{"title":"Some are more equal than others: the impact of discrimination in social security on the right of same-sex partners to free movement in the European Union","authors":"S. Roberts, M. Sakslin","doi":"10.51952/rwkw9327","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/rwkw9327","url":null,"abstract":"Although non-discrimination and the free movement of persons are fundamental principles of the European Union (EU), discrimination against same-sex partners in many EU member countries presents serious barriers to free movement. In many member countries, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) people experience discrimination in all aspects of their lives, including civil status and social security. The interface of a plethora of civil statuses and benefit entitlement conditions means that same-sex partners exercising their right of free movement under the Treaty of Rome may find their status and entitlements changing as they move between different ‘rights regimes’, to the detriment of their social security coverage. The proposed new EU Directive on equal treatment may not prevent this discrimination although, if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, the Charter of Fundamental Rights may provide a route and an opportunity to do so.\u0000","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122110484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of the Civil Partnership Act on the lives of same-sex couples","authors":"Sarah Dickens, Martin Mitchell, W. O'Connor","doi":"10.51952/fdmi6833","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/fdmi6833","url":null,"abstract":"The 2004 Civil Partnership Act came into effect in the UK in December 2005. It created the legal status of ‘civil partner’ and enabled same-sex couples for the first time to register their relationship and to gain a number of legally recognised rights and responsibilities. This article reports on the findings of a qualitative study that used in-depth interviews with members of same-sex couples to explore the personal impacts of this legislative change on their lives. The research suggests that the Civil Partnership Act has had significant positive impacts in terms of improving the lives of, and reducing perceived discrimination against, same-sex couples. It also highlights a range of effects of the legislation that for some couples were not desired.","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132071662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The gendered division of labour: how can we assess the quality of employment and care policy from a gender equality perspective?","authors":"Jo Armstrong, S. Walby, Sofia Strid","doi":"10.51952/fect7287","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/fect7287","url":null,"abstract":"Evaluating the quality of employment and care policy in relation to gender equality is important given the continuing inequalities between men and women in paid and unpaid work. However, assessment raises dilemmas: quality according to what criteria; quality for whom; and quality of what? It is proposed here that good quality means transformation in gender relations towards an equal distribution of paid and unpaid work, equal pay and de-segregation; that sensitivity to differences between women is required, but not the adoption of different quality standards; and that working towards the goal of transformation demands consideration of several interconnected policy arenas. Assessing quality is difficult; but it is possible – and it is crucial to achieving gender equality.\u0000","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132533035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introducing Calendar 3: 2009","authors":"T. Patterson","doi":"10.51952/wqcu2255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/wqcu2255","url":null,"abstract":"With the recent desperate recession in the UK, and with a general election fast approaching, the pace of change in social welfare law and procedures has spiralled fiercely. The government has tried to anticipate or respond to a vast range of difficulties and events. This article gives some context for a wide-ranging third calendar of benefit changes, published online alongside this edition of Benefits: The Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, which aims to keep readers on top of the many changes in a turbulent year: 2009.\u0000","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115803031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"For love or money? Couples’ negotiations of credit and debt in low-income families in the UK","authors":"J. Goode","doi":"10.51952/nvoe6855","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/nvoe6855","url":null,"abstract":"Building on earlier work on the household economy, and drawing on a longitudinal study funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, this article discusses the role of gender dynamics in experiences of credit and debt in low-income families in the UK. Following critiques of traditional sociological and social psychological analyses of the household economy, it takes a more discursive approach, which reveals the significance and ‘playing out’ of gender relations within decision making in this area of practice.","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"64 8","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134004964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Benefits for single parents: the permanent revolution","authors":"Kate Bell","doi":"10.51952/fmya4328","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/fmya4328","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"207 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124651557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Striving to achieve a good childhood for all","authors":"B. Reitemeier","doi":"10.51952/oxqu3893","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/oxqu3893","url":null,"abstract":"This paper provides an overview of the aims, methodology and recommendations of The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Inquiry. It calls for a change in attitude towards children and young people and argues that the eradication of financial inequality and age discrimination must be prioritised in current legislation and policy to ensure a good childhood for all children. It challenges public policy makers and practitioners to ‘relationship-proof’ their work to address children’s real concerns, as identified through research.","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125083265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Creating submissive subjects: lone mothers and social assistance regimes in Canada","authors":"Shoshana Pollack","doi":"10.51952/ozgc6238","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/ozgc6238","url":null,"abstract":"The Lone Mothers: Building Social Inclusion project is a collaboration between researchers at five universities and community organisations in three research sites in Canada. The aim of this five-year longitudinal study is to examine the social assistance and labour market experiences of lone mothers. Drawing on qualitative interviews with lone mothers receiving social assistance in three Canadian provinces, as well as a focus group conducted with workers in the welfare system in Toronto, this article examines how women’s relationship with state policy and workers constructs and enforces a ‘submissive lone mother’ subjectivity and perpetuates neoliberal governance strategies.\u0000","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"122 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128003331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fair rewards or just deserts? The present and future of the contributory principle in the UK","authors":"L. Williams","doi":"10.51952/cnoh5654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/cnoh5654","url":null,"abstract":"The UK’s post-war benefit system, established following the report of William Beveridge, was based on the contributory principle of benefits being payable in return for contributions made. In 2000 the UK Parliamentary Select Committee on Social Security reported on the contributory principle concluding that it had been undermined in major part directly as a result of successive governments’ policies. In particular in the light of 2007 legislation, this article surveys reforms affecting the contributory principle that have been undertaken since the Committee’s report. It argues that erosion of the contributory principle has continued apace in the area of working-age benefits, but that, albeit in the long term, current policy in the area of pensions promises to take the system to an extent ‘back to Beveridge’ but also in a welcome but decidedly un-Beveridgean direction.","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"68 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116606048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The problem of poverty among older people in America: options for reform","authors":"P. Herd","doi":"10.51952/frei8480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51952/frei8480","url":null,"abstract":"While social security has contributed to the dramatic decline in poverty among older Americans over the last 40 years, certain groups of older Americans, particularly those who are unmarried, continue to have high poverty rates. The current social security system, which links non-earnings-related benefits to marriage, fails to protect some of the most vulnerable older Americans. This article presents a range of options, both inside and outside of the social security system, to address this problem. While most policy solutions focus on altering social security, there are solutions outside of the social security system. This article considers both the pitfalls and possibilities of poverty reduction policies both inside and outside of social security.","PeriodicalId":222777,"journal":{"name":"Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131192831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}