Joanna L. Grossman and Lawrence M. Friedman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149820
- eISBN:
- 9781400839773
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149820.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law
This book is a comprehensive social history of twentieth-century family law in the United States. The book shows how vast, oceanic changes in society have reshaped and reconstituted the American ...
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This book is a comprehensive social history of twentieth-century family law in the United States. The book shows how vast, oceanic changes in society have reshaped and reconstituted the American family. Women and children have gained rights and powers, and novel forms of family life have emerged. The family has more or less dissolved into a collection of independent individuals with their own wants, desires, and goals. Modern family law, as always, reflects the brute social and cultural facts of family life. The story of family law in the twentieth century is complex. This was the century that said goodbye to common-law marriage and breach-of-promise lawsuits. This was the century, too, of the sexual revolution and women's liberation, of gay rights and cohabitation. Marriage lost its powerful monopoly over legitimate sexual behavior. Couples who lived together without marriage now had certain rights. Gay marriage became legal in a handful of jurisdictions. By the end of the century, no state still prohibited same-sex behavior. Children in many states could legally have two mothers or two fathers. No-fault divorce became cheap and easy. And illegitimacy lost most of its social and legal stigma. These changes were not smooth or linear—all met with resistance and provoked a certain amount of backlash. Families took many forms, some of them new and different, and though buffeted by the winds of change, the family persisted as a central institution in society. This book tells the story of that institution, exploring the ways in which law tried to penetrate and control this most mysterious realm of personal life.Less
This book is a comprehensive social history of twentieth-century family law in the United States. The book shows how vast, oceanic changes in society have reshaped and reconstituted the American family. Women and children have gained rights and powers, and novel forms of family life have emerged. The family has more or less dissolved into a collection of independent individuals with their own wants, desires, and goals. Modern family law, as always, reflects the brute social and cultural facts of family life. The story of family law in the twentieth century is complex. This was the century that said goodbye to common-law marriage and breach-of-promise lawsuits. This was the century, too, of the sexual revolution and women's liberation, of gay rights and cohabitation. Marriage lost its powerful monopoly over legitimate sexual behavior. Couples who lived together without marriage now had certain rights. Gay marriage became legal in a handful of jurisdictions. By the end of the century, no state still prohibited same-sex behavior. Children in many states could legally have two mothers or two fathers. No-fault divorce became cheap and easy. And illegitimacy lost most of its social and legal stigma. These changes were not smooth or linear—all met with resistance and provoked a certain amount of backlash. Families took many forms, some of them new and different, and though buffeted by the winds of change, the family persisted as a central institution in society. This book tells the story of that institution, exploring the ways in which law tried to penetrate and control this most mysterious realm of personal life.
Andrew R. Holmes
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199288656
- eISBN:
- 9780191710759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288656.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter outlines official marriage practices and attitudes, with particular reference to the established church, before examining the communal aspect of marriage and sexual relations within the ...
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This chapter outlines official marriage practices and attitudes, with particular reference to the established church, before examining the communal aspect of marriage and sexual relations within the context of church discipline and local community life.Less
This chapter outlines official marriage practices and attitudes, with particular reference to the established church, before examining the communal aspect of marriage and sexual relations within the context of church discipline and local community life.
Sarah M. S. Pearsall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199532995
- eISBN:
- 9780191714443
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199532995.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter provides general background for the many reasons families experienced Atlantic distance in the 18th century, including the increased importance of the colonies, economic growth, ...
