A collection of essays specifically about women and welfare in the United States. A state-of-the-art introduction to how welfare programmes affect women and how gender relations have influenced the structure of welfare programmes, it is intended both for general readers and as a text in a variety of sociology, history, political science, social work, and women's studies courses. The book begins with a review essay by Linda Gordon discussing current scholarship about women and welfare. The chapters that follow explore discrimination against women inherent in many welfare programmes; the ways in which welfare programmes reinforce basic gender patterns in society; the contribution of organized, activist women to the development of welfare programmes, and race and class differences in the welfare system. By giving readers access to a wide range of thinking about women and welfare, this book will help bring gender to the center of welfare scholarship and policy making, and welfare issues to the center of feminist thinking and action.