Father,Mother and the Welfare State Family and Social Transfers After Marital Breakdown

Abstract

Who must feed the child when its parents are separated? Its mother, with her work; its father, by paying alimony; the community (local, national) with social rights or assist ance ; or a combination of these various sources? This is the question posed m this article, which attempts to understand and to compare the ways in which the debate is approached and how social measures and pol icies are justified in France and in Britain. Several interpretations can be put forward in order to explain the gap between the situation in the two countries. On the one hand, there is a difference in the intensity of the economic problems experienced by one-parent families. In England, in the United States and in Canada, lone-parenthood is an element of poverty, while the link between lone- parenthood and poverty is much less clear in France, where 'only' one lone-parent family out of five can be considered as poor or totally dependent on the redistribution system. A sec ond explanation refers to the fact that France has developed an explicit family policy, aimed not only at families in general but also at one- parent families, and endeavouring to make family life and professional life compatible for women. Thus in European comparisons, it is usual to consider France as the country which was first to accept the principle of public inter vention in the family sphere, and Britain as one of those countries which reject this principle, for the sake of protecting the private sphere. After presenting a general overview of the balance between public and private obli gations, and between family and state support, this article provides the main data available concerning family reconstitution. It then deals with the elements of the debate which arose, and are still arising, due to lone-parent ben efits, which are still the main measure to combat economic insecurity for one-parent households.