Análisis de electrificabilidad de vehículos

Introduction

The thesis began by discussing how il/legitimacy functioned for centuries as a means of both controlling female sexuality and limiting demands on resources (Engels, 1988; Millett, 1990; Smart, 1992; Reekie, 1998). This chapter explores lone mothers' experiences of stigma within the contemporary socio-political context of the worker model of ‘legitimate’ citizenship (e.g. Pulkingham et al., 2010) and increased benefits stigma (e.g. Taylor-Gooby, 2013). The first section highlights the strength of work orientation expressed by participants regardless of their location or circumstances. Comparing local labour markets, qualifications and skills reveals sharp contrasts between the two locations however. Whereas most women in Location A voiced frustration at not working, women in Location B were much more favourably positioned to access jobs that could be balanced with childcare. Dermott and Pomati (2016) raise the important question of whether lone parenthood itself remains subject to stigma or benefit dependency is a key differential. The second section presents strong evidence to confirm that lone mothers who rely on benefits are indeed prone to the greatest degree of stigma. Using SSL as an analytical tool demonstrates the importance of employment to self-worth among participants displaying ‘positive’ and ‘performative’ SSL. It also shows how inability to access work that can be balanced with childcare was compounded by self-judgement among those women displaying ‘negative’ SSL. Conversely, certain women indicating ‘defensive’ SSL judged themselves deserving of benefits, rather than internalising adverse social judgement. These case examples illustrate how a process of ‘judging the judgement’ impacts on individual experiences of stigma.

The chapter argues that, despite participants’ agency in seeking work and managing limited budgets, ‘structural emergent properties’ (Archer, 2000), in the form of lack of suitable jobs and policies that fail to recognise lone mothers’ childcare responsibilities, can present significant constraints. The final section focuses on social class through consideration of participants' SSL in relation to 'economic capital' (Bourdieu, 1989). This demonstrates that some women could convert the cultural capital of educational qualifications into employment and hence financial stability, which further enhanced their sense of ‘positive’ or ‘performative’ SSL. Participants in Location A were likely to be 'struggling' financially and effect of this on their SSL is discussed. Whilst women in Location B generally had higher levels of economic capital, living on a single income among affluent dual income families adversely affected SSL in certain cases.

149 Employment and 'legitimate' citizenship

Changes to conceptualisations of citizenship underlying shifts in welfare policies affecting lone mothers were set out in Chapter Two and analysis of accounts of lone mothers involved in this study suggest that the prevailing citizenship model, which positions them firmly as workers (e.g. Lewis, 2006; Pulkingham et al., 2010; Haux, 2012), has become lodged hegemonically in both locations.21 _{Benefit dependency is a central component of negative stereotypes and strength of}

work orientation was a resounding factor in participants' differentiation of themselves from stigmatising cultural representations. The 'prism of legitimacy' framework helps understand how, while ostensibly gender neutral, state policies disadvantage women (MacKinnon, 1983; Walby 1994) and data from this study supports Tyler's (2013) claim that people who do not work feel 'de-legitimised' as 'failed citizens'. Women in both Location A and Location B uniformly expressed a belief that people are evaluated in terms of being employed or otherwise. Ability to access employment was, however, affected by dramatic variations in labour markets, qualifications and skills between the locations. Case studies detail how 'positive' or 'performative' SSL is strongly associated with women's personal pride and sense of social value stemming from their work. Conversely, with policies accentuating individual culpability (Wright, 2012), women who did not work believed they were not valued as legitimate citizens and internalised this judgement, resulting in 'negative' SSL.

