The Ins and Outs of Welfare-to-Work: Women as They Enter and Exit a Nursing Assistant Employment and Training Program

Authors

Brenda Solomon, University of Vermont

Abstract

By participant observation and follow up interviews (at three intervals post-graduation), this study explores the multiple work accountabilities arranging women's everyday lives as they enter and exit a welfare-to-work nursing assistant employment and training program. Work and family demands, and male partners' and children's reactions to the women's participation in labor arrangements outside the home are complicated by children's chronic illnesses and partners' disabilities and unemployment situations. From this consideration, the author argues that there is an incomplete gender shift in welfare policy. While it creates clear obligations to family and work for women trainees, the policy produces uncertain consequences and conditions for the women's (male) partners. These various circumstances explain the conflicting narratives of success and injustice in the women's descriptions of their experiences of welfare-to-work after training. Policy recommendations beginning from the women's everyday experiences are proposed.

Recommended Citation

Solomon, Brenda (2001) "The Ins and Outs of Welfare-to-Work: Women as They Enter and Exit a Nursing Assistant Employment and Training Program," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 28: Iss. 3, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.2748
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol28/iss3/10