The Impact of Education on the Will to Redress the Feminisation of Poverty in Australia1

Abstract

Education is commonly portrayed in liberal democracies as a source of enlightenment and support for liberal social policy. If that is true, how does education affect views about the feminisation of poverty? Jackman and Muha (1984) concluded that 'the well educated (in the USA) are but one step ahead of their peers in developing a defense of their interests that rests on qualification, individualism, obfuscation and symbolic concession'.

On the basis of two national surveys of workers and leaders it is suggested that education in Australia has only minimal impact on the will to redress the feminisation of poverty. However, it is noted that the lack of any positive finding may well be the result of poor measurement and inadequate analysis of the issue under examination both in the United States and in Australia. It would appear that education is a necessary, rather than a sufficient condition for the production of more enlightened attitudes concerning the will to redress the feminisation of poverty in Australia.

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