MOTHERS OR WORKERS - THE VALUE OF WOMENS LABOR - WOMEN AND THE EMERGENCE OF FAMILY ALLOWANCE POLICY

Recent scholarship oil gender and the state suggests that women's agen cy has been critical to the formation of welfare policy. Yet, nations with strong, mobilized feminist movements do not necessarily develop t he most supportive welfare policies. By historically analyzing the eme rgence of British and French family allowance policy the author sugges ts that the key to this conundrum lies in the interaction between wome n's movements and the value given to women's paid and unpaid labor: Wo man-friendly state policy requires an active women's movement and ideo logies valuing women's paid and unpaid labor: in addition, women's mov ements must be able and willing to strategically use those ideologies to pursue their goals.