Social Welfare, Democracy and Government - Assignment Example

Social Welfare, Democracy and Government The statement above is not just a political call; it is also a social call. It is all because the right to vote is a political obligation at the same time a social responsibility of every citizen enjoying the privileges of democracy. Election can be considered as part of the whole circulatory system of a democratic country. Electoral process is the heart that pumps the blood and delivers it to the body. This process ensures that all parts are functioning keeping the body alive. Essentially, election is a life-line that provides assurance that both the notions of popular sovereignty and political equality within the democratic process are being maintained. Under the democratic system, election becomes a political obligation because it is the process where the public chooses who and how the government should be managed. It is the process wherein the voting public are given the chance to choose people that will represent them. It consolidates the voice and opinion of the populace and transforms these into what is called the political representation[Bob06]. Ergo, political representation defines the value of the act of voting that in effect produces a political contract. It is a contract between those who govern and being governed. It ensures that the interest and welfare of the people will be the primary responsibility in managing the state’s affairs. As a political obligation, widespread participation during election also seals responsibility and accountability for those people elected in position [Ber99]. It is through the votes casted by majority of the people that that a nation can ensure that its government will act on the best interest of the people. The accountability of the governments is in the hands of voters that can distinguish whether governments are acting in their interest and can be sanctioned accordingly. Thus, voters enable responsibility for government performance. A person’s right to vote is a powerful weapon that can sanction incumbent and can place more competent candidates. When it comes to policy-making electoral procedures, such as referendum among others, the exercise of the right to vote can make a big difference, thus it is imperative[JAC01]. The right to vote is also a social responsibility because this is a citizen’s direct commitment and contribution to the whole gamut of the democratic process. Broad participation during elections guarantees that candidates are being elected with confidence. The right to vote did not come naturally. Two decades ago, one has to be white, male, powerful and wealthy to be able to vote. The attainment of the public’s right to cast their votes and their voices be heard is the product of a long history of men and women for civil and political right. For some countries, the struggle for their rights to vote was accompanied by their struggle for national sovereignty and independence. There were people who suffered persecution and even death in asserting and demanding this right. In the United Kingdom, during the 1800, only three percent of the adult population was entitled to vote – those who are rich and male. By 1832, it merely increased to five percent as certain leaseholders and householders were allowed to vote. With the Second Reform Act in 1867, it again increased to 13 percent as voting was extended in counties and boroughs. It was only in 1918 through the Representation of the People Act that all men over the age of 21 were allowed to vote. Women were also given the right to vote, but only if they are over the age of 30. Women also could sit in the House of Commons. In fairness, UK is one of the first countries that implemented the reform allowing women to participate in the election. In 1928, women were given the same voting rights as men by allowing all adults over the age of 21 to vote. In 1969, the voting age was lowered to 18 years of age. Postal vote was introduced in 1985 allowing voters abroad, either working or on holiday. Rolling registration was introduced in 2000 [Sou11]. This chronology shows that throughout history, the right to vote has been fought for to be able to extend it making it more accommodating and participative. Failure to exercise this right dilutes the essence of democracy – voice of the people and in the process compromises even the future. The women sector in the face of the social welfare policies Social welfare has always been an integral part of United Kingdom’s history. The need of a collectively organised mechanism of social protection is brought about by human beings’ interrelation and interdependence to each other. Among the many concepts of welfare state, the concept of welfare state capitalism by social liberals espoused the most progressive provision of social welfare. For the social liberals, social welfare perspective should be that aspire equality of status is more important than equality in income. Welfare state put principal emphasis on equal opportunities, equal chance in life regardless of individual difference rather than redressing social difference trough redistribution of resources. This boils down to the point that everyone should be given equal opportunity in education, health, housing and social benefits. Sustainable social welfare guarantees that the state provides procedural guarantees that would ensure the people can access provision without discrimination. Among the earliest social policy of UK is the Poor Law passed in 1598 and lasted until 1958. In 1601 the Elizabethan Poor Law was passed which primarily provided for a compulsory poor rate; provision for setting the poor on work and the creation of overseers of relief to be provided to the less fortunate of the citizenship. Together with the development brought about by the Industrial Revolution is the phenomenon of unemployment, population growth and rising poor rates. In was in this light that the Poor Law Commission of 1834 emphasized on defining the position of a pauper as less eligible that of a labourer and the ‘no relief outside the workhouse areas’ test [Har04]. In 1946, a National Insurance System Act and National Health Service Act were implemented proposed on the conjecture of family allowances, national health service and full employment. In 1948, the National Assistance Act was approved. In effect, this abolished the Poor Law. This also introduced provisions for welfare services. The key elements now of the welfare state are social security, health, housing, education and welfare and children. The administrative division between services was enhanced further to deliver services more efficiently. The vagueness and broadness of the nature of the Poor Law was resolve by making a strong distinction made between income maintenance, health and welfare services [Joh07]. The administration of the United Kingdom as a Welfare State has undergone significant reforms over the years. During the 1960s and 1970s, the central government was restructured that paved the way for the National Treasury t plan and control public expenditure. In effect, the Treasury has been the state’s