Regulating the Lives of Women

Mimi Abramovitz, the Bertha Capen Reynolds Professor of Social Policy in the Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, City University of New York, USA, writes extensively about women, welfare, poverty and activism. From welfare caseworker to welfare rights organizer to welfare state scholar, Abramovitz has galvanized a generation of students explaining how public policy shapes the lives of white women and women of color and how they fight back.

"Regulating the Lives of Women is an essential resource. A classic account of how gendered social policies shape poor women’s options, this new edition is especially important given the end of welfare and growing challenges to women’s well-being."Alice Kessler-Harris, author of In Pursuit of Equity and R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History, Columbia University, USA"Regulating the Lives of Women, a nuanced history of American social welfare policy through a feminist lens, reveals how gendered and racialized division of labor and the racialized institutions frame social policy and the lives of all women. Defining the welfare state as an arena of political struggle, the book is a must for students, researchers, progressive policy makers and activists who will find it both insightful and, better yet, useful."John Ehrenreich, author of Third Wave Capitalism and Professor of Psychology at SUNY Old Westbury, USA"Well-researched, coherent, and powerful, the book is today’s must-read. Appeals to both younger and older generations who are upset about the assault on women’s rights and interested in the historical roots of today's public policies." Michael Reisch, Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice, University of Maryland, USA"Regulating the Lives of Women captures the soul of activism and pushes intellectual boundaries with rigor. Having used this book in classes in Harlem, the rural Mountain West, and the Ivy-League, I saw it transform these very different students from dispassionate policy observers to eager and critical thinkers of the gendered welfare state."Amy Castro Baker, Associate Professor, School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, USA

• Acknowledgments, Preface, Introduction 1. A Feminist Perspective on the Welfare State 2. The Colonial Family Ethic: The Development of Families, the Ideology of Women’s Roles, and the Labor of Women 3. Women and the Poor Laws in Colonial America 4. "A Woman’s Place is in the Home": The Rise of the Industrial Family Ethic 5. Women and the Nineteenth Century Relief 6. Poor Women and Progressivism: Protective Labor Law and Mothers’ Pensions 7. The Great Depression and the Social Security Act: The Emergence of the Modern Welfare State 8. Old Age Insurance 9. Unemployment Insurance 10. Aid to Families with Dependent Children: Single Mothers in the Twentieth Century 11. Restoring the Family Ethic: The Assault on Women and the Welfare State in the 1980s and 1990s , Conclusion , Index