More
This chapter provides general background for the many reasons families experienced Atlantic distance in the 18th century, including the increased importance of the colonies, economic growth, migration, slavery, war, and revolution. These factors all separated families and caused concerns, not simply for the families involved but for the larger culture as a whole. Anxieties about the family and the fragility of its bonds in this period in part reflect these larger societal and economic shifts, as well as concerns relating to family disorder such as illegitimacy and adultery. The chapter demonstrates how these anxieties were crystallized in the divorce case of Esten v. the Duke of Hamilton. It also tracks rising literacy and letter writing, and explicates a prominent metaphor in letters: ‘launching into the ocean of the world’.Less
This chapter provides general background for the many reasons families experienced Atlantic distance in the 18th century, including the increased importance of the colonies, economic growth, migration, slavery, war, and revolution. These factors all separated families and caused concerns, not simply for the families involved but for the larger culture as a whole. Anxieties about the family and the fragility of its bonds in this period in part reflect these larger societal and economic shifts, as well as concerns relating to family disorder such as illegitimacy and adultery. The chapter demonstrates how these anxieties were crystallized in the divorce case of Esten v. the Duke of Hamilton. It also tracks rising literacy and letter writing, and explicates a prominent metaphor in letters: ‘launching into the ocean of the world’.
Allyson M. Poska
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199265312
- eISBN:
- 9780191708763
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199265312.003.03
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter examines issues of female sexuality in Galician communities. Despite ecclesiastical prohibitions on non-marital sex, it is apparent that these women had considerable sexual freedom. They ...
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This chapter examines issues of female sexuality in Galician communities. Despite ecclesiastical prohibitions on non-marital sex, it is apparent that these women had considerable sexual freedom. They cohabited with male partners in temporary relationships and gave birth to large numbers of illegitimate children without any evidence of social stigma.Less
This chapter examines issues of female sexuality in Galician communities. Despite ecclesiastical prohibitions on non-marital sex, it is apparent that these women had considerable sexual freedom. They cohabited with male partners in temporary relationships and gave birth to large numbers of illegitimate children without any evidence of social stigma.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This is the first attempt to describe the real lives of unmarried mothers, and attitudes to them, in England from the First World War to the present. We focus on England because the legal position, ...
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This is the first attempt to describe the real lives of unmarried mothers, and attitudes to them, in England from the First World War to the present. We focus on England because the legal position, and other circumstances, of unmarried mothers were often very different elsewhere in Britain. It uses women’s own life stories, among many other sources, to challenge stereotypes of the mothers as all desolate women, rejected by society and by their families, until social attitudes were transformed in the ‘permissive’ 1960s. It shows the diversity of their lives, their social backgrounds, and how often they were supported by their families, neighbours, and the fathers of their children before the 1960s, and continuing hostility by some sections of society since then. It challenges stereotypes, too, about the impact of war on sexual behaviour and about the stability of family life before the 1960s. Much of the evidence comes from the records of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, set up by prominent people in 1918 to help a social group they believed were neglected, and which is still very active today, as Gingerbread, supporting all lone parents who need them. Their work tells us not only about the lives of those mothers and children who had no other support but also another important story about the vibrancy of voluntary action throughout the past century and its continuing vital role, working alongside and in cooperation with the Welfare State to help mothers into work among other things. Their history is an inspiring example of how, throughout the past century, voluntary organizations in the ‘Big Society’ worked with, not against, the ‘Big State’.Less
This is the first attempt to describe the real lives of unmarried mothers, and attitudes to them, in England from the First World War to the present. We focus on England because the legal position, and other circumstances, of unmarried mothers were often very different elsewhere in Britain. It uses women’s own life stories, among many other sources, to challenge stereotypes of the mothers as all desolate women, rejected by society and by their families, until social attitudes were transformed in the ‘permissive’ 1960s. It shows the diversity of their lives, their social backgrounds, and how often they were supported by their families, neighbours, and the fathers of their children before the 1960s, and continuing hostility by some sections of society since then. It challenges stereotypes, too, about the impact of war on sexual behaviour and about the stability of family life before the 1960s. Much of the evidence comes from the records of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, set up by prominent people in 1918 to help a social group they believed were neglected, and which is still very active today, as Gingerbread, supporting all lone parents who need them. Their work tells us not only about the lives of those mothers and children who had no other support but also another important story about the vibrancy of voluntary action throughout the past century and its continuing vital role, working alongside and in cooperation with the Welfare State to help mothers into work among other things. Their history is an inspiring example of how, throughout the past century, voluntary organizations in the ‘Big Society’ worked with, not against, the ‘Big State’.
