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Striking out’: Shifting labour markets, welfare to work policy and the renegotiation of gender performances

Smith, K.E.; Bambra, C.; Joyce, K.E.

Striking out’: Shifting labour markets, welfare to work policy and the renegotiation of gender performances Thumbnail


Authors

K.E. Smith

C. Bambra

K.E. Joyce



Abstract

Since 1997, the English government has committed itself to the twin (and inter-linked) policy aims of reducing health inequalities and tackling social exclusion. Welfare to work interventions have formed a key part of the policy response to both of these problems. So far, this approach has been largely supply-side focused and ‘gender-blind’, treating both men and women who are not in employment as discrete entities who, with the right combination of training and support, can be engaged within the formal economy. Drawing on data from qualitative case studies of two such interventions in the North-East of England (one of which offered unemployed parents childcare training and the other of which provided vocational and advisory support to young parents), this paper contributes to a growing literature exploring the gender dimensions of social policy interventions. The findings emphasize the centrality of gender to participants and demonstrate the necessity of gender sensitivity in projects designed to tackle worklessness.

Citation

Smith, K., Bambra, C., & Joyce, K. (2010). Striking out’: Shifting labour markets, welfare to work policy and the renegotiation of gender performances. Critical Social Policy, 30(1), 74-98. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018309350809

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Feb 1, 2010
Deposit Date Feb 2, 2010
Publicly Available Date Feb 17, 2010
Journal Critical Social Policy
Print ISSN 0261-0183
Electronic ISSN 1461-703X
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 30
Issue 1
Pages 74-98
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018309350809
Keywords Gender roles, Men, Qualitative, Social policy, UK, Worklessness.

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Copyright Statement
The final definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal Critical social policy 30/1 2010 Copyright © 2010 by Critical Social Policy Ltd at the Critical social policy page: http://csp.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/




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