Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Women's Groups As Altenative Human Service Agencies, Claudette Mcshane, John Oliver

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The radical movements of the 60's were punctuated by the revival of feminism. As the movements demanded that disenfranchised citizens be allowed to actively participate in societal decisionmaking, women became cognizant of the fact that even within the movements they continued to be relegated to second class status. This realization served as a catalyst for the reemergence of the women's movement within American society. Feminist ideas spread rapidly among the social movements. Women neld political meetings to discuss social inequities and their impact upon womannood. From these meetings consciousness-raising groups evolved as a forum to raise non-movement women's consciousness of …

The Scarlet "W" Public Welfare As Sexual Stigma For Women, Phyllis J. Day

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this paper is to focus attention on sex role deviance as a major contributive factor in negative attitudes toward women on welfare. Our position is that part of the stigma toward welfare recipients arises from the fact that they are sex role deviants, and that the differential treatment accorded to men and women on welfare has to do with the difference in sex role expectations from which they deviate. Although negative attitudes toward men on welfare are as evident as those toward women, this article sets aside the issue of men on welfare (though cognizant of its …

Women In Communications, Janice L. Booker

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Rosalind Russell and Joan Crawford spearheaded the image in the forties; their perennial screen portrayals of newswomen scooping the men in the office and then falling in love with the hard-hearted city editor, or guiding the reorganization of the nation's number-one-rated-but-faltering-magazine to a successful resurgence attracted the identification of many aspiring young women. Abetted by Superman's reporter sidekick cum love-life Lois Lane and the magnificent Brenda Starr of the comic strips, the image was complete; what did many creative, talented and ambitious young women want but to become newshawks with editorial aspirations.

The Women's Liberation Movement And Its Various Impacts On American Men, Arthur B. Shostak

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Writing in 1974 about women and athletics 26 years ahead in the year 2000 journalist Lucinda Franks foresees a sexist backlash she tags the "New Male Chauvinist Movement." It all begins with a rebirth of the Age of Reason which, after 1980, includes a new celebration of the humanizing potentialities of sport and games. Women, as prime agents of this pivotal cultural reform, will have advanced so fast and so far in competitive and non-competitive athletics that "the Total Human has been born" and " the average body is no longer just a neglected dormitory for the mind." There is …

The Role Of The Female Mental Health Professional In A Male Correctional Setting, Cheryl E. Biemer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There are increasing numbers of women psychologists and other professionals working within predominately male correctional settings. One finds, however, nothing in the literature on how they are viewed by the system or what it is like to be a woman working within this traditionally male dominated sphere. The dearth of written material on the subject became apparent in a search through the National Clearinghouse of Mental Health and the Criminal Justice Reference Service. The Psychological Abstracts, Social Science Citation Index and the Criminology Index also have no references that shed any light on this issue. There is one particularly good …

Attitudes Toward Abortion: A Comparative Analysis Of Correlates For 1973 And 1975, Theodore C. Wagenaar, Ingeborg W. Knol

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper contains an analysis of both the level of support for abortion and the correlates of such support for both 1973 and 1975, as indicated by National Opinion Research Center data. In comparison to previous research, which focused primarily on bivariate analyses of demographic variables, we examine the role of demographic and other variables (such as work status, unemployment history, receipt of government aid, and belief in an afterlife) at both the bivariate and multivariate levels of analysis. The result indicates an abatement of the previously increasing level of support; this datum plus the increase in persons responding "don't …

Women: Re-Entry And Challenge, Lita Linzer Schwartz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Women are turning or returning to the world outside the home in ever-increasing numbers, partly due to the economic crisis of recent years and partly in response to the "consciousness-raising" and self-actualization aspects of the women's liberation and humanistic movements. When a woman re-enters the workaday or educational world, she meets a variety of challenges. Some she may have anticipated; others may come as a surprise - or a shock.

