International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
This study examines the present and retrospective views of mothers who are nearing or are at reti... more This study examines the present and retrospective views of mothers who are nearing or are at retirement age regarding their economic status, pension planning, and perceptions of state pension policy. The paper addresses gaps in the literature on the cross-intersections of employment history, vulnerable economic retirement status, and marital and parental status, thereby adopting a life course perspective. Based on in-depth interviews of thirty-one mothers (ages 59–72) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings revealed five themes—economic abuse: an unequal distribution of pension funds following divorce; regrets over past choices; COVID-19 and pensions; the state’s responsibility for old-age economic security; and knowledge is important, and I can help others. The study concludes that the majority of women at these ages perceive their current economic situation as a product of insufficient familiarity with pension plans, while voicing opinions about the state’s irresponsibility reg...
We examined in this study the implications of divorce for mothers' earnings, comparing the 19... more We examined in this study the implications of divorce for mothers' earnings, comparing the 1990s and the 2000s, and illuminating developments in welfare policy for single-parent families over those two decades. After the welfare reform of 2003, the economic autonomy of single mothers, established through a combination of welfare state-based benefits and paid labour, was delegitimised, with a turn toward the marketplace. Using a unique data set created for this research by merging Israeli census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and the Tax Authority, and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce, we found that most mothers tended to increase their income from paid labor following divorce. However, they did so significantly more prior to the welfare cuts than after the cuts. The results can inform policy discussions about how mothers' postdivorce earnings might be affected by welfare policy shifts.
This study applies critical discourse analysis to the public discourse in Israel regarding the ba... more This study applies critical discourse analysis to the public discourse in Israel regarding the battle of single mothers against extensive welfare cuts. Using the protest of July 2003 as a case study, the article points to parallels between Israel's neo-liberal welfare discourse and that in the US, but also reveals a competing discourse in Israel that incorporated several basic cultural motifs: motherhood, militarism, Zionism and nationalism. While the latter discourse stresses the importance of motherhood and its contribution to society, the former presents single mothers as dependents living off the country's welfare resources. The discourse analysis shows that despite the seeming legitimacy of motherhood in Israel, especially of the Zionist mother who gives birth to soldiers, the negative imagery applied by the neo-liberal ideology to single mothers who receive allowances succeeded in eroding this legitimacy.
This study examines the actions of the Na’amat women’s organization and its allies in Israel,... more This study examines the actions of the Na’amat women’s organization and its allies in Israel, vis-à -vis the court and the press, in the legal-feminist struggle to fight violence against women. Using the 1991 murder of Einav Rogel by her ex-boyfriend Gilad Shemen as a case study, we argue that, in the public debate following the murder, Na’amat and its
This article contributes to the theoretical discussion of the historical legitimacy of single mot... more This article contributes to the theoretical discussion of the historical legitimacy of single mothers by examining the construction of relationships between single motherhood and welfare policy. Specifically, the study analyses the changing discourse regarding single mothers, and the social policy designed for them, in the US, UK and Israel from the 1970s to the 2000s. These three countries are similar in terms of the embeddedness, extension and institutionalization of neoliberal ideology in their welfare policies and public discourse, together with welfare legislation affecting single mothers, yet they differ in terms of policy implementation and the history of policy development. The study examines institutional intersectionality along with cultural perceptions of single mothers in each country. Looking at both the development and the withdrawal of social rights over time, we deepen understanding of how the image of the single mother is created in the neoliberal welfare regime.
This study analyzes the experience of Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a non-mandat... more This study analyzes the experience of Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a non-mandatory welfare-to-work program. The goal is to explore the perceptions of these women and their trainers about the ways the program helps enhance the mothers’ social capital. The study is based on in-depth interviews of 30 mothers and three trainers who participated in the program. The findings expose a range of mothers’ voices. The three main ones are: encouraging empowerment more than Work First; encouraging ‘maternal’ jobs; and encouraging partnership and group cohesion. The combined voices of participants and trainers deepen the significance of these findings, as the latter play a meaningful role in enhancing the social capital and networking capabilities of the former, who suffer from multiple sources of exclusion, including a vulnerable ethno-national status, poverty, low income and gender.
