Universal Credit, gender and unpaid childcare: Mothers’ accounts of the new welfare conditionality regime
Universal Credit, gender and unpaid childcare: Mothers’ accounts of the new welfare conditionality regime
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普遍信贷、性别和无偿儿童保育：母亲对新福利条件制度的描述
作者：
K. Andersen
普遍信贷是联合王国为工作年龄的人提供的一种新的社会援助福利，它的实行构成了彻底的福利改革，需要大大加强和扩大福利条件。从数字上看，妇女受到普遍信贷中儿童主要照料者的条件性制度的不成比例的影响。根据这项新的福利，夫妻双方必须指定家中主要负责照顾受抚养子女的人为“责任照顾者”。单亲父母被自动指定为“负责任的照顾者”。负责的照料者受到不同程度的条件限制（取决于最年幼儿童的年龄），并因不遵守规定而面临福利制裁。为了调查在普遍信贷范围内对负责任的照顾者附加条件的性别影响，进行了一项小规模的定性研究。研究结果表明，普遍信贷的附加条件贬低了无报酬育儿的价值，使母亲承担了与工作有关的强制性要求和无报酬育儿的相互冲突的责任。
The introduction of Universal Credit, a new social assistance benefit for working age people in the UK, constitutes radical welfare reform and entails a significant intensification and expansion of welfare conditionality. Numerically, women are disproportionately affected by the conditionality regime for main carers of children within Universal Credit. Under this new benefit, couples have to nominate as ‘responsible carer’ the person in the household primarily responsible for the care of dependent children. Lone parents are automatically designated as the ‘responsible carer’. The responsible carer is subject to varying levels of conditionality (depending on the youngest child’s age) and faces benefit sanctions for non-compliance. To investigate the gendered implications of conditionality for responsible carers within Universal Credit, a small-scale qualitative study was carried out. The study’s findings show that the conditionality within Universal Credit devalues unpaid childcare and subjects mothers to conflicting responsibilities of mandatory work-related requirements and unpaid childcare.