Woman Battering and Welfare Reform: The View from a Welfare-To-Work Program

Authors

Lisa D. Brush, University of Pittsburgh

Abstract

This research compares employment training program staff estimates (N = 118) and enrollee reports (N = 122) of woman battering, that is, the physical violence and other abuse men deploy against their wives and girlfriends. The vast majority of staff estimate that woman battering obstructs the transition from welfare to work for at least some of their clients. Overall, staff respondents' relative sense of the frequency of battering quite accurately reflects enrollee reports. However, staff are especially reluctant to give estimates of physical violence and injury. Moreover, many give very low estimates for those items that are obvious markers of battering, which enrollees report at nontrivial levels. Such discrepancies are particularly disturbing because successful welfare reform implementation depends in part on staff understandings of woman battering as an obstacle to welfareto- work transition

Recommended Citation

Brush, Lisa D. (1999) "Woman Battering and Welfare Reform: The View from a Welfare-To-Work Program," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 26: Iss. 3, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.2588
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol26/iss3/4