This essay would seek to analyze and evaluate an essay by Barbara Ehrenreich ” A step back to the warehouse” which has thought to provide the rationale behind having a welfare system for those women who cannot afford to provide for themselves. The essay entails a number of examples of women who have had to resort to living on the welfare payments in order to survive. Through these examples; the author seeks to provide the understanding of the sort of circumstances which force such a choice upon the women.
The author has tried to shed light on the actual issue; the external circumstances which make the situation so that these women are unable to seek employment and the wages for the sort of employment sought by majority would not be sufficient to aid their living expenses. The author has outlined the various reasons as to why the solution in the form of workfare cannot be an optimal solution for these women. As what is required is focus on services such as child care, job training and counseling as workfare cannot become the source of sustenance.
The author vehemently opposes the idea of workfare as it does not result in the productive labor force which would be ideally sought and falls below the required financial assistance. The notion of dependency that the essay sought to discuss is criticized by the author. As it is shown that welfare payments are not creating “lazy, dissolute” workers but in fact is providing a cushion for those who are suffering from poverty. The feminist alternative to welfare; workfare cannot succeed on the simple ground that it is simply a mere drop in the ocean. The author has also outlined of the financial costs to the system of introducing a workfare system in the form of the child care provisions.
Till now the essay sought to provide a summary outlook of the arguments presented by Barbara and the rest of the paper would seek to provide an analysis. The author does focus on the main issues which force these women to rely on the welfare payments but the pros and cons of the system would need to be examined in further detail. The circumstances might be such that the women might need to rely on these payments but at the same time what has to be realized is the fact that there are cases where women are making no efforts to improve their situation. Hence, what needs to be done is not a complete eradication but rather a modification of the process as through the modification, it would be identified that whether the welfare case is worth the cause, extent of previous payments and the current domestic situation. However, since in most of the cases the payments are being paid to women who have no alternatives this programme’s success can be gauged from that fact.
Added to that is the idea that instead of trying to do way with the proposal, the cause of the issue should be identified. The essay highlighted instances of poverty, depravation, abuse which have to be handled and taken care of. Nearly all of the cases as pointed out by the essay are of mothers who need these in order to provide the necessary child care arrangements.
Though the essay did provide a solid reasoning as to why these payments are such a necessity, it could have been made better by outlining a financial outlook on the entire proposal. The example quoted was extensive in description but lacking in financial sense. In order to provide a valid defense for such a proposal, what had to be identified was the fact that whether the costs to the system of having such a programme in place are too much as compared to the benefits gained by the society.
By the end of the paper, the author did skim over the costs of having a workfare system in place but if the pros and cons of both had been analyzed in greater detail by having a side-to-side compassion it could have created a solid foundation for the entire argument. The notion which was outlined of the feminists that domestic work is no work was attacked and for all the rights reasons since the domestic work has been devalued by the feminists who believe that work outside the four walls of the house is only work. In this sense, the paper established a solid case for all domestic housewives whose efforts in nurturing a future generation are overlooked by a driven-capitalistic structure.
It is the duty of the public system to ensure that these women are taken care of in the circumstances that have created such a deplorable living state for them. Workfare wages are no solution as the essay aptly points out for those who have a number of mouths to feed and take care of. The example that the essay made use of outlined the fact that unless these women do not have some public assistance, the sort of harassment that they have to face would be faced by them for life. Hence, the state’s responsibility can be outlined the fact that unless these women do not have some public assistance, the sort of harassment that they have to face would be faced by them for life. Thus, this essay is an appropriate insight into a public service which cannot be eradicated at any costs.
References
Ehrenreich, B” A Step back to the Workhouse”