SHEILAGH OGILVIE
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198205548
- eISBN:
- 9780191719219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205548.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Childcare often makes intensive use of women's time, so this chapter examines the demographic and familial framework in the pre-industrial German society under analysis in this book and sets it in a ...
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Childcare often makes intensive use of women's time, so this chapter examines the demographic and familial framework in the pre-industrial German society under analysis in this book and sets it in a broader European context. It begins by exploring the potential influence of reproductive responsibilities on women's work by examining marriage ages, celibacy rates, and illegitimacy ratios. It then proceeds to investigate the sexual division of labour within the family by analysing household structure, the female life cycle, and sex ratios in different household roles. Finally, it conducts a multivariate analysis of burial donations to assess the determinants of social esteem for individuals of both sexes at different points in the life-cycle. These findings are used to draw preliminary conclusions regarding biological, technological, cultural, and institutional hypotheses about the determinants of women's economic position in pre-industrial societies.Less
Childcare often makes intensive use of women's time, so this chapter examines the demographic and familial framework in the pre-industrial German society under analysis in this book and sets it in a broader European context. It begins by exploring the potential influence of reproductive responsibilities on women's work by examining marriage ages, celibacy rates, and illegitimacy ratios. It then proceeds to investigate the sexual division of labour within the family by analysing household structure, the female life cycle, and sex ratios in different household roles. Finally, it conducts a multivariate analysis of burial donations to assess the determinants of social esteem for individuals of both sexes at different points in the life-cycle. These findings are used to draw preliminary conclusions regarding biological, technological, cultural, and institutional hypotheses about the determinants of women's economic position in pre-industrial societies.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
The Introduction introduces two main themes; first, the experiences of and attitudes to unmarried mothers and their children in twentieth-century England stressing the diversity of those experiences ...
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The Introduction introduces two main themes; first, the experiences of and attitudes to unmarried mothers and their children in twentieth-century England stressing the diversity of those experiences at all times and challenging stereotypes about the mothers and about the history of the family. Secondly, the history of a voluntary organization, established in 1918 as the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, still active as Gingerbread, stressing it as an example of the continuing importance of voluntary action in the Welfare State and that voluntary and state welfare have always been complementary in their provision for unmarried mothers and children as in many other areas. They have not been antagonistic as much ‘Big Society’ rhetoric suggests.Less
The Introduction introduces two main themes; first, the experiences of and attitudes to unmarried mothers and their children in twentieth-century England stressing the diversity of those experiences at all times and challenging stereotypes about the mothers and about the history of the family. Secondly, the history of a voluntary organization, established in 1918 as the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, still active as Gingerbread, stressing it as an example of the continuing importance of voluntary action in the Welfare State and that voluntary and state welfare have always been complementary in their provision for unmarried mothers and children as in many other areas. They have not been antagonistic as much ‘Big Society’ rhetoric suggests.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Points out how many ‘illegitimate’ children were born between the 1830s and 1930s, but that we don't know how many stayed with their mothers. It outlines the variety of ways they stayed together: for ...
