ABSTRACT
Men and women do not receive identical treatment under present social security system, for a woman’s rights to benefit are determined by her marital status to an extent to which a man’s entitlement is not. In 1942, when William Beveridge was writing his report, all women, whether single or married, received lower social insurance and means-tested assistance benefits. The direct participation of married women in the labour market as workers was ignored and Beveridge assumed that the majority were totally dependent on a male wage earner. The married women’s role as a paid worker was underestimated by those concerned with social policy twenty-five years ago because it was believed ‘maternity is the principal object of marriage’. Results from the one percent sample of the 1971 census show that nearly two million women under retirement age are the chief economic supporters in their households.
