Examine_the_Ways_in_Which_State_Policy_May_Affect_Families_and_Households

State policies are sets of rules to follow that are there to improve/benefit household .They differ in every country because the state may have different priorities. If education is the main concern then they may take measures to improve this (1944 education act) or divorce could be an issue and policies could be introduced to improve the process (whether making it harder or easier. They could also be related to how the children are cared for after) . Almost all social policies are there to encourage family whether endorsed by the new right or new labour. The new right are very traditional and therefore introduce policies which benefit or encourage nuclear families. Their ideas on policies which benefit family (ultimately society on a whole) are very different to those of new labour and feminists. Although the new right and labour have very different ideas they do have some policies which link with new right. The tax and welfare policies are there to improve life by helping with family finances. They tend to encourage heterosexual and married couples as that’s who they benefit the most. The housing policy also links in with this, as the best council houses are often allocated to married couple and the worst to lone parent families. It is almost like a punishment for not being a nuclear family. Policies such as this discriminate against lone parent families. This makes it increasingly difficult in economic terms to be a lone parent and also coincides with the new rights idea that the family should be a self reliant entity. It also discriminates against co-habiting and families with homosexual parents (gay marriage in the uk was not legal until recent years). Although tax and welfare policies primarily benefit nuclear families, policies such as the new deal of 1988 focus on helping lone mothers return to work. Maternity leave also allows women to have time off to recuperate and care for newborn while being able to return to work. Mothers are also have the right to request flexible working hours so they are able to care for their children (doctor’s appointment etc). Feminist would view policies like this as positive as maternity leave also women to be independent but financially stable. There is however a negative side to this as fathers are only able to take one or two weeks paid leave from work feminist would argue that it reinforces the idea that women’s main responsibility is childcare. The new deal also means that women wouldn’t have to marry out of necessity. Although policies like this are in place to help mothers work and care for children new right thinkers may argue that it contributes to maternal deprivation. For the most part the state intervenes only when something seems to have gone wrong. Social services play a big part in ensuring that children are being raised in a safe and healthy environment. Social workers judge whether or not this is the case and if the child in question has to be put permanently or temporarily into care. Although state interference in the family has increased new right/conservative thinkers think not enough is being done to protect the traditional family. While the right would prefer to go back to the “golden age” the patriarchal nuclear family, labour has recognised the different family forms. They recognise that the male is no longer the sole breadwinner and most women work. In order to cater to these changes labour has invested in subsides for nursery childcare, lengthened maternity care from 14 weeks to nine months, almost doubled maternity pay etc. All of these policies can be view as positives but critics claim that family is not the private institution it is supposes to be as labour have intervened too much and created a nanny state. State policies have a direct effect on the structure of families and households are run. Try as they might to cater to all of society, labour still appears to conform to familial ideology in some ways. Even when policies are there to improve lone-parent families, the emphasis is heavily on motherhood. It is clear that it is easier to be a married heterosexual couple. It also appears that there is just no way to win and please everyone as there are even policies which contradict each other. Some argue that family is supposed to be a private institution (which it is) and therefore state intervention should be minimal and we need to steer away from the nanny state we have become. what about the negligence of social problems such as child abuse and domestic violence' The state has to intervene heavily sometimes in order to protect members of the family. State policies just like nuclear families don’t consider cultural and ethnic diversity state policies cannot benefit all families until the way in which different ethnicities/cultures raise their children is taken into consideration.