ABSTRACT
The Unemployment Insurance program would be improved by tying benefits to the cost of living, restoring extended benefits, and making sure that more of the jobless workers qualified for assistance. For women who must balance work and family responsibilities, access to male, market, or state income is no longer enough. Both the public and the private sectors must facilitate caretaking work, which is still largely assigned to women, even when they work outside the home. The renewed attack on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients has reinvigorated welfare rights activism both nationally and locally. Furthermore, child-support enforcement programs should not disrupt the AFDC mother's life or jeopardize her welfare grant. The Republican Party has not been able to turn all of its proposals into programs, but its Contract, followed by the Buchanan campaign, has shifted the political debate around domestic issues even farther to the right.
