“The Pecker Detectors are Back”: Regulation of the Family Form in Ontario Welfare Policy

Abstract

[The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors only and do not represent the opinions of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan.] How do we understand the state's need to police the social and sexual lives of single mothers? To what extent has this policy changed over time in its regulation of single mothers' relationships? This paper explains how the state determines who is and who is not worthy for Mothers' Allowance based on a mother's associations with men — and how this has been contested by those subject to it. Following a brief historical examination of the policy's determination of moral worthiness, we pay particular attention to a 1995 change to the definition of "spouse" in the social assistance system, which has meant a return to the practice of intense surveillance of poor mothers' relationships and contacts with men, after an eight-year period in which the state withdrew somewhat — although never entirely - from this scrutiny. Thoses who police these relationships have been nicknamed the "Pecker Detectors." The paper concludes that low-income single mothers have become a target for moral scrutiny and blame in the 1990s. This not only impacts upon single mothers on welfare but it affects all women. Condemning single mothers to abject poverty and moral scrutiny deters other women from leaving unhappy or abusive relationships, impeding the ability of all women to become full and equal citizens in Ontario society.