Hardship and health in women's lives

236 Pages·2013·3.709 MB·English

by  Graham, Hilary

Hardship and Health in
Women's Lives
Hilary Graham
R
Hardship and Health
Women’s Lives
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Hardship and Health
in Women’s Lives
HILARY GRAHAM
\l
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Croup
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1993 by Harvester Wheatsheaf
Published 2013 by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© Hilary Graham, 1993
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or repro­
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without perm ission in writing from the publishers.
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As
new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in
research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may
become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experi­
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formation or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and
the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a profes­
sional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors,
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products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
ISBN 13: 978-0-7450-1265-0 (pbk)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
ISBN 0-7450-1264-7 (hbk)
ISBN 0-7450-1265-5 (pbk)
Typeset in l0/12pt Times and Optima by
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CONTENTS
List of Figures viii
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
Diversity among mothers 6
The language of diversity 11
Notes 15
1 Information on women’s lives 16
1.1 Introduction 16
1.2 Sources of information 17
1.3 Who is included? 24
1.4 How are women’s lives represented? 28
1.5 Working with the shortcomings 34
Notes 35
2 Settling down 36
2.1 Introduction 36
2.2 Pathways into motherhood 36
2.3 Caring for children alone 40
2.4 Settling into Britain 45
2.5 Family patterns among Black and White women 49
Notes 53
v
Contents
Finding a home 55
3.1 Introduction 55
3.2 Housing policy 55
3.3 Access to housing 57
3.4 Homeless families 61
3.5 Living in council housing 64
3.6 Poor housing and poor health 68
Notes 71
Being a mother 72
4.1 Introduction 72
4.2 Taking responsibility for children 72
4.3 Caring for families 79
4.4 Money for caring 82
Notes 86
Caring for children 88
5.1 Introduction 88
5.2 The what, when and where of childcare 89
5.3 Help from partners 99
5.4 Help from others 101
Notes 105
Working for pay 107
6.1 Introduction 107
6.2 Trends in women’s employment 108
6.3 Why women work 111
6.4 Mothers and paid work 113
6.5 Patterns of employment among lone mothers 122
Notes 125
Finding the money 127
7.1 Introduction 127
7.2 Sources of income among one-parent and
two-parent households 127
Contents vii
7.3 Social security benefits 129
7.4 Maintenance 137
7.5 Consumer credit 141
7.6 Debt 145
Notes 148
8 Making ends meet 149
8.1 Introduction 149
8.2 Families on low income 149
8.3 Spending in low-income households 153
8.4 Trying to survive without help 158
8.5 Relying on others 162
Notes 166
9 Keeping going 167
9.1 Introduction 167
9.2 Gender differences in health 167
9.3 The health of mothers 169
9.4 Getting through 176
9.5 Cigarette smoking 179
Notes 183
10 Children’s health 185
10.1 Introduction 185
10.2 Measuring children’s health 186
10.3 Patterns of infant mortality 187
10.4 Patterns of childhood mortality 192
11 Concluding comments 198
Notes 202
References 203
Index 21'9
FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Families with dependent children: patterns of
one-parent and two-parent households, Britain,
1989 38
Figure 2.2 Heads of lone mother families with dependent
children, Britain, 1987-9 combined 41
Figure 2.3 Proportion of households with children
under 16, by ethnic group of head of house­
hold, Britain, 1987-9 combined 50
Figure 3.1 Homeless households found accommodation
by local authorities by priority need category,
Britain, 1990 62
Figure 3.2 Housing tenure of lone-parent families and
other families with dependent children,
Britain, 1988-9 65
Figure 3.3 Housing tenure of households with a disabled
child, Britain, 1985 66
Figure 3.4 Housing tenure of disabled adults who are
householders in households with children,
Britain, 1985 67
Figure 4.1 Carers devoting at least 20 hours a week to
caring, by family type 80
Figure 4.2 Domestic division of labour: responsibility
and tasks by women’s employment status,
Britain, 1987 81
Figure 5.1 Women aged 16 to 59 living with children
aged under 16 by age of youngest child,
Britain, 1989 88
Figure 6.1 Economic activity of women aged 16 to 59
with and without dependent children,
Britain, 1989 114
viii
Figures ix
Figure 6.2 Economic activity of women of working age,
proportion working full time and part time by
age of youngest dependent child, Britain, 1989 115
Figure 6.3 Patterns of employment among married
women and lone mothers with dependent
children, proportion working full time and
part time, Britain, 1977-9 to 1987-9 123
Figure 7.1 Main source of income for one-parent and
two-parent households, Britain, 1987 128
Figure 7.2 Experience of income support: lone fathers
and lone mothers compared 133
Figure 8.1 Number of dependent children in households
with below 50 per cent of average income,
Britain, 1979-89 150
Figure 8.2 Proportion of dependent children in house­
holds with below 50 per cent of average
income, by economic status of head of
household, Britain, 1988 151
Figure 8.3 Proportion of weekly income devoted to
housing costs and services, and to consumer
credit, by income, United Kingdom, 1989 154
Figure 8.4 Unmet need reported by families of
unemployed people who had signed on
continuously for 15 months, married/
cohabiting couples under 35 157
Figure 9.1 Health of married/cohabiting mothers by
housing tenure and income 173
Figure 9.2 Health of lone mothers and married/
cohabiting mothers 174
Figure 9.3 Health of lone mothers by housing tenure
and income 175
Figure 9.4 Cigarette smoking among married/cohabiting
women with and without dependent
children, Britain, 1988 180
Figure 10.1 Infant mortality by father’s social class
(births within marriage only), England and
Wales, 1989 188
Figure 10.2 Infant mortality and marital status, England
and Wales, 1987-9 190