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Points out how many ‘illegitimate’ children were born between the 1830s and 1930s, but that we don't know how many stayed with their mothers. It outlines the variety of ways they stayed together: for example, a child being brought up by grandparents believing they were its parents and their journey of discovery until the shock of finding out. The surprising extent of secret cohabitation because divorce was difficult, and its social acceptability if the families behaved respectably. Increased illegitimacy during the First World War and the moral panic that resulted. Foundation of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child (NC) to protect mothers and children. Problems of survival of poor mothers and children with support from their families or the fathers, forcing some to have their children adopted.Less
Points out how many ‘illegitimate’ children were born between the 1830s and 1930s, but that we don't know how many stayed with their mothers. It outlines the variety of ways they stayed together: for example, a child being brought up by grandparents believing they were its parents and their journey of discovery until the shock of finding out. The surprising extent of secret cohabitation because divorce was difficult, and its social acceptability if the families behaved respectably. Increased illegitimacy during the First World War and the moral panic that resulted. Foundation of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child (NC) to protect mothers and children. Problems of survival of poor mothers and children with support from their families or the fathers, forcing some to have their children adopted.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
How unmarried mothers and their children survived in interwar Britain. This chapter describes how difficult it was for women to obtain maintenance from the father through the courts. It emphasizes ...
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How unmarried mothers and their children survived in interwar Britain. This chapter describes how difficult it was for women to obtain maintenance from the father through the courts. It emphasizes the humiliating process of applying for Poor Law relief, the only public welfare available, which even led to some unmarried mothers being placed in mental hospitals. Charity: the NC did its best to help and made innovative use of media, including radio, television, and film to raise funds for an unpopular cause. Its campaigns to change the law to improve provision. It is unknown how many fathers voluntarily helped, when they could afford it. Many could not in a period of high unemployment, especially if they had other families. Unmarried mothers experienced many difficulties with housing. Difficulty of finding a home of their own: prejudice of landlords. Still many mothers cohabited with the fathers or lived with their parents, accepted by their communities. Stories of middle-class cohabitation and unmarried motherhood, including well-known writers such as Rebecca West.Less
How unmarried mothers and their children survived in interwar Britain. This chapter describes how difficult it was for women to obtain maintenance from the father through the courts. It emphasizes the humiliating process of applying for Poor Law relief, the only public welfare available, which even led to some unmarried mothers being placed in mental hospitals. Charity: the NC did its best to help and made innovative use of media, including radio, television, and film to raise funds for an unpopular cause. Its campaigns to change the law to improve provision. It is unknown how many fathers voluntarily helped, when they could afford it. Many could not in a period of high unemployment, especially if they had other families. Unmarried mothers experienced many difficulties with housing. Difficulty of finding a home of their own: prejudice of landlords. Still many mothers cohabited with the fathers or lived with their parents, accepted by their communities. Stories of middle-class cohabitation and unmarried motherhood, including well-known writers such as Rebecca West.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
‘Illegitimacy’ increased again during the Second World War, causing another moral panic about rampant sexuality among young people. Official statistics showed reality: pre-marital pregnancy was ...
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‘Illegitimacy’ increased again during the Second World War, causing another moral panic about rampant sexuality among young people. Official statistics showed reality: pre-marital pregnancy was common before the war, but absence of fathers at war prevented many marriages, leading to more unmarried motherhood. Different experiences of civilian mothers, war workers, and pregnant servicewomen. Problems of mixed-race babies. Inadequacy of public services when families couldn't or wouldn't help. NC and other voluntary agencies vital and called on by the state to help. New services introduced, leading to permanent improvements in welfare after the war. Individual wartime life stories: a woman civil servant supported by her family and colleagues, other women rejected; Eric Clapton discovers his ‘mother’ is his grandmother, his ‘sister’ his mother. Traumatic for him.Less
‘Illegitimacy’ increased again during the Second World War, causing another moral panic about rampant sexuality among young people. Official statistics showed reality: pre-marital pregnancy was common before the war, but absence of fathers at war prevented many marriages, leading to more unmarried motherhood. Different experiences of civilian mothers, war workers, and pregnant servicewomen. Problems of mixed-race babies. Inadequacy of public services when families couldn't or wouldn't help. NC and other voluntary agencies vital and called on by the state to help. New services introduced, leading to permanent improvements in welfare after the war. Individual wartime life stories: a woman civil servant supported by her family and colleagues, other women rejected; Eric Clapton discovers his ‘mother’ is his grandmother, his ‘sister’ his mother. Traumatic for him.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
After the war still high levels of unmarried motherhood and cohabitation and many mothers still lived with their parents in an atmosphere of tolerance but secrecy. Harder for mothers on their own to ...
