Creating gender
Subtitle: the sexual politics of welfare policy
By: Cathy Marie Johnson, Georgia Duerst-Lahti, Noelle H. Norton.
Contributors: Duerst-Lahti, Georgia, 1955-; Norton, Noelle H., 1958-
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Boulder, Colo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 262
ISBN-13: 9781588264886
Subjects: United States; Public welfare -- United States; Family policy -- United States; Sex role -- Government policy -- United States; Gender identity -- United States
Description: Seldom do we notice, let alone explicitly acknowledge, that public policies set distinct parameters for gender. But as Creating Gender compellingly demonstrates, in reality governments do use policy?to legitimize and support some gender-based behaviors, while undermining others. Looking in depth at the case of welfare reform, but considering a wide range of policy arenas, the authors examine how government policymaking in essence defines the?proper? nature of males and females. At the heart of their analysis is an effort to resolve questions about how policies determine what women and men must do to be granted standing as good citizens?and what benefits they can subsequently accrue. The result is a clear yet sophisticated exploration of the troublesome, sometimes insidious, ways in which gender ideology works in tandem with conventional political ideologies in the United States today. Cathy Marie Johnson is professor of political science and W. Ford Schumann Faculty Fellow in Democratic Studies at Williams College. Her publications include The Dynamics of Conflict Between Bureaucrats and Legislators. Georgia Duerst-Lahti is professor of political science at Beloit College. She is author of Gender Power, Leadership, and Government.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Making gender, making policy; title: On creating gender; title: Toward a suitably complex framework of analysis; title: Unfolding gender paradigms: a history of sexual politics in welfare policy; title: Making masculine mothers: vanquishing feminality; title: Policy casts fathers:; title: Deadbeats and scofflaws, good guys and promise keepers; title: Gender ideology in practice: the case of Wisconsin's legislature; title: Measuring gender's influence in congressional policy making; title: Recognizing of the sexual politics of policy.