Putting sole mothers in their place: The normalising discourse of social policy

This paper(1) argues that the JET Scheme, a jobs, education and training sc heme for sole parent pensioners, is limited and insufficient to its tasks o f preparing sole parents for entry into the workforce and minimising the st are's financial burden. It argues that JET training programmes ascribe and regulate female identity and maintain the gendered subjugation of sole moth ers, confirming rather than decreasing their dependence on welfare. The rep resentation and language used to promote JET position sole mothers within a functionalist discourse of motherhood and the nuclear family The paper exp lores the ramifications of such positioning for the women's prospects for e ntry into full rime employment. It concludes that JET does not meet its goa l of lessening the long term welfare burden of the state. Equally, policy w hich promotes low paid part rime work, combined with partial pension, may s erve to entrench the very cycle of dependence it seeks to dismantle.