Women and the Welfare Rights Movement

Abstract

<p>What can the Welfare Rights Movement tell us about gender relations in the United States in the late twentieth century? Welfare, defined by the U.S. National Women’s Agenda, became a “women’s issue” in the late 1970s. But who were the women responsible for giving welfare a feminine connotation?</p> <p>The Welfare Rights movement is a remarkable, yet overlooked, social protest in American history. Dominated by poor, African American women, the movement played an interesting role in the changing perceptions of gender and poverty in the U.S.</p> <p>My research will study the movement’s origins, the growing politicization of its female members, and the hostile reaction of an increasingly conservative government structure of the 1970s. I will also study the contradictions of the movement, such as its reliance on male leadership, despite its feminine rhetoric, and how such contradictions undermined potential alliances with other feminist organizations.</p> <p>The National Welfare Rights Organization filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and failed to achieve many of its goals. Still, the movement had a profound impact on women in America. By completing this research, I hope to give a voice to these overlooked women and gain a deeper appreciation of the battles they fought against poverty and sexism.</p>