The Social Security Debate, Cont'd

[MScoleman at aol.com]

Max (and anyone else) i realize that welfare and social security are
'different' but Frances Bolton's point is broader than the discussion you are
addressing.  At the time all this legislation was passed (during the fdr
years) welfare and social security were considered part of the SAME social net
-- and were originally conceived of as equally important.  This was one of
those brief periods in US history when women really were homemakers to a great
extent, and the social contract was meant to allow poor women the same
'rights' as more well-to-do women, the right to stay home and raise their own
children.  ALSO, it was discovered, and remains true today no matter what
anyone in government claims to the opposite, that it is cheaper to maintain
women and children through welfare than it is for the state to assume the
responsibility of raising those same children in institutional settings.  It
is only in the last few decades that the double standard against women has
become so virulent.

In short, welfare was originally conceived of as the same type of payment as
social security -- men received retirement income they were entitled to
because they worked for so many years and women received income to raise
children.  You will not that 'men' have kept their entitlement and women have
not.

maggie coleman mscoleman at aol.com