Teaching Gender in Social Work - MailChimp

the household economy were greatly valued by the male advocates. However,
in the end, the legislation (1889) only allowed unmarried women aged over
twenty-four as well as divorced or widowed women to be elected to the Poor
Law committees.
In spite of these limitations women activists considered their duties
in the social field an important opportunity to strengthen women’s positions
in the public sphere. Nevertheless, in their arguments they tended to stress
that only women had the skills to socialize the future generation and to instruct
mothers and supervise the poor houses. Both sides regarded the role of
women in the Poor Law committees as that of helping men in decision making
because, as the women argued, “women have a special sense of charity”. Again,
men were credited by women with the ability to organize and make decisions.
Poor house policy offered another opportunity for women in the public sphere.
According to the inspector of the Poor Law, it was soon discovered that women
were more effective managers of poor houses. In his view, this was because the
task required the skills of housekeeping and caring. He started a campaign
to involve more women in the management of poor houses, hoping that this
would save the policy that he had advocated as a means of solving the question
of poverty.
The National Association of Women and Zacharis Topelius, a wellknown
and respected novelist, were also advocates of the women’s issue in poor
relief. In 1892, Topelius wrote an appeal to women concerning their duties in
poor relief. The appeal was based on the proposals of the Poor Law inspector,
who subsequently described this as a decisive turn in women’s participation
in poor relief. Topelius’s challenge reflected the changing emphasis of the
poor relief policy, from strict external control to internal self-control through
pedagogic means. In practice this meant that poor relief could no longer survive
without female skills. The poor house was constructed by him as an extended
family in need of a mother. According to Topelius, it was among poor house
residents that working women found the desperation that fulfilled their need
to give love and affection. This was the most important aspect of their reward,
explaining why they should not look down on the low salary for this socially
important task.
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