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After the war still high levels of unmarried motherhood and cohabitation and many mothers still lived with their parents in an atmosphere of tolerance but secrecy. Harder for mothers on their own to find homes and childcare, leading to increased adoption, often reluctant. More, earlier, and longer lasting marriages, but moral panics about ‘teenage mothers’ and increased adultery, the first exaggerated, the latter numbers unknown. Increased influence of psychology, especially John Bowlby, stressing the two-parent family and stay-at-home mother as the bedrock of social stability. Bowlby's conclusions, especially on unmarried mothers, were challenged by social research. Life stories call in question the contented stability of much family life at this time, despite contemporary rhetoric and subsequent idealization of family life during the period.Less
After the war still high levels of unmarried motherhood and cohabitation and many mothers still lived with their parents in an atmosphere of tolerance but secrecy. Harder for mothers on their own to find homes and childcare, leading to increased adoption, often reluctant. More, earlier, and longer lasting marriages, but moral panics about ‘teenage mothers’ and increased adultery, the first exaggerated, the latter numbers unknown. Increased influence of psychology, especially John Bowlby, stressing the two-parent family and stay-at-home mother as the bedrock of social stability. Bowlby's conclusions, especially on unmarried mothers, were challenged by social research. Life stories call in question the contented stability of much family life at this time, despite contemporary rhetoric and subsequent idealization of family life during the period.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Real improvements for poorer unmarried mothers in the Welfare State created by the post-war Labour Government, building on the wartime experience of inadequate public services for mothers and ...
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Real improvements for poorer unmarried mothers in the Welfare State created by the post-war Labour Government, building on the wartime experience of inadequate public services for mothers and children. The new NHS brought safer childbirth. Benefits improved, but housing was hard to find and they were often excluded from council housing. Many voluntary Mother and Baby Homes remained grim and women avoided them where possible, but they gradually improved. The NC worked with state agencies to bring about these improvements and to help mothers negotiate the benefit system and to train for and find work, as most mothers wanted. Many were better educated and more confident than before the war. Most lived on their earnings and/or help from the father or their family. NC also helped mothers of children whose father was an overseas serviceman who had returned home and women who had babies by British servicemen abroad.Less
Real improvements for poorer unmarried mothers in the Welfare State created by the post-war Labour Government, building on the wartime experience of inadequate public services for mothers and children. The new NHS brought safer childbirth. Benefits improved, but housing was hard to find and they were often excluded from council housing. Many voluntary Mother and Baby Homes remained grim and women avoided them where possible, but they gradually improved. The NC worked with state agencies to bring about these improvements and to help mothers negotiate the benefit system and to train for and find work, as most mothers wanted. Many were better educated and more confident than before the war. Most lived on their earnings and/or help from the father or their family. NC also helped mothers of children whose father was an overseas serviceman who had returned home and women who had babies by British servicemen abroad.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Questions how much changed and why. Most changes were from the later 1960s: liberal legislation (e.g., divorce reform, legal abortion), the pill, increased divorce, open cohabitation, births outside ...
