WOMEN READING THE WORLD - CHALLENGING WELFARE-REFORM IN WISCONSIN

The latest iteration of welfare reform, the 1996 Personal Responsibili ty and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), endorses work req uirements and time limits on benefits, while giving greater discretion to individual states in developing welfare programs. Linking personal responsibility with work indicates that policy makers believe that it only takes proper guidance and minimal training for welfare recipient s (predominately women) to make the transition from welfare to work. W e suggest, however, that focusing on incentive, sanction, or compulsio n ignores the structural features of poverty, especially as they impac t the multiplicities of poor women's lives. In order for the welfare s ystem to deal with women on their own terms, there must be a reconcept ualization of the type of knowledge women require. Thus we argue for t he development of a more critical literacy among welfare recipients so that they can uncover the (limited) options and alternatives availabl e to them tinder current welfare reform programs. Wisconsin's latest w elfare reform program, Wisconsin Works (W-2), is the model used to dem onstrate the extent to which such programs fail to address the needs o f women as they attempt the transition from welfare to work.