Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Keeping it straight: How the common youth allowance policies regulate or circumscribe women’s sexuality

  • Published:
The Australian Educational Researcher Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Australian Federal Government introduced the Common Youth Allowance (CYA), on 1 July 1998. The great majority of the package passed through the Senate with the support of the Australian Labor Party and independent Senator Brian Harradine, who at the time held the balance of power in the Upper House. It was sold to the public as being ‘more flexible’, ‘simpler’ and a way to integrate and ‘harmonise’ income support payments for young people with the rest of social security payments. The intention of the legislation was to replace unemployment benefits such as Youth Training Allowance (YTA) for those under 18 years, Newstart allowances for those over 18, and AUSTUDY for those enrolled in full-time study. The effects of this move on young people have been documented in a recent research project, identifying the difficulties facing young lesbian students in accessing the CYA.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Australian Government (1996)Youth Allowance: A Community Discussion Paper, August 1996.

  • Bennett, C. (1997)Sagacity, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bersani, L. (1995)Homos, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birrell, B., I. Dobson, and T. Smith (1999) The New Youth Allowance and access to higher education,People and Place, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, S. and H. Ginitis (1976)Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, S. (1997)The Big Picture, Champion, Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fielding, M. (1999) Students as radical agents of change: a three year case study, presented at the Annual Meeting of the British Educational Research Association, University of Sussex.

  • Fine, M. (1988) Sexuality, schooling and adolescent females: the missing discourse of desire,Harvard Educational Review, vol. 58, no. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freire, P. (1970)Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Penguin Books, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuss, D., ed., (1991)Inside/Outside, Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Government of Western Australia, (1989) Criminal Code Amendment Bill (Decriminalisation of Homosexuality), Parliament of Western Australia.

  • Halperin, D. (1995)St Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography, Oxford, New York.

  • Hayek, F. A. (1960)The Constitution of Liberty, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall, C. and S. Walker (1998) Teen suicide, sexuality and silence,Alternative Law fournal, vol. 23, no. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laskey, L. and C. Beavis (eds) (1996)Schooling and Sexualities: Teaching For Positive Sexuality, Deakin University Press, Geelong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, D. (1982) Learning to hide: the socialisation of the gay adolescent, in S. Feinstein, J. Looney, A. Schwartzberg and A. Sorosky, eds.,Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messina, A. (1996) The Budget ’96 — Education,The Age, Wednesday 21 August, 1996, p. 5.

  • Office of Senator Dee Margetts (1998)Youth Allowance — Designed by the Liberal Government, Delivered by the ALP and Senator Harradine, Lnflicted on Students and the Young Unemployed — Community Lssues Paper, Office of Senator Dee Margetts, Canberra, p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rich, A. (1980) Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence,Signs, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 631–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarup, Madan.Education, State and Crisis, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sedgwick, E. (1990)Epistemology of the Closet, University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaun, A. (1997) Foss on silent conflict,Western Australian, February 28, p. 29.

  • Sullivan, A. (1995)Virtually Normal: An Argument about Homosexuality, Picador, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, N. (1995)Poofter, wanker, girl: homophobic harassment and violence in schools. Paper presented at Girls and Boys: the Third Conference of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Gender Equity, Brisbane, QLD, April 28–29.

  • Wilton, T. and P. Aggleton (1991)Condoms, Coercion and Control, Falmer Press, London, p. 23.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia

    Sarah Lantz

Authors
  1. Sarah Lantz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lantz, S. Keeping it straight: How the common youth allowance policies regulate or circumscribe women’s sexuality. Aust. Educ. Res. 28, 63–85 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03219761

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03219761

Keywords

Search

Navigation