WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF INCOME MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES FOR FEMALE BASED HOUSEHOLDS (HUNGARY, ISRAEL, SWEDEN, WORK)

It is predicted that the poverty population may be composed solely of women and their children by the year 2000. Given that womens' caregiving work is critical to society this thesis asks how it is that income support policies apparently support these households more poorly than policies undergirding male based families. This examination looks at income support strategies for female householders in the United States, Hungary, Israel, and Sweden. The U.S. policies, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and Survivor Benefits were examined through historic records, Social Security planners' data, and program accounts. Foreign policies were examined using government publications, secondary data and personal correspondence. Finally the thesis examines proposals for waging domestic sector work and develops an alternative model. Analysis revealed the poverty of female-householders is an old problem and long neglected. Orphanages generally housed half-orphans, the children of poor, mother only families. When orphanages were closed, less than three percent of these families received any assistance. Anti-poverty efforts developed along two streams, concern for the poverty of children and concern for the wage earner. Both streams neglected female householders, even though U.S. planners knew that in 1930 they were the largest group of the very poorest in the nation. Survivor Benefits were planned to supplant ADC, but figure show less than half of ADC recipients were widow's families. Examination of policies abroad revealed that many aimed at bringing about sexual, economic equality have made differences for female householders. Yet they are still poorer than male householders, and women are still concentrated in low wage occupations and suffer from dual work loads. This study concludes that one way for policy to impact the income and work load discrepancies women face is to develop methods for waging caregiving work. The final section examines Parents Wages and Wages for Housework and develops another model, Caregiver Wages, which it argues offers the most potential. Until policy fully accounts for vital caregiving work, neither adjustments to the labor market nor tinkering with current support programs will substantially impact female householder poverty.