In response to the economic vulnerability of single mothers and in keeping with a neoliberal ideo... more In response to the economic vulnerability of single mothers and in keeping with a neoliberal ideology, many Western countries have encouraged increased labour-market participation, often through welfare-to-work (WTW) programmes. One practice adopted in these programmes is deepening knowledge of pension savings and increasing financial savviness. Feminist research points to women's lower economic status than men at retirement, especially divorcees and widows. Based on perceptions of single mothers participating in a WTW programme in Israel and their trainers, this study examines how such mothers, in a framework of vulnerability, experience policy imperatives regarding paid labour and examines their attitudes to pension savings. Findings reveal that, in reaction to the imperative of pension savings, some single mothers believed their present employment provided them with a more secure economic future, while others rejected this belief. The trainers also had divided opinions, despi...
Focusing on Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a nonmandatory welfare-to-work program... more Focusing on Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a nonmandatory welfare-to-work program, the study addresses whether these women experience economic abuse from their intimate partner/ex-partner, as well as whether they perceive the program as an opportunity to escape economic abuse and move toward economic independence. Based on interviews of 26 mothers and three trainers, the findings revealed dual economic abuse: in the domestic sphere and at the structural level (the labor market and welfare laws). The findings also suggest that the assistance the women receive from the welfare-to-work program has been insufficient to extricate them from their abusive situation.
In response to the economic vulnerability of single mothers and in keeping with a neoliberal ideo... more In response to the economic vulnerability of single mothers and in keeping with a neoliberal ideology, many Western countries have encouraged increased labour-market participation, often through welfare-to-work (WTW) programmes. One practice adopted in these programmes is deepening knowledge of pension savings and increasing financial savviness. Feminist research points to women's lower economic status than men at retirement, especially divorcees and widows. Based on perceptions of single mothers participating in a WTW programme in Israel and their trainers, this study examines how such mothers, in a framework of vulnerability, experience policy imperatives regarding paid labour and examines their attitudes to pension savings. Findings reveal that, in reaction to the imperative of pension savings, some single mothers believed their present employment provided them with a more secure economic future, while others rejected this belief. The trainers also had divided opinions, despite their role in encouraging mothers to follow the imperative.
We examined in this study the implications of divorce for
mothers’ earnings, comparing the 1990s ... more We examined in this study the implications of divorce for mothers’ earnings, comparing the 1990s and the 2000s, and illuminating developments in welfare policy for single-parent families over those two decades. After the welfare reform of 2003, the economic autonomy of single mothers, established through a combination of welfare state-based benefits and paid labour, was delegitimised, with a turn toward the marketplace. Using a unique data set created for this research by merging Israeli census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and the Tax Authority, and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce, we found that most mothers tended to increase their income from paid labor following divorce. However, they did so significantly more prior to the welfare cuts than after the cuts. The results can inform policy discussions about how mothers’ postdivorce earnings might be affected by welfare policy shifts.
With the emergence of activation policies, researchers are intrigued by the extent to which welfa... more With the emergence of activation policies, researchers are intrigued by the extent to which welfareto- work (WTW) programmes reflect the ideological orientation of policymakers, while leaving the ideological orientation of their operators unexamined. This aspect may be of particular importance when women’s non-governmental organizations operate non-coercive WTW programmes. Directing attention to the contribution of the operator, we ask how women who operate these programmes distinguish between the feminist goal of increasing women’s independent access to material resources, and the activation rhetoric of ‘work first’. Moreover, as not enough is known about how participants benefit from the incongruence between the feminist discourse and the activation one, scholarship contemplating women’s resistance to WTW programmes remains focused on specific welfare histories, and this form of feminist work remains neglected. The importance of the specific operators and the policy implications of the benefits of feminist operation of WTW programmes receive attention in the study reported on herein. We used a non-coercive activation programme operated by a feminist organization in Israel (among other operators) as an opportunity to deepen our understanding of how programme trainers voice their position between feminism and activation discourse, and how their form of speech enables participants to insist on decent employment as a policy issue. Implications for policy are discussed.
