Poverty and the Patriarchy: Examining the Implications of Patriarchal Systems in the Pauperization of Single Motherhood Since the Enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
Creators: name: MacMillan, Dory J.G.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2017

description: The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRA),
passed through a bipartisan Congress, secured a promise avowed by decades of politicians: the
“end of welfare as we know it” (Semuels, 2016). “Welfare” is a colloquial term, used as
holistically to describe government subsidies in the form of cash transfers and food stamps. It has
existed in the United States in various forms since the late 19th century, when most forms of
welfare were doled out by churches and private organizations (Placido 2015, 2). Pensions, an
early form of welfare, started as economic support for qualifying soldiers after the Revolutionary
War (Jensen 2005). Since its earliest conception, a conversation surrounding “worthiness” has
informed the design and implementation of welfare policies.
Welfare, then, cannot be divorced from morality; a belief in Christian duty guided the
church’s responsibility to early poor Americans. Nor can it be divorced from the social context in
which it has been and continues to be regulated. An idea of morality has been socially
promulgated since the conception of this country due in part to the church’s significant role in
shaping early welfare systems. In 1935, in response to widespread economic distress after the
Great Depression, Congress passed the Social Security Act, establishing welfare programs an
entitlement, primarily for elder, dependent children, and disabled individuals (Hansan 2011).
This framework was reconstructed with the passage of the PRA in 1996, which eradicated
welfare as an entitlement and repurposed its programs serving children and women to promote
two-parent households. The PRA serves not as a pathway to economic stability but as coercive
legislation that empowers women only insofar as they adhere to societal standards of “good”
motherhood and womanhood.
In this thesis, I examine the influence of patriarchal norms on welfare policy, focusing on
the treatment of women in its policy design and its subsequent impact on women. I argue that
“worthiness” for economic support is interpreted through the lenses of patriarchy and racism, and
that the intersection of patriarchy and racism produces social policy which treats single mothers
as deviant from patriarchal standards and therefore less worthy of substantive support.
It will be compared to other legislation focused on economic stimulus of disenfranchised
groups, underscoring gendered differences based on the stakeholders and targeted groups. Given
the differential success and support options given to other vulnerable groups, it is clear that
designing policy that dismantles patriarchal norms will be key in creating equitable policy
solutions to systemic issues of racism and sexism. Exposing PRA’s patriarchal roots requires a
thorough analysis of systems of patriarchy in order to recommend policy changes that can
effectively reduce poverty rates while promoting female empowerment.