Strength of work orientation across locations

Discussion of operationalisation of concepts in Chapter Four explained that whilst the term ‘citizenship’ itself had little, if any, salience among participants, questions concerning work orientation and entitlement to benefits proved meaningful. Mothers are much more likely to retain responsibility for childcare when relationships end (Smart and Neale, 1999; Poole et al., 2016) and the mothers who took part in this research were all the primary carers for their children. Contrary to New Right arguments that the state is expected to fulfil the absent father's role as provider (Millar, 1996), or media depictions of mothers cynically 'scrounging' off the state (Tyler, 2011), participants also clearly identified themselves as responsible for their children's material well-being. Examples of frequently voiced comments to this end include:

“I'm responsible for my children, not their father and not the state.” Clare (A) “I want to work so I can provide for her. She's my child.” Debbie (A)

“I want to provide a better life for him.” Julie (A)

21 _{Although it was sometimes difficult to separate out women's belief in the intrinsic value of work from}

their desire to avoid benefits stigma, in an attempt to untangle views on the intrinsic value of employment and their responses to unemployment from attitudes towards benefits stigma, this first section concentrates on former and the second section concentrates on the latter.

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“The onus is on me...if I want to give them a decent life.” Sonia (B)

Levels of financial input from fathers varied greatly, but in all cases this was regarded as a 'contribution' rather than being the family's main source of income. Where mothers were receiving benefits, they viewed this as a substitute for their own salary, not that of an absent father. Notwithstanding flaws in 'workfare' policies and a belief among some of her participants that work was detrimental to children's welfare, Churchill (2007) points to enabling aspects in lone mothers believing they had moved beyond economic dependence on men. Participants’ view of themselves as breadwinners went hand in hand with a strong work ethic, which was witnessed among women in Location A and B and regardless of individual circumstances:

“I've never had a day off sick in 13 years. I've worked 12 days out of the last 14.” Sheila (A)

“I love what I do. I'm quite passionate about it. I'm one of those people who would never have been a stay at home mum. I get my thrills and I get to socialise at work.” Della (B) Evidence of commitment to employment among participants from both locations is somewhat at variance with findings from two key studies conducted in the late 1990s (Duncan and Edwards, 1999; Klett-Davies, 2007). Klett-Davies (2007) identified 'pioneers' of independent ‘man-free’ lifestyles among ideal types of benefit-dependent lone mothers in London and Berlin during her research. These women regarded state benefits as means of fulfilling desires to pursue ‘professional mothering’, artistic or educational ambitions whilst caring for their children. There was no indication in the present study of women having chosen to live on benefits for such purposes. Nor did any participants in the present study invoke 'alternative lifestyles' discourses, as identified among some participants in Duncan and Edwards' (1999) research. Duncan and Edwards (1999) found that maternal identity was more important than material gain for most of their respondents, with a high proportion of white working class mothers in particular viewing motherhood and paid work as incompatible. Whilst the present study is much smaller in scale and not directly comparable, it is significant that, unlike Duncan and Edwards’ research (1999), none of the participants believed that working would be damaging to their children or mentioned external disapproval of them for working. In fact, a number of women across both locations pointed out that their decision-making was influenced by a work ethic ingrained in them by their own parents, as illustrated by the following comments:

“I don't think my mum and dad would bother with me if I didn't work. That's been drilled in from an early age.” Gina (A)

“Like my mum and everything, we've always worked. She's got five kids and she still works.” Gemma (A)

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“That's a cultural thing in my family. I know my dad in particular is very proud of me for having worked hard and having got myself off benefits.” Moira (B)

This pro-work sentiment appeared particularly strong among participants whose own mothers had been working single parents, such as Della (B):

“My mum was also a single parent with me and my mum did not have a good job back then. She was a waitress but she still worked. I've been brought up with that.” Della (B) Many women believed they were setting a good example to children by working and women without jobs worried that their children were being disadvantaged by not having this “role model”. Their comments were in accordance with arguments suggesting that being employed is increasingly equated with being a 'good' parent (Lewis, 2006; Churchill, 2007):

“It's making me crazy because you think 'if my child doesn't see me work, how will she learn to work?’” Marta (A)

“I like the fact that my son knows I go out to work and I earn a living.” Della (B)

Wallbank makes a pertinent point that popular discourses on working lone mothers emphasise the need to work to provide for children, yet rarely refer to advantages of mothers working for 'their personal fulfilment' (1998: 85). Personal fulfilment was referred to by the majority of women in this study who work, however. The inter-connected virtues of working that were cited included; self-esteem, confidence, getting out of the house, alleviating boredom, having “a break from the kids” and social interaction with other adults. Examples below show how these perceived merits of employment contributed towards participants' self-worth and SSL.