BACKGROUND
Despite evidence that divorce has become more prevalent among weaker socioeconomic gro... more BACKGROUND Despite evidence that divorce has become more prevalent among weaker socioeconomic groups, knowledge about the stratification aspects of divorce in Israel is lacking. Moreover, although scholarly debate recognizes the importance of stratificational positions with respect to divorce, less attention has been given to the interactions between them. OBJECTIVE Our aim is to examine the relation between social inequality and divorce, focusing on how household income, education, employment stability, relative earnings and the intersection between them affect the risk of divorce in Israel. METHOD The data is derived from combined census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce. We used a series of discrete-time event-history analysis models for marital dissolution. RESULTS Couples in lower socioeconomic positions had a higher risk of divorce in Israel. Academic education in general, and academic homogamy in particular, decreased the risk of divorce. The wife’s relative earnings had a differential effect on the likelihood of divorce, depending on household income: a wife who outearned her husband increased the log odds of divorce more so in the upper tertiles than in the lower tertile. CONCLUSIONS Our study shows that divorce indeed has a stratified pattern and that weaker socioeconomic groups experience the highest levels of divorce. Gender inequality within couples intersects with the household’s economic and educational resources.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
This study examines the present and retrospective views of mothers who are nearing or are at reti... more This study examines the present and retrospective views of mothers who are nearing or are at retirement age regarding their economic status, pension planning, and perceptions of state pension policy. The paper addresses gaps in the literature on the cross-intersections of employment history, vulnerable economic retirement status, and marital and parental status, thereby adopting a life course perspective. Based on in-depth interviews of thirty-one mothers (ages 59–72) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings revealed five themes—economic abuse: an unequal distribution of pension funds following divorce; regrets over past choices; COVID-19 and pensions; the state’s responsibility for old-age economic security; and knowledge is important, and I can help others. The study concludes that the majority of women at these ages perceive their current economic situation as a product of insufficient familiarity with pension plans, while voicing opinions about the state’s irresponsibility reg...
We examined in this study the implications of divorce for mothers' earnings, comparing the 19... more We examined in this study the implications of divorce for mothers' earnings, comparing the 1990s and the 2000s, and illuminating developments in welfare policy for single-parent families over those two decades. After the welfare reform of 2003, the economic autonomy of single mothers, established through a combination of welfare state-based benefits and paid labour, was delegitimised, with a turn toward the marketplace. Using a unique data set created for this research by merging Israeli census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and the Tax Authority, and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce, we found that most mothers tended to increase their income from paid labor following divorce. However, they did so significantly more prior to the welfare cuts than after the cuts. The results can inform policy discussions about how mothers' postdivorce earnings might be affected by welfare policy shifts.
This study applies critical discourse analysis to the public discourse in Israel regarding the ba... more This study applies critical discourse analysis to the public discourse in Israel regarding the battle of single mothers against extensive welfare cuts. Using the protest of July 2003 as a case study, the article points to parallels between Israel's neo-liberal welfare discourse and that in the US, but also reveals a competing discourse in Israel that incorporated several basic cultural motifs: motherhood, militarism, Zionism and nationalism. While the latter discourse stresses the importance of motherhood and its contribution to society, the former presents single mothers as dependents living off the country's welfare resources. The discourse analysis shows that despite the seeming legitimacy of motherhood in Israel, especially of the Zionist mother who gives birth to soldiers, the negative imagery applied by the neo-liberal ideology to single mothers who receive allowances succeeded in eroding this legitimacy.
