Welfare State in the UK as a Good Thing for Women - Essay Example

Welfare in the UK was good thing for women By 07 January A welfare includes expenses by United Kingdom government. The expenses are aimed at addressing issues of social security, health, employment, and education (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). In the traditional society, social policy was characterized by many objects and subjects analysis that were not gendered. Anything that concerned and affected women were greatly ignored (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). This does not mean that gendering is just about women, recent developments have seen the discovery of insights of men in social policy (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). Although not all social policy analyses are gendered, today social policy has taken on board some of the insights from feminist analysis. The insights taken on board have greatly enriched social policy study. This short paper aims at discussing the advantages or benefits of welfare state in the United Kingdom on women. Some insights of feminism in social policy can be found barely written in some works of the mid twentieth feminist campaigners or sometimes hidden in their writings. The campaigners highlighted, in their debates about emerging welfare services, the needs of women together with those of their children and the implication of women’s citizenships. There has been issue of women relying on male support especially on financial aspect (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). This issue of economic dependence was a strong issue among the campaigners of the 1970s, whose main goal was to re-gender the social policy. This prompted the ‘financial and legal dependence’ to be adopted as one among the demands of British women liberation movement. Lewis et al. (2000) challenged the government’s policy that made women dependent on their husbands or men. Women’s Liberation Campaign for Legal and Financial Independence raised concerns and lobbied for a number of social policies, more importantly on the income maintenance part, that greatly boosted women’s economic dependence (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). Set of key moves, which are interrelated, concerning people concepts locale and resources are involved in the social policy gendering in the feminists perspective(s). Some institutional bases contain social policy analysis. Labour-market, and to a greater extent the state, were the core surroundings of the social policy analysis, more recently augmented by private and voluntary sectors with the development of mixed economy of welfare. This illuminated further ways in which a family can interact with the other institutional bases and gender their nature too. How one experiences the labour market, family and different forms of welfare greatly depends on gender (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). The feminist analysis has disapproved The notion that the state has taken the familys position by introducing modern welfare state. Feminist analysis has clearly elaborated and shown different ways in which the family operates as a site of production as much as it is a consumption site. The main source of care given to the elderly and children is the family. Women in most cases provide this care services. Many feminists have identified the family as a site where women are oppressed as opposed to being a haven from a cruel world for men. Among black women, their families have been widely seen as a site of resistance to oppression by racists. This made the family to be a major critique point of white feminism by their black counterparts. On the other hand, the family was a source of solidarity against totalitarian and oppressive regimes in the Eastern Europe. The family, therefore, plays a very big role in preparing and shaping both men and women’s interactions with the state (Anttonen, 2002). Universalism principle can often be referred to as descriptions of social policy and Nordic welfare state system, which forms the main pillar in the process of modernizing social policy among the Nordic countries. These countries attempt to get away from poor relief tradition stigmatization, by extending the social insurance to all people instead of compensating only these that earn wages. Establishment of universal access to basic welfare services has further promoted solidarity and equity between classes, especially between men and women. This universalism concept has been ad still is a precondition in promoting peace (Anttonen, 2002) The modes of social policies and universal categories are masculine in nature, and that are formulated to serve in the interest of male citizens only. A similar argument is found in feminist scholarship that states that the social policy is split into two, masculine and feminine, where the men are viewed as workers. Men’s (Universal citizens) social risks are covered by the insurance schemes put in place, and, on the other hand, women are neglected and viewed as mother-carers who only need basic protection and counselling. Women’s social rights are less well established than men’s are. Originally, the rights of women were expunged from the category of universal modes of social policy. Femininity and Feminine values were later included in social rights and social citizenship. It is now clear the newly established modern moral agency of states was initially male and represented by male only. Making only one sex connected to knowledge, doings, willpower while the other sex remains attached to family obligations and some passivity (Anttonen, 2002). For example, according to a philosophy by Hegel, women had no role in matters of state. Here the unity of people is turned into a self-conscious