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Questions how much changed and why. Most changes were from the later 1960s: liberal legislation (e.g., divorce reform, legal abortion), the pill, increased divorce, open cohabitation, births outside marriage, fewer marriages. End of family secrecy and more public tolerance, but intolerance remained in some circles, reacting against ‘permissiveness’. Emphasis in public and policy discourse on lone mothers, rather than unmarried mothers because there was increased divorce and separation. The ‘rediscovery of poverty’ and new campaigns about family poverty. Unmarried mothers still poorest and NC continued to prioritize them, though it changed its name in 1973 to the National Council for One Parent Families (OPF) in response to needs of other single parents. The limits to change: the experiences of lone mothers and attitudes to them still diverse.Less
Questions how much changed and why. Most changes were from the later 1960s: liberal legislation (e.g., divorce reform, legal abortion), the pill, increased divorce, open cohabitation, births outside marriage, fewer marriages. End of family secrecy and more public tolerance, but intolerance remained in some circles, reacting against ‘permissiveness’. Emphasis in public and policy discourse on lone mothers, rather than unmarried mothers because there was increased divorce and separation. The ‘rediscovery of poverty’ and new campaigns about family poverty. Unmarried mothers still poorest and NC continued to prioritize them, though it changed its name in 1973 to the National Council for One Parent Families (OPF) in response to needs of other single parents. The limits to change: the experiences of lone mothers and attitudes to them still diverse.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
The first thorough account of the work of the Finer Committee on One-Parent Families, set up by the Labour Government in 1969, reported in 1974. The most detailed study, then or since, of the past ...
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The first thorough account of the work of the Finer Committee on One-Parent Families, set up by the Labour Government in 1969, reported in 1974. The most detailed study, then or since, of the past and present of single parenthood in Britain, its causes and outcomes. Examines the membership, the evidence, conclusions, and recommendations: the difficulties of mothers in being self-supporting, given gender inequalities in pay and work opportunities and inadequate childcare; of fathers, especially when low-paid and with two families; the inadequacies of the legal system and the benefit system; lack of suitable housing and continuing forbidding conditions in Homes. They recommended a new state benefit for lone-parent families, which the Labour Government rejected, though child support was improved. It led to lasting improvement in the legal system. From 1977 improved access to council housing for lone mothers.Less
The first thorough account of the work of the Finer Committee on One-Parent Families, set up by the Labour Government in 1969, reported in 1974. The most detailed study, then or since, of the past and present of single parenthood in Britain, its causes and outcomes. Examines the membership, the evidence, conclusions, and recommendations: the difficulties of mothers in being self-supporting, given gender inequalities in pay and work opportunities and inadequate childcare; of fathers, especially when low-paid and with two families; the inadequacies of the legal system and the benefit system; lack of suitable housing and continuing forbidding conditions in Homes. They recommended a new state benefit for lone-parent families, which the Labour Government rejected, though child support was improved. It led to lasting improvement in the legal system. From 1977 improved access to council housing for lone mothers.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Continuing difficulties for unmarried mothers and their children despite improvements. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Governments, cuts to welfare, pressure on mothers to work, but childcare hard ...
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Continuing difficulties for unmarried mothers and their children despite improvements. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Governments, cuts to welfare, pressure on mothers to work, but childcare hard to find and contracting labour market. ‘Broken families’ blamed for social problems as divorce, cohabitation, and babies born out of wedlock rose to unprecedented levels. Government claims that ‘teenage mothers’ got pregnant to get a council house and welfare benefits. Disproved by research but accusations continued into 1990s. Successful efforts by OPF to set up courses to help mothers into work, strongly supported by mothers. In 1987, all legal differences between ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ children eliminated after long campaign by NC/OPF. In 1991 the establishment of Child Support Agency, badly designed in a hurry and made access to maintenance and benefits more difficult and conditions worsened. Intensified government attacks on lone, especially unmarried mothers, until Conservatives lost 1997 election.Less
Continuing difficulties for unmarried mothers and their children despite improvements. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Governments, cuts to welfare, pressure on mothers to work, but childcare hard to find and contracting labour market. ‘Broken families’ blamed for social problems as divorce, cohabitation, and babies born out of wedlock rose to unprecedented levels. Government claims that ‘teenage mothers’ got pregnant to get a council house and welfare benefits. Disproved by research but accusations continued into 1990s. Successful efforts by OPF to set up courses to help mothers into work, strongly supported by mothers. In 1987, all legal differences between ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ children eliminated after long campaign by NC/OPF. In 1991 the establishment of Child Support Agency, badly designed in a hurry and made access to maintenance and benefits more difficult and conditions worsened. Intensified government attacks on lone, especially unmarried mothers, until Conservatives lost 1997 election.