This study examines the actions of the Na’amat women’s organization and its allies in Israel,... more This study examines the actions of the Na’amat women’s organization and its allies in Israel, vis-à -vis the court and the press, in the legal-feminist struggle to fight violence against women. Using the 1991 murder of Einav Rogel by her ex-boyfriend Gilad Shemen as a case study, we argue that, in the public debate following the murder, Na’amat and its
This article contributes to the theoretical discussion of the historical legitimacy of single mot... more This article contributes to the theoretical discussion of the historical legitimacy of single mothers by examining the construction of relationships between single motherhood and welfare policy. Specifically, the study analyses the changing discourse regarding single mothers, and the social policy designed for them, in the US, UK and Israel from the 1970s to the 2000s. These three countries are similar in terms of the embeddedness, extension and institutionalization of neoliberal ideology in their welfare policies and public discourse, together with welfare legislation affecting single mothers, yet they differ in terms of policy implementation and the history of policy development. The study examines institutional intersectionality along with cultural perceptions of single mothers in each country. Looking at both the development and the withdrawal of social rights over time, we deepen understanding of how the image of the single mother is created in the neoliberal welfare regime.
This study analyzes the experience of Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a non-mandat... more This study analyzes the experience of Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a non-mandatory welfare-to-work program. The goal is to explore the perceptions of these women and their trainers about the ways the program helps enhance the mothers’ social capital. The study is based on in-depth interviews of 30 mothers and three trainers who participated in the program. The findings expose a range of mothers’ voices. The three main ones are: encouraging empowerment more than Work First; encouraging ‘maternal’ jobs; and encouraging partnership and group cohesion. The combined voices of participants and trainers deepen the significance of these findings, as the latter play a meaningful role in enhancing the social capital and networking capabilities of the former, who suffer from multiple sources of exclusion, including a vulnerable ethno-national status, poverty, low income and gender.
In response to the economic vulnerability of single mothers and in keeping with a neoliberal ideo... more In response to the economic vulnerability of single mothers and in keeping with a neoliberal ideology, many Western countries have encouraged increased labour-market participation, often through welfare-to-work (WTW) programmes. One practice adopted in these programmes is deepening knowledge of pension savings and increasing financial savviness. Feminist research points to women's lower economic status than men at retirement, especially divorcees and widows. Based on perceptions of single mothers participating in a WTW programme in Israel and their trainers, this study examines how such mothers, in a framework of vulnerability, experience policy imperatives regarding paid labour and examines their attitudes to pension savings. Findings reveal that, in reaction to the imperative of pension savings, some single mothers believed their present employment provided them with a more secure economic future, while others rejected this belief. The trainers also had divided opinions, despi...
Focusing on Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a nonmandatory welfare-to-work program... more Focusing on Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a nonmandatory welfare-to-work program, the study addresses whether these women experience economic abuse from their intimate partner/ex-partner, as well as whether they perceive the program as an opportunity to escape economic abuse and move toward economic independence. Based on interviews of 26 mothers and three trainers, the findings revealed dual economic abuse: in the domestic sphere and at the structural level (the labor market and welfare laws). The findings also suggest that the assistance the women receive from the welfare-to-work program has been insufficient to extricate them from their abusive situation.
In response to the economic vulnerability of single mothers and in keeping with a neoliberal ideo... more In response to the economic vulnerability of single mothers and in keeping with a neoliberal ideology, many Western countries have encouraged increased labour-market participation, often through welfare-to-work (WTW) programmes. One practice adopted in these programmes is deepening knowledge of pension savings and increasing financial savviness. Feminist research points to women's lower economic status than men at retirement, especially divorcees and widows. Based on perceptions of single mothers participating in a WTW programme in Israel and their trainers, this study examines how such mothers, in a framework of vulnerability, experience policy imperatives regarding paid labour and examines their attitudes to pension savings. Findings reveal that, in reaction to the imperative of pension savings, some single mothers believed their present employment provided them with a more secure economic future, while others rejected this belief. The trainers also had divided opinions, despite their role in encouraging mothers to follow the imperative.
We examined in this study the implications of divorce for
mothers’ earnings, comparing the 1990s ... more We examined in this study the implications of divorce for mothers’ earnings, comparing the 1990s and the 2000s, and illuminating developments in welfare policy for single-parent families over those two decades. After the welfare reform of 2003, the economic autonomy of single mothers, established through a combination of welfare state-based benefits and paid labour, was delegitimised, with a turn toward the marketplace. Using a unique data set created for this research by merging Israeli census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and the Tax Authority, and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce, we found that most mothers tended to increase their income from paid labor following divorce. However, they did so significantly more prior to the welfare cuts than after the cuts. The results can inform policy discussions about how mothers’ postdivorce earnings might be affected by welfare policy shifts.