institution responsible into the allocation of resources to different departments to services [Dav02]. Primarily, this reform aimed to infuse efficiency and improve economic planning. This period served as the first phase. The second phase during the 1980s and 1990s led to the restructuring of the civil service and the administration itself of welfare. This phase involves three salient features: the break up of the supervision into agencies; the introduction of the concept of management and identification of the quasi-markets [Joh07]. Through the breaking-up of the administration in to agency system, the basic, statutory and independent sectors were placed under better and more effective administration. Each agency has been evaluated individually. Meanwhile, agencies were able to operate with a degree of professionalism (especially in the areas of health and personal social services) through the introduction of managers who manage the agencies. And lastly, the application of the quasi market concept required agencies involve in public services to function more like economic markets which separates purchasing and provision of services. This also includes the introduction of competition. This trend is prevalent both in health and social change. All in all, social welfare provisions are being encouraged to focus on uplifting the quality of society rather than providing needs essential only to human wellbeing. In line with this, the state is being compelled to guarantee equality of opportunity in ways that will ensure women, minority ethnic groups, people with disabilities can achieve their full potential as human beings. Ultimately, the welfare state does not intend merely to respond to poverty that the Poor Law caters. The main intention of the welfare state is to encourage the provision of the social services on the same basis as the public services. It intends to institute state responsibility public awareness and empowerment that aims for more sustainable welfare program, rather than dependency and dole-out activities. Women and Social Policy Social policies are unified responses to social problems [Spi11]. Social liberals have maintained that social roles or expectations should not confine the opportunities for women, and also men, for that matter. In social policy, understanding gender divisions is decisively important because issues affecting women are part of the agenda which social policy must address. Social policy is strongly gendered, feminist critiques have argued. The assumption of the dominant models of welfare recognised the gender issue, but have fallen short in actually addressing this fact. Women sector Notwithstanding the fact that radical insights on the analyses of gender and sexuality have been integrated in the study of social policy, it remains to be a glaring reality that one of the marginalised issues in the aspect of social policy are the women’s concerns. Women are considered to be a special social group as this sector should two particular social brunt. Women face economic and cultural marginalisation in the society. Historically, women endure poverty more than men. Thus, women are always poorer than men. For three particular reasons, women are always poorer than men. There are three principal reasons for this. First, labour market exclude nearly a third of all women working age, this is two times more than the proportion compared to men. Women are usually disenfranchised to the core of the labour market due to unequal access. They are more identified with part time and lower-paid jobs. Aside from attaining smaller proportion of their income from employment and retirement, women are usually paid lower than men. Second, domestic labour and care work are unpaid, although recognized as part of the social production. And the third reason, the distribution of income and even resources within the families has always been to the disadvantaged of women. The best illustration of the widespread economic exploitation of women is the homework. Homework, although recognized as a job, has always been undermined as wages for home workers are extremely low. And since most of home workers are self employed they enjoy little protection from the law, especially in terms of working condition, and they practically have no security of employment. Women also faced other forms of discrimination. Despite of the growing number of women within the public-sector workforce such as health care, social work and education, very few women are being represented at senior and managerial positions. In effect, men dominate health and social services and even services that particularly involve women such as reproductive health care and support for informal carers. Even the education system tends to prepare women in subservient occupations specifically in the public sector. Although the women issues in many aspects are still considered to be neglected, welfare state can be commended in all its efforts to address the problem. The welfare state has played a major role in redistributing income and resources in an effort to bridge the economic gap between men and women[Joh07]. This action can be considered as one big and decisive step in terms of empowering the economic capacity of the women sector. Noteworthy is the efforts of the National Health Service , despite of the fact that men dominates the management of welfare, to improve health outcomes to women. Technological development has been fully maximised to advance health care to women. The National Health Service has established the NHS Breast Screening Programme and NHS Cervical Screening Programme. These are programs under the NHS Cancer Screening program which is nationally coordinated [NHS11]. Perhaps, the salient feature of these program is not only that they provide services in terms of the need of the women in breast and cervical treatments, but the programme also intend to educate not only women, but also men, in order to raise the public awareness to breast cancer and other sickness where women have fallen vulnerable. Public awareness has been an important part of this programme because the institution believes that prevention is still better than cure. The education system has also expanded opportunities in the labour market for women. The role of women as providers of informal social care has expanded, although in a limited capacity. The role of caring has traditionally been performed by women. In recent years, care has been disproportionately provided by women, although division in care provision has become weighted. Housing and social security provision has increased that was able to provide some measure of independence on women, especially those needing to escape from violent or dysfunctional family relationships choosing to live without dependency on male bread winner [Joh07]. Reference Bob06: , (Watt 2006), Ber99: , (Bernard Manin 1999), JAC01: , (Chandler 2001), Sou11: , (South Hams District Council n.d.), Har04: , (Dean 2004), Joh07: , (John Baldock 2007), Dav02: , (Green 2002), Spi11: , (Spicker 2011), Joh07: , (John Baldock 2007), NHS11: , (NHS Breas Screening Programmes n.d.), Read More