Few social roles are as important and loaded as the terms “mother” and “father”

What are traits and skills are needed to be a “good mother” and a “good father”?
 

What does it mean “to mother” someone vs. “to father” someone?
 

Which of these meanings are incorporated into welfare policy?
 

What assumptions about mothering and low-income mothers are imbedded in TANF/welfare reform?
 
 

What assumptions about fathering are implicit in welfare reform?
 
 
 

What does it mean to say that mothering (and fathering) are stratified by class and race/ethnicity??
 

How can we design welfare policies that can account for these differences??