Family Policies Flashcards
Why was the one child policy implemented?
The CCP feared that the population was growing too rapidly
Features of the one child policy
Han chinese families could only have one child while ethnic minorities could have 2
Widely available contraception
Forced sterilisations and abortions
Preferential employment for people who comply
Consequences of the one child policy
Female infanticide and sex selective abortions means that there is a shortage of women
Why was the birth rate falling in Communist Romania?
Falling SoL
Features of Romania’s pronatalist policy
Restricted contraception and abortion
Legal age for marriage lowered to 15
Childless couples pay an extra 5% income tax
Donzelot’s view of family policy?
Conflict- sees it as a form of state control over families
What is foucalt’s view on power? How does Donzelot use his views
Sees power as diffused throughout society and found in all relationships
Interested in how proffesionals use surveillance to police the family
Donzelot: how are poor families targetted? Example of Condry
More likely to be viewed as the cause of anti social behaviour and targetted for improvement
Condry- parents of young offenders may be forced to attend parenting classes to learn the correct way to bring up children
Criticism of Donezolt
Conflict theories- he fails to recognise who benefits from policies of surveillance
( New rightist) Almond’s arguement
Laws making divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage being a lifelong commitment
Increased rights of cohabitants like pension rights makes marriage and cohabitation too similar
(New right) how do benefits provide ‘perverse incentives’ for anti social behaviour?
If fathers see that the state will support their children some will abandon their responsibilities
Housing for unmarried teenage girls encourages teenage pregnancy
(New right) benefits of cuts to benefits
Taxes could be reduced which incentivises fathers to work for their families
Promotes self reliance
(New right) Issues with the welfare state?
Threatens successful primary socialisation
Threatens work ethic of men
Criticisms of new right
Feminists- an excuse to return to patriarchal families which subjegated women
Abbott- cutting benefits would drive poor families into even greater poverty making them less self reliant
New right’s influence on governments 1979-1997
Thatcher’s government banned promotion of homosexuality
Minimal Influence of new right on new labour governments 1997-2010
Believed that married straight couples were the bedrock of society
Longer maternity leave
Civil partnerships for gay couples
How does tax/ benefit policies support the partiarchal family?
Assume that men are the main wage earners and that wives are financially dependent
How does childcare support the partiarchal family?
Gov subsidies are not enough to allow parents to work full time unless they can meet additional costs themselves
Evaluation of feminist view
Not all policies maintain patriarchy e.g. equal pay act challenge the partiarchal family
What are the two types of gender regime policies according to Drew? Give examples
Familistic gender regimes which are based on traditional gender division
Individualistic gender regimes based on the belief that the husband and wife should be treated the same e.g. Sweden: spouses equally responsible for childcare and work
When was free contraception introduced?
1961
What was the 1991 Child Support Act?
Forced absentee fathers to pay Child Maintenance Service which goes directly to the mother
What did the 1969 divorce act do?
Allowed couples to divorce because of irrevocable breakdown
How do parents qualify for 30 hrs of free child care?
Their child must be under 2 and each parent must work at least 16 hours
What happened to the age at which students could leave education in 2015?
It rose from 16 to 18
What happened to parental leave in 2015?
You were able to split it between both parents
