Women and the Welfare State

To illustrate her arguments the author looks at the development of State welfare intervention from the early nineteenth century to the present day and relates it to the changing position of women, children, and of the family. The traditional Marxist view is modified by a theory of the position of women and by relating changing welfare policies and beliefs about welfare both to the women’s movements of the past century and to the ideas and theories of the contemporary Women’s Liberation Movement.

In her approach Elizabeth Wilson argues – uniquely among writers on the Welfare State – for an emphasis on the ideology of welfare.