Women in Social Welfare Programs: Learning to Negotiate and Construct Their Identities

• In Event: Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: Intersections of Literacy, Leadership, and Identities of Adult Women

Abstract

The negative imagery of welfare in US society shapes our understanding of women’s lives within the discourse of social policy. The purpose of this study was to explore how women in social welfare programs understood their identities ascribed by society, their personal view of self and their vision of a future self. The findings revealed participants constructed a personal identity which contrasts society’s negative social identity definition, had a clear sense of personal identity, and constructed a vision of future selves. Family support insulates them from the stigma of welfare, especially that of racial politics in the identity definition of women in poverty. This study informs and adds to the current literature on identity, poverty, welfare, and women’s development.

Authors

• Mary V. Alfred, Texas A&M University

• Michelle A Johnson, Texas A&M University - College Station