The Gendered Welfare State
15th April 2012
Matthew Yglesias fears not to express ideas that would get a right-winger run out of town; after all, he’s a card-carrying Voice of the Crust, writing in a certified Crustian Rag.
But the same consideration applies to married women! Today’s married mother, after all, may be tomorrow’s divorced mom. If you stay out of the labor force while married, this will severely hurt your earnings prospects if you become single. And the fact that you’ll be hard-pressed to cope with the economic consequences of divorce weakens your bargaining position within the marriage. Indeed, Torben Iverson and Frances Rosenbluth argue in a fascinating paper on “The Political Economy of Gender” (PDF) that this has what’s driven women to left-of-center political parties in a wide range of advanced economies.
In other words, the welfare state makes it easier for you to dump hubby if you get tired of him. So vote socialist Democrat! You want that EBT to be there for you!
April 16th, 2012 at 08:50
And the Good Ol’ Days were so much better, when ‘intrinsically worthy’ women (read: ‘non-scut-workers’) had to stay married in order to survive economically–regardless of whether the man was a drunk, drug user, pedophile, wife- and/or child-beater, or gambled away the family income at the track.
April 16th, 2012 at 09:16
And of course they had nothing to do with marrying such a scumbag in the first place, since we have arranged marriages like Muslims. It’s all clear to me now.
April 16th, 2012 at 11:08
Not such a bad idea, actually. After all, marriage is first and foremost an economic agreement.
April 16th, 2012 at 11:13
Besides which, you (as typically) missed the point entirely. When you can’t survive without a spouse, your motivation for marrying in the first place is exactly the same as your motivation for staying in one. Market value for single women is time-limited, making them motivated sellers; under those circumstances, one can’t always wait around for the best deal.
Markets work even when you don’t want them to.
April 16th, 2012 at 11:33
And you, as typically, missed *my* point entirely. Women have been able to ‘survive without a spouse’ since they started getting jobs as schoolteachers, secretaries, domestic servants, and clerks back in the 19th century. If it were impossible to survive without being married, you might have a point; but it isn’t, so you don’t. Quelle surprise.
If a woman wants to get married, and most women (feminist mythology to the contrary notwithstanding) do want to get married, difficulty in surviving after marriage is an incentive for making the best choice you can, much like having cosmetic surgery. Grownups realize that no choice is ever perfect, actions have consequences, and adults accept responsibility for their actions and deal with it.
Let us know when you reach that stage.