Work Incentive Policies: An Evaluation Of Their Effects On Welfare Women's Choice, Jacqueline Ballou

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is argued here that Work Incentive Policies treat the symptoms rather than the basic causes of poverty with high costs to society. The writer's own experience with WIN participants as well as attitudinal surveys has suggested that there is a very high motivation to work among welfare mothers, however, the low-wage jobs available to them are not very competitive with benefits available through AFDC with its various in-kind programs such as Medicaid and day care. As Sawhill (1976) notes, the combined benefit-loss rates associated with work incentive programs remain high, as budgetary constraints associated with raising net welfare- wage …

Debunking Sapphire: Toward A Non-Racist And Non-Sexist Social Science, Patricia Bell Scott

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The term "Sapphire" is frequently used to describe an age-old image of Black women. The caricature of the dominating, emasculating Black woman is one which historically has saturated both the popular and scholarly literature. The purpose of this paper is debunk the "Sapphire" caricature as it has been projected in American social science. By exposing the racist and sexist underpinnings of this stereotype, it is hoped that more students and scholars might be sensitized and encouraged to contribute to the development of a nonracist and non-sexist social science.

Reflections And Legacies, Cheryl A. Lieberman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Adjustment to old age poses special problems. It requires an acceptance of being old and restructuring one's life around decreasing energy and body resources. "Old age is neither inherently miserable nor inherently sublime - like every stage of life, it has problems, joys, fears, and potentials."1 What is it like for an older woman as she experiences physical, emotional, and social changes?

For purposes of this study, twenty-five women ranging in age from 67 through 88 were interviewed either individually, in dyads, or in groups. Each woman was presented with the same basic information: the author was interested in and …

A Perspective On The Psychotherapist's Response To The Women's Movement, Harold S. Bernard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The women's movement constitutes one of the most powerful sociological phenomena of modern times. Like any important movement, it has elicited reactions from every stratum within our society. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the response to the women's movement on the part of women, men, and man-woman relationships. It will then describe in detail an actual clinical case in which the issues involved were directly related to the concerns addressed by the women's movement, and it will offer a recommended attitudinal stance on the part of the psychotherapist to such concerns.

Sex Roles And Work Roles In Post-Industrial Society, Diane Barthel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is argued that one of the reasons for the slow change in work and sex roles, despite policies designed to encourage such change, Is an inadequate understanding of the process of industrialization and Its Impact on women's status. This impact has been both increasingly to favor money as the sole criteria for status and to force a separation of the home and the workplace. Both of these factors have had an adverse impact on women's status which the growth of technology, expansion of education, and increased control over fertility have not been able to counteract. The limitations of current …

Third World Women, World Population Growth: A Case Of Blaming The Victim, Elizabeth W. Moen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines the provisions of the 1974 United Nations World Population Conference pertaining to the status of women, wherein it is assumed that if the status of women is improved and they are educated and employed, fertility will decline. It is concluded that these assumptions do not have very sound theoretical or empirical bases, and that the possibility and probability of implementation in the near future is slim. It is hypothesized that the Conference World Plan of Action will do little to raise the status of women or reduce population growth because it is a product of sexual politics.

The Punishment Of Divorced Mothers, Herman Borenzweig

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As the clinical social worker to seven young divorced mothers I began to wonder why the lives of these women had become so remarkably unbearable. I compared the experiences of the women who were coming to me for group psychotherapy with about thirty similar divorced mothers who were also members of the West Side Jewish Community Center of Los Angeles. All the women were experiencing similar difficulties. I also explored some of the literature about the problems faced by divorced mothers! This essay is the culmination of my research. It summarizes some of my conjectures about the disadvantaged social status …

Pandora's Box: The Liberation Of Welfare Mothers, Bonnie Morel Edington

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

The non-"misandrist" mainstream of the women's movement has suggested that, more than women being liberated from male oppression, both sexes need to be liberated from the tyranny of culturally determined sex roles, the last bastion of ascribed status. If all social roles were androgynous they could be based on more relevant criteria. For example, children would be encouraged to develop skills and talents without regard for their "appropriateness" to gender, the male-female ratio in the work force and in nearly all specific occupations would be virtually equal, pay would be equal, and the number of …