An Analysis of the Meaning of Women's Work as Manifested in the British Income Maintenance Schemes

Abstract

The conditions under which men and women can claim benefits from the British State income maintenance systems have always been different. This paper shows that one of the main reasons for this is that men's and women's work is assumed to be, and indeed it is thought, ought to be, different. Men's work is, or should, be located in the labour market and is paid: they are breadwinners. In contrast women are primarily dependants whose unpaid work within the family as wives, mothers and daughters only rarely, and then reluctantly, gives rise to a claim to a state benefit. As a result the development of women's claims to maintenance from the state have always been constrained by the desire not to erode women's incentives to give priority to their caring responsibilities or work within the family. Women's paid work in the labour market is accorded less importance than men's work and their claims to maintenance from the state both determine, and are determined by, their relationship to their families as well as to the formal labour market.