Regulating the Lives of Women Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present Mimi Abramovitz

1 A feminist perspective on the welfare state

2 The colonial family ethic: the development of families, the ideology of women’s roles, and the labor of women

3 Women and the poor laws in colonial America

4 “A woman’s place is in the home”: the rise of the industrial family ethic

5 Women and nineteenth-century relief

6 Poor women and Progressivism: protective labor law and Mothers’ Pensions

7 The Great Depression and the Social Security Act: the emergence of the modern welfare state

8 Old Age Insurance

9 Unemployment Insurance

10 Aid to Families with Dependent Children: single mothers in the twentieth century

11 Restoring the family ethic: the assault on women and the welfare st