political nation. One’s position in the market is the core principle in Universalism that is based on social rights and citizenship. It has been closely associated with socio-economic inequalities and class conflicts. Universalisms language is that social policy has been gender neutral as opposed to gender sensitive. Only after the Nordic feminists researched on the social policy was universalism redesigned and revalued. The focus of feminist scholars is the social services and the universality of these services. Recent research in the Nordic countries indicates that universalism is a very important goal to women (Anttonen, 2002). These women have not only realized benefits from universal solutions but also participated actively in promoting the politics of social policy especially the social services part. Embedded in a unique kind of epistemology is the language of universality. Instead of method of diversity, universalism has encouraged the method of unity, in the context of social policy (Anttonen, 2002). It can be described as technology that has enabled important historical building of nations-states and an equal community of citizens. When one describes benefits as universal, he or she means that these benefits are universal for citizens belonging to a particular nation. For example, Norway or Finland universalism is mostly based on the gender and class solidarity within a country; however, this is not the case in transnational or global solidarity. On the same way, universalism is bound or connected to a community in which the members exhibit some similarities. Equality and equal access are promoted. The community is almost viewed as a state in social policy. Also, part of the language of universalism is the category of people or a nation (Anttonen, 2002). A particular idea of citizenship is closely connected to universalism. The services and benefits that are based on citizenship rights that were declined in 1990, in most countries. In a situation where a country has little public money to spend, often the services and benefits are the first to be expunged from the budget. Earning related benefits is the newly emphasized liberal ideology social policy: where you only earn what you have paid for. This policy also strongly stresses that only those, who are poor, should be assisted with public money, residualism. The policy of universalism does not sit comfortably with the new idea of individualism and liberalization (Anttonen, 2002). The social policy has also encountered some feminist challenges. Some of the feminists vehemently argue that by including housework in the Gross Domestic Product would raise the consciousness of most women (Businessweek Archives, 1995). In contradiction, others did not want the petty explicit calculations of production for the housewives. This was partly since if calculated, it would conflict with another agenda of the group getting women outside the household and into the labour force. The feminist’s challenges to the social policy analysis are to include the analysis of the family as they do labour market and state (Kate, 2013). The restriction of civil, social and political action has greatly limited the development of most women movement thus limiting the challenge of having patriarchal families from within. Gender equality achievements that were outlined by the soviet machinery by providing socially, might change their meaning as compared to those in the west (Pascall & Manning, 2000). Thus gave opportunity to the defining characters of soviet societies, a room for women citizenship was made. These gave a room to look at the transition period. The developing social, political and civil action and the impact these transitions were going to have on gender relations inside and outside of families (Anttonen, 2002, p. 71-80). Social policy on marriage was an important welfare development in the United Kingdom. The women in Britain are known worldwide women in housework. They have been devoting much time to house chores than those in most other countries (Peev, 2013). Women spend longer working hours in the U.K although it is in America where there is little gender-gap. The most important social welfare development for women in United Kingdom included valorising and valuing care work by the government, availability of pensions and pension schemes to women in household chore and the government support on flexible working that allows women to spend time with their families (Kate, 2013). The United Kingdom feminists had persuasively argued that counting housework in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product would promote the "awareness" of women. In contrary, other campaigners did not want inclusion of production by homemakers since it would contradict with their program of delivering women out of the domestic into the industrial labour force (Kate, 2013). The policy issues that caused challenges in the United Kingdom include; work, care household, dependence, and citizenship The women social welfare in the United Kingdom included; special social rights for women only such as maternity leave, positive discrimination/quotas and extra women’s toilets. This was very important in aiding women’s economic dependence, naturalization of women’s skills and knowledge misinterpretation of economic relations within the household and household as unit of GDP measurement (Kate, 2013). The gender dependence social issue, where women depended upon their male partners, was deplorable to women, as the male partner could not afford all the feminist needs. The development of social welfare of empowering women to work in formal places like male counterparts offered opportunities for women to be economically dependent (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). The