Lone motherhood, welfare reform and active citizen subjectivity

Pulkingham, Jane; Fuller, Sylvia; Kershaw, Paul

doi:10.1177/0261018309358292

Cited by 46 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…As such, discourses of responsibility have become entrenched in systems and emphasis on personal responsibility for health has obscured the role of systems as health inequities proliferate. There has been some attention given to the importance of context and the impact of neo-liberalism in relation to marginalizing discourses in health care that blame individuals for poor health outcomes and further stigmatize individuals for behaviors such as drug use or poverty, or on the basis of gender or ethnic associations (e.g., Anderson et al 2009;Bungay et al 2009;Klodawsky et al 2006;Pauly et al 2009;Pulkingham et al 2010).We suggest that these same conditions are impacting providers and the development of moral distress. In the same way that individuals are blamed for their poor health so are health care providers found to be weak or failing when moral distress is constructed as primarily an individual concern.…”

Section: Contextual Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 78%

Moral Distress: Tensions as Springboards for Action

et al. 2012

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In the previous four papers in this series, individual versus structural or contextual factors have informed various understandings of moral distress. In this final paper, we summarize some of the key tensions raised in previous papers and use these tensions as springboards to identify directions for action among practitioners, educators, researchers, policymakers and others. In particular, we recognize the need to more explicitly politicize the concept of moral distress in order to understand how such distress arises from competing values within power dynamics across multiple interrelated contexts from interpersonal to international. We propose that the same socio-political values that tend to individualize and blame people for poor health without regard for social conditions in which health inequities proliferate, hold responsible, individualize and even blame health care providers for the problem of moral distress. Grounded in a critical theoretical perspective of context, definitions of moral distress are re-examined and refined. Finally, recommendations for action that emerge from a re-conceptualized understanding of moral distress are provided.

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Section: Contextual Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 78%

Moral Distress: Tensions as Springboards for Action

et al. 2012

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“…From a feminist perspective, considering these women solely as wage earners simply needing employment to move out of poverty (Pulkingham, Fuller, & Kershaw, 2010) ignores their social realities as lone mothers, making the circumstances and social significance of their mother-work simultaneously both invisible and morally incriminating.…”

Section: Sonjamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some instances, in what might be hard to construct as only a micro-assault, the women described being threatened with losing the care and custody of their children. By individualizing and personalizing women's poverty such that it is their failure to get a job, secure child support from fathers, or better manage insufficient incomes, lone mothers are denigrated, pathologized, and rendered invisible (Grabham & Smith;2010;Power, 2005;Pulkingham et al, 2010), while the hegemonic patriarchal structures that devalue women, mothering, and caring labor are maintained.…”

Section: Bellementioning

confidence: 99%

“Why Are You Talking to Me Like I’m Stupid?”

Liegghio

Caragata

2015

Affilia

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Based on the analysis of qualitative, semi-structured interviews conducted with 92 welfare-reliant lone mothers living across Canada, this article explores the ''micro-aggressions'' experienced by these women in their interactions with the social welfare system. Micro-aggressions refer to the verbal and nonverbal, relational exchanges that send denigrating messages to persons of marginalized and discriminated against social groups. From the analysis, we conclude that class and gender become sites, intersecting and interlocking, where micro-aggressions as a form of interpersonal violence and discrimination occur against women/lone mothers living in poverty that act to diminish the agency and sense of public worthiness of these women, in turn limiting their access to contesting these constructions.Keywords gender-based violence, intersectionality, mothering, sexism, women in poverty Introducing the IssueThis article emerges from work conducted as part of Lone Mothers: Building Social Inclusion, a large community-university, research alliance involving five universities and various community organizations across three cities in Canada, namely, Vancouver, Toronto, and St. John's. The aim of the Lone Mothers project was to examine the impact welfare reforms had on lone motherheaded households that were receiving social assistance. Emerging from the analysis of a series of qualitative interviews conducted over a 4-year period with 92 (n ¼ 92) lone mothers was a long list of unsettling ways the women/mothers were degraded or dismissed in their interactions with

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“…Active citizenship can be a very ambiguous term, especially since becoming embedded in the debate on rights versus responsibilities, particularly for social assistance recipients (Clarke 2005;Lister 2002;Pulkingham, Fuller, and Kershaw, 2010). The assumption is that to be an active citizen one must exercise both rights and responsibilities.…”

Section: Active Citizenship and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

The just city for whom? Re-conceiving active citizenship for lone mothers in Canada

Gurstein

Vilches

2010

Gender, Place & Culture

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In this article we argue that the 'just city' is one that enables individuals to exercise their citizenship, including making choices to participate (or not) in communal existence. However, inequities in resource distribution encountered by lone mothers on income assistance threaten not only individual sustenance and survival, but also the foundational fabric of our society. The implication that an active citizen is one who exercises their rights and responsibilities in a balanced way is problematic, and has the potential to add blame to poverty, justifying exclusion rather than inclusion. Using qualitative data from a longitudinal study of lone mothers in extreme poverty in Vancouver, British Columbia we illustrate how macro-processes within cities (i.e., delivery of affordable housing, food security, childcare, transportation) impinge upon the micro-processes of these women's lives (i.e., impacts on health, economic security, social mobility). Focusing on citizenship as a set of constrained choices challenges the policies and practices of social planning to consider how the scope of citizenship can be expanded by shaping key urban opportunities. Grounding the vision of a just city in the potential for personal agency suggests that policymakers and planners have a key role in shaping citizenship for the most marginalized and oppressed through a combination of providing supports and enabling opportunities in the urban environment.ABSTRACT TRANSLATION ¿La ciudad justa para quién? Reconcibiendo la ciudadanía activa para las madres en Canadá En este artículo proponemos que la 'ciudad justa' es aquella que permite a los individuos ejercer su ciudadanía, incluyendo la decisión de participar (o no) en la existencia comunal. Sin embargo, las inequidades en la distribución de los recursos que encuentran las madres

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Lone motherhood, welfare reform and active citizen subjectivity

Cited by 46 publications

References 21 publications

Moral Distress: Tensions as Springboards for Action

Moral Distress: Tensions as Springboards for Action

“Why Are You Talking to Me Like I’m Stupid?”

The just city for whom? Re-conceiving active citizenship for lone mothers in Canada

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