EMPLOYABLE-MOTHERS AND SUITABLE-WORK - A REEVALUATION OF WELFARE AND WAGE-EARNING FOR WOMEN IN THE 20TH-CENTURY UNITED-STATES

This article explores the century-long practice of encouraging mothers on public aid to earn wages. In contrast to the standing interpretati ons of mothers pensions and Aid to Dependent Children as programs that supported women to raise their children at home, this research reveal s consistent policy efforts to get women into the workforce. The artic le follows three major transitions in public provision for impoverishe d mothers from state-level mothers' pension programs, to work rules in state ADC programs, and finally the initiation of federal work incent ives and the Supreme Court's legitimation of work requirements. Explor ing the connection between wage-earning and welfare revises arguments about maternalist protections associated with these programs. It also provides a new perspective from which to view the racial dynamics of w elfare. Finally, it moves us beyond an examination of reformers' inten tions to one which examines the political and fiscal dimensions of the se reforms and their implications for social welfare.