With the emergence of activation policies, researchers are intrigued by the extent to which welfa... more With the emergence of activation policies, researchers are intrigued by the extent to which welfareto- work (WTW) programmes reflect the ideological orientation of policymakers, while leaving the ideological orientation of their operators unexamined. This aspect may be of particular importance when women’s non-governmental organizations operate non-coercive WTW programmes. Directing attention to the contribution of the operator, we ask how women who operate these programmes distinguish between the feminist goal of increasing women’s independent access to material resources, and the activation rhetoric of ‘work first’. Moreover, as not enough is known about how participants benefit from the incongruence between the feminist discourse and the activation one, scholarship contemplating women’s resistance to WTW programmes remains focused on specific welfare histories, and this form of feminist work remains neglected. The importance of the specific operators and the policy implications of the benefits of feminist operation of WTW programmes receive attention in the study reported on herein. We used a non-coercive activation programme operated by a feminist organization in Israel (among other operators) as an opportunity to deepen our understanding of how programme trainers voice their position between feminism and activation discourse, and how their form of speech enables participants to insist on decent employment as a policy issue. Implications for policy are discussed.
BACKGROUND
Despite evidence that divorce has become more prevalent among weaker socioeconomic gro... more BACKGROUND Despite evidence that divorce has become more prevalent among weaker socioeconomic groups, knowledge about the stratification aspects of divorce in Israel is lacking. Moreover, although scholarly debate recognizes the importance of stratificational positions with respect to divorce, less attention has been given to the interactions between them. OBJECTIVE Our aim is to examine the relation between social inequality and divorce, focusing on how household income, education, employment stability, relative earnings and the intersection between them affect the risk of divorce in Israel. METHOD The data is derived from combined census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce. We used a series of discrete-time event-history analysis models for marital dissolution. RESULTS Couples in lower socioeconomic positions had a higher risk of divorce in Israel. Academic education in general, and academic homogamy in particular, decreased the risk of divorce. The wife’s relative earnings had a differential effect on the likelihood of divorce, depending on household income: a wife who outearned her husband increased the log odds of divorce more so in the upper tertiles than in the lower tertile. CONCLUSIONS Our study shows that divorce indeed has a stratified pattern and that weaker socioeconomic groups experience the highest levels of divorce. Gender inequality within couples intersects with the household’s economic and educational resources.
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Papers by Anat Herbst-Debby
mothers’ earnings, comparing the 1990s and the 2000s, and
illuminating developments in welfare policy for single-parent
families over those two decades. After the welfare reform of
2003, the economic autonomy of single mothers, established
through a combination of welfare state-based benefits and
paid labour, was delegitimised, with a turn toward the
marketplace. Using a unique data set created for this research
by merging Israeli census files for 1995–2008, annual
administrative employment records from the National
Insurance Institute and the Tax Authority, and data from the
Civil Registry of Divorce, we found that most mothers tended
to increase their income from paid labor following divorce.
However, they did so significantly more prior to the welfare
cuts than after the cuts. The results can inform policy
discussions about how mothers’ postdivorce earnings might
be affected by welfare policy shifts.
work (WTW) programmes reflect the ideological orientation of policymakers, while leaving the
ideological orientation of their operators unexamined. This aspect may be of particular importance
when women’s non-governmental organizations operate non-coercive WTW programmes. Directing
attention to the contribution of the operator, we ask how women who operate these programmes
distinguish between the feminist goal of increasing women’s independent access to material resources,
and the activation rhetoric of ‘work first’.
Moreover, as not enough is known about how participants benefit from the incongruence between
the feminist discourse and the activation one, scholarship contemplating women’s resistance to
WTW programmes remains focused on specific welfare histories, and this form of feminist work
remains neglected.