Data from this study confirms that pressure in balancing the demands of employment with their children's needs was prominent among women in both locations. Participants' work orientation was accompanied by accounts of difficulties in accessing work that was compatible with childcare for women in Location A in particular. Women's accounts support feminist arguments that citizenship is gendered (Walby, 1994; Lister, 1997) and that the adult worker model ignores tensions between lone mothers' carer and breadwinner roles (e.g. Millar and Ridge, 2013). Jasmine (B) sums up comments by a number of participants on contradictory expectations engendered through hegemonic discourse, echoing feminist views that lone mothers face a 'double burden' (Wallbank, 1998):

“You’re breadwinner and carer, it’s a job designed for two people...if you don't work and you're a single mum it's like 'what a lazy cow', if you do work and you're a single mum it's like 'her kids come home on their own and who is looking after them'.” Jasmine (B)

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Locational variations in employment

Measures by successive governments to encourage employment uptake among lone parents were summarised in Chapter Two, with changes arising from the Welfare Reform Act 2012 resulting in increased benefit conditionality for lone parents (e.g. Graham and McQuaid, 2014). The foregoing comments demonstrate the strength of work orientation displayed by women across the data. However, vast differences in employment levels are shown in Table 9: Employment by location. Nine out of 13 women in A were not currently in paid employment and all but two of the women in B were in paid work, one of whom was about to start a university degree.

Table 9: Employment by location

Location Working full-time Working part-time Not in paid work

A 2

(inc. 1 self-employed) 3 (inc. 1 recently self- employed) 8 B 7 (+ 1 to start full-time degree) 4

(inc. 1 on maternity leave) 2

Although this research is focused on perceptions rather than practicalities, analysis revealed the two to be closely inter-connected in participants’ experiences of un/employment and stigma. In understanding women’s situations and perspectives on those situations (Maxwell, 2012), it is therefore worthwhile outlining constraints that prevented most women in Location A from working before looking at the impact of un/employment on SSL.

Local labour markets, qualifications and skills

Barriers to employment for all lone parents are well documented (e.g. Whitworth, 2013; Graham and McQuaid, 2014), but some face more insurmountable barriers than others. The disparity in labour market participation between women in the two locations is reflective of spatial macro- economic factors and concurs with emphasis placed on disparities in local economies in employment-centred studies of lone motherhood (e.g. Rafferty and Wiggan, 2011). Lone mothers have tended to be geographically concentrated in areas of high unemployment (Morris, 1994) and the restricted labour market in Location A proved a readily identifiable barrier. As a large estate of predominantly local authority owned housing on the outskirts of a former industrial city with high levels of unemployment (DETR, 2012), Location A has a distinctly disadvantaged local economy. Duncan and Edwards' (1999) finding that middle class lone mothers were more likely to be situated in better labour market locations and were able to access wider employment markets was borne out in the present study.

Availability of affordable childcare locally (as found by Rowlingon and McKay, 2005) was an issue raised by women in A. Scott et al. (2010) note that middle class mothers are generally more

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likely to use professional childcare, which appears to be reflected in differences between women in the contrasting locations. Disparity in participants' labour market competitiveness is apparent in Table 10: Qualifications and skills by location. Whereas only one woman in Location A had A'Levels, educational and professional qualifications were a major enabler in accessing jobs for those in B, which meant they were better placed to negotiate flexible employment and/or earn sufficiently high salaries to be able to afford childcare. Analysis of the data indicates that women in both areas behaved agentially in their approach to employment but that, as Davies (2012) and Whitworth (2013) argue, agency needs to be examined within the context of structural constraints. Participants in Location B tended to be better positioned geographically and educationally and were able to capitalise on this through their decision-making and action- taking, whereas options for most women in Location A were severely limited.

