Work and Family Commitments of Low-Income and Impoverished Women

Guilt Is for Mothers with Good Jobs

Judith Hennessy

Conflict between work and family life is an all too familiar experience for many Americans. The difficult choices facing women who combine paid work with childcare are the subject of a deluge of books and articles in addition to an ongoing public debate about how women and men should balance their work and family commitments. Although we know a great deal about the social and cultural environment fueling these contradictions among middle-class and upper middle class women, we know little about the forces that influence poor and low-income women. Work and Family Commitments of Low-Income and Impoverished Women addresses this omission and gives voice to women in poverty as it traces the moral and cultural structures that help shape the meaning and value of paid work and motherhood among a group of mothers who rely on welfare or a combination of low-wage work and welfare to provide and care for their families. This portrayal of poor women’s lives rarely enters the work-life debate over women’s choices, generally characterized as between mothers who have to work versus those who choose to. Judith Hennessy puts low-income women front and center to shed light on less explored aspects of the moral and cultural foundations of contemporary work and family conflict from interviews and survey data of a group of low-income and poor mothers on and off welfare.

Hennessey explores the paradox in American society where combining paid work with caring for children continues to generate considerable ambivalence (and often guilt) on the part of married middle-class mothers for devoting too much time to paid work and supposedly neglecting their children. While poor and working class mothers who might otherwise rely on welfare are relegated to working at low-wage jobs outside the home in fulfillment of their family responsibilities.

Lexington Books

Pages: 190 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-0-7391-8679-4 • Hardback • March 2015 • $121.00 • (£93.00)

978-1-4985-5054-3 • Paperback • November 2016 • $54.99 • (£42.00)

978-0-7391-8680-0 • eBook • March 2015 • $52.00 • (£40.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Women's Studies, Family & Relationships / Parenting / Motherhood, Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family, Social Science / Sociology of Work

Work and Family Commitments of Low-Income and Impoverished Women

Guilt Is for Mothers with Good Jobs

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Conflict between work and family life is an all too familiar experience for many Americans. The difficult choices facing women who combine paid work with childcare are the subject of a deluge of books and articles in addition to an ongoing public debate about how women and men should balance their work and family commitments. Although we know a great deal about the social and cultural environment fueling these contradictions among middle-class and upper middle class women, we know little about the forces that influence poor and low-income women. Work and Family Commitments of Low-Income and Impoverished Women addresses this omission and gives voice to women in poverty as it traces the moral and cultural structures that help shape the meaning and value of paid work and motherhood among a group of mothers who rely on welfare or a combination of low-wage work and welfare to provide and care for their families. This portrayal of poor women’s lives rarely enters the work-life debate over women’s choices, generally characterized as between mothers who have to work versus those who choose to. Judith Hennessy puts low-income women front and center to shed light on less explored aspects of the moral and cultural foundations of contemporary work and family conflict from interviews and survey data of a group of low-income and poor mothers on and off welfare.

Hennessey explores the paradox in American society where combining paid work with caring for children continues to generate considerable ambivalence (and often guilt) on the part of married middle-class mothers for devoting too much time to paid work and supposedly neglecting their children. While poor and working class mothers who might otherwise rely on welfare are relegated to working at low-wage jobs outside the home in fulfillment of their family responsibilities.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 190 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-0-7391-8679-4 • Hardback • March 2015 • $121.00 • (£93.00)

978-1-4985-5054-3 • Paperback • November 2016 • $54.99 • (£42.00)

978-0-7391-8680-0 • eBook • March 2015 • $52.00 • (£40.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Women's Studies, Family & Relationships / Parenting / Motherhood, Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family, Social Science / Sociology of Work

Author

Judith Hennessy is associate professor of sociology and social services and director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Central Washington University.

Table of Contents

1. The Paradox
Women’s Work and Family Choices
Opting Out
Welfare Assistance and Work and Family Decisions
Divergent Values
Devotion Schemas
Poor Mothers’ Schemas
Work Commitment Schema
Family Commitment Schema
The Study
Overview of the Book
1. Historical Context From Mothers’ Aid to Personal Responsibility
Maternalist Welfare State
ADC to AFDC
The War on Poverty—1960s
Work Incentive Program
The Family Assistance Plan
Retrenchment
Family Support Act
Ending Welfare As We Knew It: PRWORA
The Cultural Contradiction in PRWORA
1. Work Commitment: Learning to Love Labor
Theorizing Work and Family Conflict through Cultural Schema
Work Commitment
Work Commitment Defined
I Never Give Up
Rewards From Working Outside the Home
Personal Rewards
Character
Examples for Children
Working for Family
Working Mothers Are Not Welfare Mothers
Mothers Need to Work
Job Quality
Work and Family Trade-offs
Giving up on June Cleaver
Work or Family?
1. Family Commitment: Guilt is for Mothers with Good Jobs
Family Commitment Schema
Family Commitment Defined
Competing Schemas
Paid Work and Caring for Children Are Two Opposite Things
Family Commitment: The “Natural” Gendered Schema
The Social Costs of Mothers’ Work outside the Home
Actually It Is Freedom of Choice
“Mommy Wars”
Family Values
I Just Thought I Would Take Care of the Children
Conclusion
1. Work and Family at the Welfare Office
Nobody Likes Welfare
Welfare Mothers
We’ll Give You Help, but Not a Gravy Train
They’re Not There to Help You
Paying the Daycare but Not the Moms?
They Want You to Work
You Can’t Just Throw Somebody into a Job
Support for Educational Goals
Penalties for Work and Family Choices
What if Your Kid Gets Sick?
Sending Three-Month-Old Infants to Daycare
Conclusion
1. Survey Findings
Descriptive Findings
Regression Analysis
Independent Variables
Dependent Variables
OLS Regression Findings
Compatibility of Paid Work and Childrearing
Traditional Family Values
Welfare to Work
1. Conclusion
Work and Family Paradox
Why Study Low-income Mothers?
Gendered Schemas
The End of Welfare
Work Commitment
Family Commitment
At the Welfare Office
Public Policy
Meeting the Needs of Families
Appendix A: Methods and Data
Interview process
Survey Design and Sample
Survey Instrument
Administering the Survey
Quantitative Analysis
Dependent Variables
Independent Variables
References

Reviews

Noting the paradox that professional, well-educated, married, upper- and middle-class women are praised for trading career for the 'mommy track' and staying home to care for their children, poor and impoverished mothers can gain moral worth only if they work outside the home, the author seeks to examine family and work balance for these mostly overlooked women. Based on 39 in-depth interviews and over 200 survey questionnaires with a diversity of poor women, young and older, married, divorced, and single, the analysis follows several cultural schemas organized around work and family commitments. Sociologist Hennessy examines welfare policy in light of negative stereotypes associated with women on welfare as they navigate the welfare bureaucracy to fulfill work requirements in order to stay on public assistance. The largely qualitative study, built around poignant life stories, is complemented by a quantitative analysis of welfare data. The study concludes with implications of the findings for work and family study and public policy, including a plea for more sensitive approaches to studying poor women, as well as greater appreciation for the complexity of their lives . . . the author finds that all mothers, poor and affluent, desire meaningful work without having to sacrifice the well-being of their children. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.
— Choice Reviews

Hennessy provides an informative and careful examination of terrain often neglected in studies of work-family balance. Her nuanced research on the gendered moral and emotional forces shaping poor and low-income women’s experiences greatly expands our understanding of work and family obligations.
— Jill Weigt, California State University San Marcos