Frances Fox Piven Speaks on Welfare

Karen Rosener, First Year Women's Studies Graduate Student

Frances Fox Piven, coauthor of Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare and many other books, met with students and professors at George Washington University to discuss welfare on September 20, 2002. Piven outlined the history of welfare and included in this history the role of women on welfare. She suggested that when women decided they had a right to welfare because they were mothers, it became socially acceptable (in their eyes) for them to be on welfare. This was their right to perform traditional gender roles. However, Piven declared, forcing them to go to work takes away that right to be mothers and raise their children. Piven stressed that it’s not a bad thing when women do mother’s work. Later, in a question and answer period, Piven was asked how we can help others to understand the importance of welfare.  She responded that we must all look at what kind of society we want. Poverty is not good for the larger community. Welfare, Piven said, makes it possible for poor kids to grow up with economic stability and social respect.