Pat Thane and Tanya Evans
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199578504
- eISBN:
- 9780191741838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578504.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Labour won the 1997 election. Attacks on lone mothers ceased. Benefits, assistance into work and training, and availability of childcare gradually improved, as did the employment situation and the ...
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Labour won the 1997 election. Attacks on lone mothers ceased. Benefits, assistance into work and training, and availability of childcare gradually improved, as did the employment situation and the numbers of mothers in work. Yet surveys showed that negative stereotypes of single mothers as teenage, never-married benefit scroungers persisted, despite evidence to the contrary. Labour attempted to reform the CSA with limited success by 2010, when it lost the election to a Conservative–Liberal Coalition. This returned to cutting benefits and emphasizing ‘family breakdown’ as a cause of wider social problems, including crime. This reached a crescendo following urban riots in August 2011. Poverty in lone-parent families remained high, even when the parent was in full-time work. For all the change over the preceding century, too much remains the same.Less
Labour won the 1997 election. Attacks on lone mothers ceased. Benefits, assistance into work and training, and availability of childcare gradually improved, as did the employment situation and the numbers of mothers in work. Yet surveys showed that negative stereotypes of single mothers as teenage, never-married benefit scroungers persisted, despite evidence to the contrary. Labour attempted to reform the CSA with limited success by 2010, when it lost the election to a Conservative–Liberal Coalition. This returned to cutting benefits and emphasizing ‘family breakdown’ as a cause of wider social problems, including crime. This reached a crescendo following urban riots in August 2011. Poverty in lone-parent families remained high, even when the parent was in full-time work. For all the change over the preceding century, too much remains the same.
Hera Cook
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199252183
- eISBN:
- 9780191719240
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199252183.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter explores the interaction between the need for fertility control, male and female sexual desire, and the vulnerability created by the dependent economic status of mothers. In the 19th ...
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This chapter explores the interaction between the need for fertility control, male and female sexual desire, and the vulnerability created by the dependent economic status of mothers. In the 19th century, women's economic position relative to men of their own class declined, and their need to support their children made them vulnerable to male insistence on female chastity. Few women encountered information about birth control, and those who did seemed to have little to gain from the practice. It is probable that the majority of middle-class men who wanted to control their fertility relied upon prostitution.Less
This chapter explores the interaction between the need for fertility control, male and female sexual desire, and the vulnerability created by the dependent economic status of mothers. In the 19th century, women's economic position relative to men of their own class declined, and their need to support their children made them vulnerable to male insistence on female chastity. Few women encountered information about birth control, and those who did seemed to have little to gain from the practice. It is probable that the majority of middle-class men who wanted to control their fertility relied upon prostitution.
Leslie Tuttle
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195381603
- eISBN:
- 9780199870295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195381603.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Political History
Human fertility was a political issue in modern France long before eighteenth‐century writers raised concerns about depopulation. This chapters surveys seventeenth‐century thinking about the ...
