L. Gender and the Politics of Welfare Reform: Mothers' Pensions in Chicago, 1911-1929. (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Ladd-Taylor, Molly. Book reviews on Gender and the Politics of Welfare Reform: Mothers Pension in Chicago, 1911-1929. Journal of Social History, Winter, 1998. http:// TANF at a glance, DHR Office of Communications, May 2000 http://www2.state.ga.us/Departments/DHR/tanfg.html Voegeli, W. Single women and their families: the case of Germany. Read More