Equality in the Welfare State

Is the welfare state really equal? I'm not just talking about race. Equality is more then just racial equality; it is also gender and social equality as well. Equality has to deal with the certain rights that everyone has and deserves to have, if any one person is denied the right to have a certain privilege then it is a lack of equality. Although there are many racial inequalities in the welfare system social status and gender play into the inequalities as well.

The social status of a person is going to play a huge effect on whether or not they receive welfare or not. If a person is of a higher social class then they shouldn’t be on welfare, however it doesn’t always work out that way. It is generally the poor that are on welfare. The system is made for the poor to get out of their unfortunate money crisis. The main stereotype is that it is generally big families of another race that are on welfare (and not necessarily when they need to be on it either).

Gender also plays a major role in the welfare state. While both men and women are on welfare it is generally only the women that you hear about on the welfare system. This is generally because of the fact that the mother is the one that takes care of the children in the event of a divorce, death, etc. Another issue that plays into the inequality of gender is that it is statistically proven that men make more money then women do. All of society has the mindset that men are above women in basically everything. This already gives a negative image for women to work on while also taking care of their family and trying to survive with little money. It is easier for society to depict women on welfare then it is for men to be seen as “weak” and on welfare.

As for the race category we have talked about this quite a few times in class. It is generally people of color (or at least that’s the stereotype) that are on welfare. Not only is it persons of color, but more specifically women of color. People of color are usually seen as being of a lower status since there are so many third world countries that are in severe poverty. Third world countries are mainly made up of people of color with very few whites involved. This automatically gives the impression that people of color make up the majority of people on welfare.

It is hard to talk about any of these inequalities without involving another inequality. In other words race, social status, and gender go hand in hand. The real issue is how do we solve the problem of inequality in a world where inequality has always been a problem? I would say it is pretty much impossible. There will always be inequalities and people that are unhappy with the way the system is run. What we can do is just try to stop thinking the way society wants us to think. If we stop using the stereotypes and acknowledging them then it may eventually lessen. The welfare system was made to help the people in need. It doesn’t matter what a person’s race, social class, or gender is; what matters is if they are in real need of getting help. That’s what the focus should be on.

More information can be found at
http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/equality.htm

Click HERE