Scan barcode
A review by labyrinth_witch
Motherlands: How States Push Mothers Out of Employment by Leah Ruppanner
informative
medium-paced
4.0
This is a short comprehensive addition to feminist welfare state theory. A quantitative study, Ruppanner challenges the idea that the U.S. is a monolithic liberal welfare state. Instead, using a variety of metrics, regression, and factor analysis she finds that states are made up of both liberal welfare and social democratic welfare practices. She proposed a new welfare state typology where most states fall either into gender-empowered states or child-care regime states. A few score high on both, forming an ideal type. A few score 0 on both, forming a policy-void type.
Her findings are interesting because they challenge popular normative ideas about what supports mothers and what does not. Gender-empowered states cluster on the coasts. Child-care regimes cluster in the Midwest and South. Policy-voids in the mountain region.
Assuming that high rates of maternal employment is the desired goal (lower dependency on male-partner earnings and thus more social mobility to leave domestic abuse and prevent maternal poverty) childcare-regimes have the highest maternal employment and gendered empowerment have the lowest maternal employment.
Since gender progressive policies are tied to the employment contract, they are only really helpful if you can maintain employment. Ruppanner finds that without affordable and accessible childcare resources from birth to school-age, mothers cannot maintain employment.
Read the whole study for more interesting finds. Might be a slightly difficult read if you are not familiar with statistical models. Geared toward state legislators and feminist welfare state theorists. That being said, the conclusion chapter does an excellent job of summarizing all these interesting connections if you are pressed for Also a great resources if you are planning to have kids and trying to decide the best place to live.
Her findings are interesting because they challenge popular normative ideas about what supports mothers and what does not. Gender-empowered states cluster on the coasts. Child-care regimes cluster in the Midwest and South. Policy-voids in the mountain region.
Assuming that high rates of maternal employment is the desired goal (lower dependency on male-partner earnings and thus more social mobility to leave domestic abuse and prevent maternal poverty) childcare-regimes have the highest maternal employment and gendered empowerment have the lowest maternal employment.
Since gender progressive policies are tied to the employment contract, they are only really helpful if you can maintain employment. Ruppanner finds that without affordable and accessible childcare resources from birth to school-age, mothers cannot maintain employment.
Read the whole study for more interesting finds. Might be a slightly difficult read if you are not familiar with statistical models. Geared toward state legislators and feminist welfare state theorists. That being said, the conclusion chapter does an excellent job of summarizing all these interesting connections if you are pressed for Also a great resources if you are planning to have kids and trying to decide the best place to live.