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Human fertility was a political issue in modern France long before eighteenth‐century writers raised concerns about depopulation. This chapters surveys seventeenth‐century thinking about the connection between human reproduction and state power. Perhaps the most ancient connection came from the dynastic anxieties that plagued the early modern French monarchy. In response, propaganda from the early reign of Louis XIV advertised the young king's virility as the basis for a more stable and powerful France. Secondly, early modern political writing emphasized the benefits that accrued to densely populated states, and provided guidance for princes who hoped to assure the divine blessing of a large population: police sexual morality. Finally, writers in the skeptical tradition observed that fertility varied depending on cultural and legal customs. As Tridentine Catholicism more strictly regulated marital and sexual behavior, they daringly pondered how adapting some pagan marital norms might promote more births. Louis XIV's advisors hoping to promote abundant “peopling” would draw upon these different ways of thinking about the connection between politics and reproduction.Less
Human fertility was a political issue in modern France long before eighteenth‐century writers raised concerns about depopulation. This chapters surveys seventeenth‐century thinking about the connection between human reproduction and state power. Perhaps the most ancient connection came from the dynastic anxieties that plagued the early modern French monarchy. In response, propaganda from the early reign of Louis XIV advertised the young king's virility as the basis for a more stable and powerful France. Secondly, early modern political writing emphasized the benefits that accrued to densely populated states, and provided guidance for princes who hoped to assure the divine blessing of a large population: police sexual morality. Finally, writers in the skeptical tradition observed that fertility varied depending on cultural and legal customs. As Tridentine Catholicism more strictly regulated marital and sexual behavior, they daringly pondered how adapting some pagan marital norms might promote more births. Louis XIV's advisors hoping to promote abundant “peopling” would draw upon these different ways of thinking about the connection between politics and reproduction.
Stephen Cretney
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199280919
- eISBN:
- 9780191713170
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280919.003.0015
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law, Legal History
Legal systems traditionally distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate birth, with the illegitimate (‘bastard’) denied recognition. A number of techniques were developed to mitigate the hardship ...
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Legal systems traditionally distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate birth, with the illegitimate (‘bastard’) denied recognition. A number of techniques were developed to mitigate the hardship and injustice which this distinction caused — such as legitimation by subsequent marriage and treating a child’s parents as legally married in certain circumstances even when they were not. Perhaps more significant were the various measures taken to minimise the legal disadvantages of illegitimacy. Only towards the end of the century was the policy of ‘abolishing illegitimacy’ wholeheartedly adopted.Less
Legal systems traditionally distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate birth, with the illegitimate (‘bastard’) denied recognition. A number of techniques were developed to mitigate the hardship and injustice which this distinction caused — such as legitimation by subsequent marriage and treating a child’s parents as legally married in certain circumstances even when they were not. Perhaps more significant were the various measures taken to minimise the legal disadvantages of illegitimacy. Only towards the end of the century was the policy of ‘abolishing illegitimacy’ wholeheartedly adopted.
Dúnlaith Bird
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199644162
- eISBN:
- 9780199949984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199644162.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter explores the aesthetic representation of the female form in Orientalist painting and travel writing, and how these forms are contested and even dismembered in the vagabondage travelogue. ...
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This chapter explores the aesthetic representation of the female form in Orientalist painting and travel writing, and how these forms are contested and even dismembered in the vagabondage travelogue. Roughly following the historical trajectory of Orientalist painting in Britain and France, it opens with Olympe Audouard’s large format, full colour scenes of dismemberment and beheading in the Egyptian harem. It then moves to Isabella Bird’s deceptively simple watercolours and sketches of nineteenth century Japanese life, which conceal elements of monstrous hybridity and bloodless beheadings. It concludes with the twentieth-century surrealism of Isabelle Eberhardt’s travelogues, where the female body dissolves into the Algerian desert. The interweaving of text and image in these representations of the female body is fundamental to the development of the vagabondage travelogue.Less
This chapter explores the aesthetic representation of the female form in Orientalist painting and travel writing, and how these forms are contested and even dismembered in the vagabondage travelogue. Roughly following the historical trajectory of Orientalist painting in Britain and France, it opens with Olympe Audouard’s large format, full colour scenes of dismemberment and beheading in the Egyptian harem. It then moves to Isabella Bird’s deceptively simple watercolours and sketches of nineteenth century Japanese life, which conceal elements of monstrous hybridity and bloodless beheadings. It concludes with the twentieth-century surrealism of Isabelle Eberhardt’s travelogues, where the female body dissolves into the Algerian desert. The interweaving of text and image in these representations of the female body is fundamental to the development of the vagabondage travelogue.
