Försörjd av sin hustru : Genus, folklig praktik och medborgarskap i arbetslöshetshjälpen 1921-1939

Sammanfattning: This dissertation examines the evolution of married women’s citizenship through a case of State policy – i.e. the unemployment assistance during the inter-War years. While construing unemployment assistance policy, the State acted in relationship to gender, family, maintenance responsibilities and gainful employment. The dissertation discusses four dimensions of society having relevance for the study of the unemployment assistance from a citizenship perspective: the legal framework of unemployment assistance, the practice of social policy implemented by Stockholm’s Unemployment Committee, the political debate about unemployment assistance in the Stockholm City Council, and the popular practices regarding gender, family and livelihood in Stockholm. The main argument in this study is that unemployment assistance rested on a family-based citizenship in which married women were assigned a maintenance obligation. Through this construction, the married women’s primary right to work and their role as providers have been reinforced. The unemployment assistance’s approach to the family also existed in the marriage laws and joint taxation of husband and wife. Furthermore, the principle of female maintenance obligation was expressed in the political debate in the Stockholm City Council. The context of popular practices in which married women’s gainful employment played an increasingly important role during the inter-War years constituted a basis for the evolution of citizenship. While formulating unemployment assistance, the state sought to strike a balance between the need to protect the families from destitution and the necessity of maintaining the individual citizen’s obligation to work. Married women were not excluded from the balancing principles. In this manner, an important step was taken towards equality, and a citizenship assigning equal rights and obligations to men as well as women.