Versión de HTML Básico
Policy: The Bible and Welfare Refonn
103
ment and dire conditions, which they have not willfully chosen as a pre
ferred lifestyle, and that they are hardworking people.79One wonders why
their pleas are necessary, why there is so much public doubt about and
indifference to these realities. I find that the sympathetic arguments about
ihe morality of the poor generate an uneasiness that lingers even though
it is clear these researchers and activists are focused upon defending the
moral fiber of poor women and girls. While contesting the nature of the
problem, even defenders seem to be caught within a troubling perspec-
nve that only identifies people who are poor as having the problem that
needs to be addressed.
I
do not mean to suggest that the detailed defense of contempora
poor women and girls that has been offered is expendable. Evidence is
needed on the effects upon human lives and dignity not only of poverty,
hut of welfare policies as well. Feminist studies offer details about how
badly women feel they are treated in the offices that dispense public assis-
lance.80Women’s stories describe how they are treated like children who
need to be corrected after doing something wrong. For instance, one
woman with a twelve-month-old son who applied for assistance had to
struggle with two different social service offices to get shelter, and then
had to agree to eight hours of meetings each week, including parenting
( lasses, as well as individual counseling that included sessions with a fam
ily life advocate and a child specialist.81 This mother who received all of
ihese mandates sought public assistance because she faced a crisis when
her apartment building was suddenly burned down.
Testimonies about women’s resistance to infantilizing or degrading
treatment by the social service bureaucracy have also been gathered.
Researcher Lisa Dodson tells the story of Margarita, who sang songs from
her Puerto Rican cultural background and joked with the other mothers
as she waited two to three hours each time she needed to see her case
worker.82Margarita consciously used this tactic because she did not want
her daughter “to remember Mommy with her head down.”83 Margarita
also tried to counter the attitude of the welfare office, “which teaches that
poor mothers are lazy, that they have babies for money, and that in the case
ol
Puerto Rican women like her, they shouldn’t even be here anyway.”84
Some studies show that whites find caseworkers more helpful in finding
potential jobs than blacks do; blacks are removed from enrollment for
noncompliance with welfare rules at higher rates than whites; and Latino/a
applicants, unlike white applicants, have to submit documentation of mar
riage and citizenship before receiving appointments.85Besides racially dis-