Autonomous Mothers and Social Policy: How the CCTB, UCCB, and Alberta Child Care Subsidies Govern Women's Autonomy in Motherhood Open Access

[摘要] Liberalism’s conceit is the separation of the private from the public sphere, a conceit that, in turn, supports a common sense in which families are understood to be private entities that exist outside the purview of the state. And yet, Canadian income support programs clearly demonstrate the state’s interest in the organization of Canadian families. This thesis examines the policy processes and rationales through which autonomous mothering, or choosing to mother without a co-parent, is understood and addressed in Canadian social policy and provincial social policy in Alberta. Using a feminist critical policy analysis of the Canada Child Tax Benefit, the Universal Child Care Benefit, and child care subsidies in Alberta and a feminist critical discourse analysis of legislative debates, I examine political engagement surrounding childcare policies in Canada and Alberta from 1996-2015. I conclude that Canada’s federal government and the province of Alberta idealize and favour, in political speech and policy design, the traditional nuclear family form, creating material, social, and political hardship for women who choose to parent without a co-parent.

[发布机构] University of Alberta

[效力级别] Autonomy