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Lone Mothers and Policy Discourse in New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2000

STEPHEN UTTLEY
STEPHEN UTTLEY
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Social Policy, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
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Abstract

Lone mother families are seen as a major policy problem facing governments throughout the OECD. Responses to this problem in New Zealand, as in many other countries, are couched in terms of imposing work and training programmes to encourage exit from dependency on government financial support. This article uses ideas of ‘needs talk’ and discourse coalitions to explore the language of policy framing. Two periods in the development of the women's movement in New Zealand during which opportunities within political institutions have been available to women are examined. It is argued that an unintended consequence of naming needs for many women has been to contribute to the marginalisation of needs of lone mothers and indirectly to encourage policies which seek control and normalisation of this group.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , July 2000 , pp. 441 - 458
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Acknowledgements: I am grateful to Ian Culpitt, Kay Goodger and Allison Kirkman for reading and commenting on an earlier draft of this paper.