Exchanging sex for material resources: Reinforcement of gender and oppressive survival strategy

Scholars have argued that neoliberal welfare reforms aim to transfer women's reliance on the state for their economic survival to dependency on men's resources (Weigt, 2010). Mainly, research has addressed the issue of women who rely on men's resources for their survival as social support relations, struggling with whether these relations can be considered partnership or prostitution. Based on 50 in-depth interviews of Israeli mothers who provide for their families in poverty, the current study seeks to understand the meaning these women attribute to exchanging sex for material resources. I propose understanding this exchange as an oppressive survival strategy that stems from inequality in gender and class relations, and as the reinforcement of gender. I conclude that focusing attention on the “slippery slope of dependency” exposes yet another layer of the need for a policy that decreases gender differences and generates more equal gender and class relations.