The conception of law makers' (influenced by the overall societal attitude) views on gender roles in families affect how they distribute taxes for men and women who work, and also the development of social security. It is interesting to see how societal attitudes affect the rights of workers. [preconceptions that have shaped the experience of women]
The author shows the development of social policy from the New Deal to the 1970s, showing the deeply embedded set of beliefs that had distorted seemingly neutral social legislation to further limit freedom and equality of women. "Government rules generally sought to protect women from exploitation, even from employment itself; but at the same time, they attached the most important benefits to wage work. To be a real citizen, one must earn--and most policymakers (even female ones) assumed from the beginning that women were not, and should not be, breadwinners. Kessler-Harris traces the impact of this gender bias in the New Deal programs of Social Security, unemployment insurance, and fair labor standards, in Federal income tax policy, and the new discussion of women's rights that emerged after World War II."
-a lack of individual economic freedom for women and old assumptions up till the 1960s and '70s (but the break-down process is not complete yet)
P: I chose to read this book because of its title and even though it is quite a boring read for me as I am not knowledgeable in either US history, economics, or legislation, I found myself just reading over the names of policy makers and policies. The only part I could understand was the gender roles and their concerns about how wage-earning relate to the providence for families. I guess I was expecting more discussion about the actual settings in families and stories of real people in workforces rather than the process the policymakers went through.
1-9 October, 2017
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
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