Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context: Uncovering the Gendered Structure of ‘the Social’

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a renewed interest in social policies, and some governments have increased social spending to soften the impacts of economic reform. These changes have come in the wake of widespread realization of the failure of the neoliberal economic model to generate economic growth and dynamism, and to reduce poverty. At the same time, processes of political liberalization have opened spaces for social movements in many parts of the developing world to articulate demands for more effective social policies that mitigate the effects of market failures and reduce inequalities. These contestations have coincided with a rediscovery of 'the social' in the policy oriented literature, widely understood to embrace the cluster of social and political institutions, norms, and relationships that define the boundaries of market exchange, reduce transaction costs and enhance social and political stability. Polanyi's (1957) seminal work that showed the market to be a political and social construct is widely _________ * We thank Alexandra Efthymiades for excellent research assistance, James Heintz for the preparation of tables, and Francie Lund and Silke Steinhilber for extensive comments on an earlier draft of this chapter.

Contentious Care: Foster Care Grants and the Caregiver–Orphan Relationship in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

“…The FCG is mediated by the caregivers, who collect it, but it is intended to be delivered to the orphan on behalf of the state. Caregivers are treated simply as intermediaries, with scant attention paid to their rights, roles and responsibilities; rather, it is the discourse of children's rights that has influenced the African National Congress's (ANC) position (Hassim, 2006). Feminists are likely to argue that this difference is probably yet another illustration of the ways in which women's unpaid work continues to be unrecognized (Conrad & Doss, 2008;Akintola, 2008).…”

Revisiting Global Welfare Regimes: Gender, (In)formal Employment and Care

“…Additionally, in welfare state regimes, women are still facing significant pay gender gaps and obstacles for achieving both career progression and forming families while in the case of informal welfare regimes this might not be possible due to the constraints that apply as a result of limited formal employment opportunities. It is well established that labour markets play a key role in reproducing gender-based segmentation both in the sphere of production but also social reproduction (see Hassim and Razavi, 2006;Bakker and Silvey, 2008) with many countries even in the OECD displaying significant gender inequalities in accessing labour market and social protection (Karamessini and Rubery, 2013). As women continue to face institutional barriers in paid work (Kabeer, 2015), it is worth exploring whether women are more likely to be overrepresented in informal employment and also how they fare against men in formal labour markets in both Global South and Global North welfare regimes.…”

Wczesne rodzicielstwo - zagrożenie czy szansa? Nastoletni rodzice z łódzkich enklaw biedy

“…Jednakże gender -płeć kulturowa -jednocześnie wpływa na założenia i realizację polityki społecznej (por. Gordon 1990;Sainsbury 2001Sainsbury , 2003Hassim, Razavi 2002;Daly, Rake 2003). "Bycie kobietą" i "bycie mężczyzną" może ułatwiać bądź ograniczać dostęp do usług, świadczeń, programów; może również sprawić, że dana osoba w różny sposób i w różnym zakresie z nich korzysta.…”