Table10: Qualifications and skills by location Location Educational and

qualifications Vocational qualifications Gaining qualifications A 10 secondary (poor GCSEs) 1 secondary (good GCSEs) 1 post-16 (A'Levels)

4 NVQs 1 starting Access to HE course 2 literacy and numeracy sessions B 5 degree 5 post-graduate professional 1 PhD 1 NVQ 1 specialist teaching 2 part-time degree

1 starting full-time degree

Employment and SSL

One of the reasons for introducing SSL as an analytical tool in this research is that it captures positive expressions of women's sense of social validity, rather than simply presence/absence of stigma in participants' accounts, as discussed in Chapter Three. Women who felt satisfied in their ability to balance worker/maternal roles and gained external validation for their achievements indicated 'positive' or 'performative' SSL. In contrast, despite citing proactive attempts to find suitable employment, most women in Location A spoke of frustration at significant barriers that hindered their agential behaviour, resulting in 'negative' SSL. A process of 'being judged' and internalising adverse social judgement is also illustrated, whereby those mothers who conveyed 'negative' SSL tended to judge themselves severely for not working, despite rationally attributing this to factors beyond their control, thus confirming Skeggs and Loveday's point that, 'powerlessness is compounded by moral judgment' (2012: 483).

Location A

Although women in Location A generally expressed a strong work ethic during interviews, Carrie and Gina are the only women there who work full-time. The link between pride in fulfilling her career ambitions and 'positive' SSL was highly evident in the case of Carrie. She was extremely

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chatty, cheerful and confident throughout the interview and spoke enthusiastically about how much she “loves” her role as a children's speech and language worker. Carrie had a previously been reliant on benefits and had found it, “degrading", but described her agential strategy in acquiring vocational skills to work with children:

“I was bettering myself at every step of the way because I knew I had an end goal. Everything worked out exactly...you have to have a goal...you can't just sit and feel downtrodden.” Carrie (A)

Carrie referred frequently to “feeling good” and said, “I'm where I should be” when discussing her job and appreciated the flexibility of being able to reduce her hours when her daughter was born and return full-time when she started school. Her SSL was clearly enhanced through a sense of being “valued”, having spent a decade working with local families. Statistics confirm that African-Caribbean lone mothers have the highest employment rate among ethnic groups (Duncan and Edwards, 1999; Rowlingson and McKay, 2005). Although the dangers of reproducing the black lone mother stereotype must be recognised (May, 2008), Carrie's own mother had brought up three children alone whilst working full-time and her account confirms Duncan and Edwards' (1999) qualitative findings that women in her ethnic group displayed the most fluidly integrated mother/worker orientations.

Sheila and Gemma, who work part-time, both conveyed indicators of 'positive' SSL, which appeared to be based on being employed and also having solid family and friendship networks locally (as discussed fully in Chapter Seven). Gemma emphasised that even though she was no better off materially for working, she was fulfilling her family's work ethic and saw financial independence as important to her self-esteem. Reduced hours as a nursery assistant allowed her to balance her job and time with her two year-old son. Sheila, whose youngest son was 15, spoke about being “happy as I am”. The importance of work ethic to her SSL was evident through statements such as feeling “better for working”. She had been in her sales assistant job for 13 years and had viewed it as “a break from the kids” when they were younger.

The majority of women in A did not have jobs and there were considerable overlaps in their comments on not working and being dependent on benefits. Participants' views that timing of work is vital to combining employment with their maternal role concurs with evidence from Ridge and Millar (2008; 2011) and Millar and Ridge (2013). Accounts of women in this study also support the point that age of a mother's youngest child is an inadequate gauge of a lone mothers' ability to work (Haux, 2012). Women voiced frustration that Benefits Agency staff did not understand restrictions that responsibility for children placed on work options. This confirms Davies' (2012) argument that welfare reform accentuates moralistic interpretations of deservingness without recognising challenges in accessing childcare compatible employment.

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The situation described by Bella, who has eight year-old twins, is a case in point. Speaking about being troubled by boredom and “lost confidence”, Bella exemplifies how the endogenous effects