Beveridge, women and the welfare state

Abstract

Fifty years after the publication of the Beveridge report women con tinue to confront the welfare state on terms that are discriminatory and oppressive - the enduring legacy of an ideology of womanhood articu lated by Beveridge in his plan for social security. This paper returns to an examination of the Beveridge Committee proceedings as an arena of political struggle in which gender issues were to the forefront in order to understand the manner in which that ideology was constructed and how it came to achieve such dominance. Historical records are examined identifying the involvement of the TUC, representing an overwhelmingly male organised labour move ment, and of a range of women's organisations. It is argued that Beveridge's ideological enterprise gained considerable legitimacy both from enthusiastic TUC support and from a disunited and incoherent form of politics from those women's organisations. It is suggested that much can be learned from that period in the development of a progressive and gender-neutral agenda of social welfare reform.