The importance of the specific operators and the policy implications of the benefits of feminist
operation of WTW programmes receive attention in the study reported on herein. We used a
non-coercive activation programme operated by a feminist organization in Israel (among other
operators) as an opportunity to deepen our understanding of how programme trainers voice their
position between feminism and activation discourse, and how their form of speech enables participants
to insist on decent employment as a policy issue. Implications for policy are discussed.
Despite evidence that divorce has become more prevalent among weaker socioeconomic groups, knowledge about the stratification aspects of divorce in Israel is lacking. Moreover, although scholarly debate recognizes the importance of stratificational positions with respect to divorce, less attention has been given to the interactions between them.
OBJECTIVE
Our aim is to examine the relation between social inequality and divorce, focusing on how household income, education, employment stability, relative earnings and the intersection between them affect the risk of divorce in Israel.
METHOD
The data is derived from combined census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce. We used a series of discrete-time event-history analysis models for marital dissolution.
RESULTS
Couples in lower socioeconomic positions had a higher risk of divorce in Israel. Academic education in general, and academic homogamy in particular, decreased the risk of divorce. The wife’s relative earnings had a differential effect on the likelihood of divorce, depending on household income: a wife who outearned her husband increased the log odds of divorce more so in the upper tertiles than in the lower tertile.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that divorce indeed has a stratified pattern and that weaker socioeconomic groups experience the highest levels of divorce. Gender inequality within couples intersects with the household’s economic and educational resources.
mothers’ earnings, comparing the 1990s and the 2000s, and
illuminating developments in welfare policy for single-parent
families over those two decades. After the welfare reform of
2003, the economic autonomy of single mothers, established
through a combination of welfare state-based benefits and
paid labour, was delegitimised, with a turn toward the
marketplace. Using a unique data set created for this research
by merging Israeli census files for 1995–2008, annual
administrative employment records from the National
Insurance Institute and the Tax Authority, and data from the
Civil Registry of Divorce, we found that most mothers tended
to increase their income from paid labor following divorce.
However, they did so significantly more prior to the welfare
cuts than after the cuts. The results can inform policy
discussions about how mothers’ postdivorce earnings might
be affected by welfare policy shifts.
work (WTW) programmes reflect the ideological orientation of policymakers, while leaving the
ideological orientation of their operators unexamined. This aspect may be of particular importance
when women’s non-governmental organizations operate non-coercive WTW programmes. Directing
attention to the contribution of the operator, we ask how women who operate these programmes
distinguish between the feminist goal of increasing women’s independent access to material resources,
and the activation rhetoric of ‘work first’.
Moreover, as not enough is known about how participants benefit from the incongruence between
the feminist discourse and the activation one, scholarship contemplating women’s resistance to
WTW programmes remains focused on specific welfare histories, and this form of feminist work
remains neglected.
The importance of the specific operators and the policy implications of the benefits of feminist
operation of WTW programmes receive attention in the study reported on herein. We used a
non-coercive activation programme operated by a feminist organization in Israel (among other
operators) as an opportunity to deepen our understanding of how programme trainers voice their
position between feminism and activation discourse, and how their form of speech enables participants
to insist on decent employment as a policy issue. Implications for policy are discussed.
Despite evidence that divorce has become more prevalent among weaker socioeconomic groups, knowledge about the stratification aspects of divorce in Israel is lacking. Moreover, although scholarly debate recognizes the importance of stratificational positions with respect to divorce, less attention has been given to the interactions between them.
OBJECTIVE
Our aim is to examine the relation between social inequality and divorce, focusing on how household income, education, employment stability, relative earnings and the intersection between them affect the risk of divorce in Israel.
METHOD
The data is derived from combined census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce. We used a series of discrete-time event-history analysis models for marital dissolution.
RESULTS
Couples in lower socioeconomic positions had a higher risk of divorce in Israel. Academic education in general, and academic homogamy in particular, decreased the risk of divorce. The wife’s relative earnings had a differential effect on the likelihood of divorce, depending on household income: a wife who outearned her husband increased the log odds of divorce more so in the upper tertiles than in the lower tertile.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that divorce indeed has a stratified pattern and that weaker socioeconomic groups experience the highest levels of divorce. Gender inequality within couples intersects with the household’s economic and educational resources.