Women Liberation campaign for legal and financial interdependence played a significant role in the income maintenance area and reinforced women economic dependence. Academic feminist, who helped, shape the direction of the discipline of social policy supported the policies. The social welfare on gender opened up key institutional base as the family. The labour market and other welfare provision became open to women who were once relegated to domestic chore and playing the role of housewives (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). The liberal conceptualization of the state by feminist made the state to be cast as patriarchal, reinforcing and un-regulating unequal gender relations in the interest of men. The state thus transformed its policies in order to accommodate the feminist perceptive. The transformation of policy made the United Kingdom to viewed women friendly nation. This welfare development allowed women to exist as free citizens with equal legal and financial freedom (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). The social welfare of feminization of the labour market has enabled several women to participate in paid employment, widespread endorsement of equal opportunities policies. Strict policies that discourage sexual harassment in workplace and women can now feel the sense of belonging in the public sphere in the workplace (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). The social welfare development of equal rights have discouraged the occupational segregation in the labour market. Men and women are can now perform the same type of roles in most organization without gender discrimination. Although the ideology of family wage earned by male breadwinner is still little high, most organizations have improved women’s wages to level almost equal to men. Some organizations are currently determining the wages based on job description and the performance level rather than on gender basis. This has empowered women to realize that they can take up same gender roles in the society (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). Since women have are exposed to economic position discourages, they thus rely on social security than men and often look to the state for housing. They are unlikely to afford private welfare. The United Kingdom’s government has provided cheaper housing especially for single mothers. It is in the responsibility of welfare providers to ensure women come together with their resources as they look after children and other adults (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). The failure to recognize the significance of private economic dependence for citizenship, which is a theory traditionally premised on interdependence, has been the focus of feminist social policy. Citizenship has been granted to male counterparts while women have limited access and makes it challenging to acquire rights of citizenship (Lewis, Gewirtz, & Clarke, 2000). Since the social welfare change and development on gender equity in the public sphere, women are currently enjoying equal employment rights and freedom. The plan of voluntary workers and families and their association with social welfare has been reputable in a social movement that contests women’s situation. Thus, the values of Western feminists can be hardly extricated from it (Pascall, & Manning, 2000). The welfare development in the UK has been stipulated in constitution on status of women, which describes equality with men. Family and marriage law and other social welfare were liberalized, sexually abusive images and writing forbidden, and equal learning opportunity for women are also promoted in the constitution. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the wide-ranging legislation that outlined women and men as equals, in the 1980s, the formal formation of gender affairs was ingraining inconsistency instead of equality (Pascall, & Manning, 2000) Laws and social welfare development in the United Kingdom was projected to ‘minimize existing skirmishes amid family and occupational obligations. This was possible through yielding more freedoms, lengthy maternal and childcare paid vacation of absence. Additional family grants, restriction of pregnant and nursing women’s working hours, and free health care’ would also be important. A bond of societal investment in childcare and other services has supported women’s participation in paid employment and the labour market. High labour contribution has been achieved, by having women participate fully in remunerated employment (Pascall, & Manning, 2000). The occupational social welfare was an important cause of right under state socialism (Pascall, & Manning, 2000). The chronic labour shortage in the United Kingdom led to the expansion of social provision that initiative welfare became the main source of welfare over the local and central government services. Labour was both ethical value for women and indispensable welfare passport (Pascall, & Manning, 2000). The social policy development reflected assumptions concerning gender relations within family and influence those relations. Systems of family support and benefits may treat men and women as individuals or as members of households. Benefits to either partner will have an impact on relation and spending habits (Pascall, & Manning, 2000). The communist legal custom had a consideration for women in marriage as compared to various countries in Western Europe (Pascall, & Manning, 2000). During the 1980s, there were increasingly inhospitable groups who were besieged in the struggle to achieve progressive social welfare policy benefiting. They included a shift in the federal economic, political, and social policy programs from social-liberalism towards plain liberalism. The desertion of several