Engendering social policy for single mothers: cross-national comparisons
| dc.contributor.author | Bourhis, Meredith Eve | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Benoit, Cecilia | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-02-21T00:18:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-02-21T00:18:11Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2000 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Sociology | |
| dc.description.abstract | In this thesis, I explore the following questions: Do social policies vary across today's welfare states? What outcomes do variations across social policies have for women, especially single mothers? Finally, is single mothers' labour force participation facilitated by women-friendly social policies? These questions are answered through the examination of select welfare state social policies asserted by feminist scholars as necessary for: a) women's access to secure employment and equitable wages and b) women's economic independence/capacity to maintain an autonomous household. In particular, I examine family leave and benefits and childcare policies and how they might affect the employment outcomes of single mothers in three specified countries: Sweden, the United States and Canada. Chapter One outlines a select range of theoretical perspectives used by sociologists to examine contemporary welfare states. Chapter Two outlines the methodology employed in the study. In Chapter Three, the maternity, paternity, and parental policies of Sweden, the United States and Canada are examined with reference to the last decade and a half, referred to as the post-Fordist era. Chapter Four examines the main childcare policies and services available in each national case example. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight cross-national variation when Sweden, the United States and Canada are compared. Chapter Five pulls together the evidence to answer the three key questions posed in my purpose statement and concludes with a discussion of the study's limitations and lines for further research. | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23333 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | |
| dc.title | Engendering social policy for single mothers: cross-national comparisons | |
| dc.type | Thesis |