Abstract
This article exposes and critiques the media images of poor women and children that drive legislative debate in social assistance, or welfare public policy issues in the United States. It explores the impact of media images on law-making by focusing on three statutory time periods: 1935, when the Aid to Dependent Children program was initially enacted as part of the Social Security Act; 1967, when the first mandatory work requirements were added to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, and the mid-1990s, when states began implementing widely divergent categorical eligibility requirements that restrict benefits in an attempt to change behavior. The author argues that the uni-dimensional, non-normative and racially-defined lens of the images allows the public to devalue and distance themselves from poor women, and encourages politicians to develop policy based on gender, race and class stereotypes.
Keywords
Welfare legislation, poor women, Aid to Dependent Children program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, gender, race, class, Clarabel Ventura
Subject Categories
Public welfare, Welfare recipients, Mass media
Disciplines
Social Welfare Law | Women
Publisher
Fordham University School of Law
Publication Date
1995
Permanent URL
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20001198
Recommended Citation
22 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1159 (1995)
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Notes
Originally published in Fordham Urban Law Journal, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 1159-1196 (1995).