The Wages of Motherhood

by Mink, Gwendolyn

• ISBN13: 9780801422348
• ISBN10: 0801422345
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-06-01
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

Entering the vigorous debate about the nature of the American welfare state, The Wages of Motherhood illuminates ways in which a "maternalist" social policy emerged from the crucible of gender and racial politics between the world wars. Gwendolyn Mink here examines the cultural dynamics of maternalist social policy, which have often been overlooked by institutional and class analyses of the welfare state. Mink maintains that the movement for welfare provisions, while resulting in important gains, reinforced existing patterns of gender and racial inequality. She explores how Anglo American women reformers, as they gained increasing political recognition, promoted an ideology of domesticity that became the core of maternalist social policy. Focusing on reformers such as Jane Addams, Grace Abbott, Katherine Lenroot, and Frances Perkins, Mink shows how they helped shape a social policy premised on moral character and cultural conformity rather than universal entitlement.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
PART ONE
The Promise of Motherhood: Maternalist Social Policy between the Wars	3	(24)
Wages for Motherhood: Mothers' Pensions and Cultural Reform	27	(26)
``A Baby Saved Is a Citizen Gained'': Infancy Protection and Maternal Reform	53	(24)
PART TWO
Schooling for Motherhood: Woman's Role and ``American'' Culture in the Curriculum	77	(20)
Cultural Reform across the Color Line: Maternalists and the Politics of Educational Provision	97	(26)
PART THREE
Maternalism in the New Deal Welfare State: Women's Dependency, Racial Inequality, and the Icon of Welfare Motherhood	123	(28)
Wage Earning or Motherhood: Maternalist Labor Policy during World War II	151	(23)
Afterword Postmaternalist Welfare Politics	174	(19)
Index	193