federal thrust in sustenance of social movements and other interest groups, and more passive approach to the matters of social justice, equity. And finally a stronger level of hostility towards social spending (Mckee, 2009). The ideal of social-individualism was one base from which the feminists and other radicals betrothed in the social policy field. For example, feminist supported robust, substantial public pension, systems and a widespread family allowance, notwithstanding seeking an assurance of individual-based power. Concerning the latter, the status promoted was that women should be treated as deserving. The protection of social security and pension benefits should be given to them in her right, and not as derivative of their husbands rights. This was a routine criticism of pension programs such as Spouses Allowance and Survivor Benefits ((Mckee, 2009). Feminist predilection for individualized benefits came to the forefront when the "universality versus selectivity" matter was debated in the late 1970s. Feminist group’s sustained universality for social solidarity reasons but also due to the recognized potential such benefits and services, they recast private domestic work into a social concern. Thus, giving women benefits as individuals. Selectivity, on the other hand, it was viewed as emphasising private accountability and womens dependence on the family. By the early 1980s, several important non-feminist social policy groups were also questioning the use of the family unit in determining eligibility to social benefits in the United Kingdom (Mckee, 2009). However, social security and poverty were comparatively negligible worries for the womens crusade. It was in view a wide range of matters being addressed such as equal pay, rape, and divorce (Mckee, 2009). Some of feminist researchers and policy analysts, residing within the United Kingdom, have concentrated on the areas of taxation and social security particularly pensions (Mckee, 2009). The lowest advanced Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in the UK and the family leave in Europe illustrated a social policy which influenced women’s path to employment and shaping the patterns of women’s employment particularly, the endurance of their contribution over the life development. The U.K offers innovative tactic to welfare state theory by linking life course and labour market approaches (Gottfried, & Reese, 2003). Understanding the policies influence the arrangements of women’s labour force contribution and the gendered division of labour. The public educational and dual vocational training systems that are unique to U.K are important welfare state development. The public education is due to short hours and lack of rehabilitation programs and the latter due to gender bias in training towards men in industrial and devaluation of old-fashioned women’s work in the service sector. Through experimental analysis, cohorts based on the birth of the first child can be constructed to control the influence of the four key policy reforms. The key reforms include; mother allowance, family leave, maternity leave, and parental leave particularly on women’s work choices and chances in the United Kingdom (Gottfried, & Reese, 2003). The evolution from mother allowance to family leave welfare state development has had the consequence of enhancing the male breadwinner, female career ideal in spite of the diversification of family forms increases female labour force participation. Leave principles have uniform a “baby break among women. Thus, the judgements are conflicting with the standard employment relation and labour market theory (Gottfried, & Reese, 2003). In conclusion, it is an indisputable fact that a welfare state has greatly empowered the woman in the United Kingdom. Both women and men, as the subjects of the welfare, have to negotiate their terms and movements in the family state labour market triad. When and how they will achieve that will be determined by their positions in both private and public spheres and how the two interacts. Regardless, they are active agents in the negotiation and as the gendered agents can approach the process in many different ways and angles (Anttonen, 2002, p. 71-80). References Anttonen, A. (October 01, 2002). Universalism and social policy: a Nordic-feminist revaluation. Nora: Nordic Journal of Womens Studies, 10, 2, 71-80. Businessweek Archives, 1995. Housework: The Missing Piece Of The Economic Pie. [online] Available at: < http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1995-10-15/housework-the-missing-piece-of-the-economic-pie> [Accessed 07 January 2014]. Gottfried, H. E. I. D. I., & Reese, L. A. U. R. A. (March 01, 2003). Gender, Policy, Politics, and Work: Feminist Comparative and Transnational Research. Review of Policy Research, 20, 1, 3-20. Kate M. (2013). Feminist theories of social policy. [online] Available at: < http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/24/high> [Accessed 07 January 2014]. Lewis, G., Gewirtz, S., & Clarke, J. (2000). Rethinking social policy. London: Open University in association with SAGE Publications. 22-34 Mckee, K. (January 01, 2009). Post-Foucauldian governmentality: What does it offer critical social policy analysis? Critical Social Policy, 29, 3, 465-486. Pascall, G., & Manning, N. (January 01, 2000). Gender and social policy: comparing welfare states in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Journal of European Social Policy, 10, 3, 240-266. Peev, G, 2013. British women are world leaders... in housework! They devote more time to chores than those in most other countries. Available at: < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2487879/Women-work-harder-men-especially-Italy-11-hours-week.html> [Accessed 07 January 2014]. Read More