In recent decades, poverty has increasingly been seen as a sign of lack of self-discipline and responsibility (Power, 2005) and the poor are regarded as the culturally marginal ‘others’ and treated as irrelevant and/or inferior (Baker et al., 2004). This perception also formed the basis of active social policies, created to counter the ‘passivity’ that social contributions could instil in the recipients and to reinforce individual responsibility: autonomy was imposed on the recipients (Duvoux, 2009).

The activation debate is central when European countries are confronting a socioeconomic and financial crisis and those policies are publicised by many governments as one of the main solutions to fight unemployment. In fact, since the 2000s, activation policies have been mainstreamed, as consensus about new poverty (Paugam, 2003) was broken and tax system reforms were carried out. Social representations about vulnerable social groups changed, and they were seen as people of privilege rather than victims from a perspective of ‘blaming the victim’ (Ryan, 1976).

Several authors (Heikkilä, 1999; Hespanha, 2008; Hvinden, 1999) have identified strong points of activation such as improvement of qualifications, an increase in employment and self-esteem, the decrease of a dependency culture and the promotion of concerns with the right to work, thus elevating ‘work ethics to a central pillar of society’, as Hespanha stresses (2008, p. 11). This author warns that ‘only activation programmes based on useful work, qualification programmes and qualifying training may positively contribute to a significant improvement of the social participation’ (2002, p. 7). However, Hespanha (2008) also underlines the weak points of activation, namely its punitive character and restrictions of autonomy and freedom. In this sense, activation policies frequently remove the responsibility of social exclusion from corporations and capital and place it on the individuals. Finally, in the scope of activation policies, there are very often only precarious occupations and/or unfit jobs available that hardly lead to real work insertion.

This presentation challenges stereotypes specifically related to poor women, showing the idiosyncrasies of their social and educational paths and highlighting their strategies to cope with poverty. The research took place in Northern Portugal with women who are mothers and recipients of an income support allowance (ISA), during the austerity period (2009-2013). This paper aims to understand poor women’s life paths by intersecting inequality of condition dimensions: redistribution (resources), relationality (love, care and solidarity), education, representation (power), and respect and recognition (cultural representation). These conceptual dimensions were developed by John Baker and Kathleen Lynch with colleagues (Baker et al., 2004; Lynch & Baker, 2005; Lynch et al., 2009). These are relevant for an understanding of the main intersected disadvantages (Anthias, 2012; Crenshaw, 1989; Gopaldas, 2013; Hancock, 2007; Nogueira, 2013; Risman, 2004; Shields, 2008; Yuval-Davis, 2006) that poor women have to face, as well as highlighting their strategies to cope with poverty. The implications on their educational paths are also focused.

According to Bernard Lahire (2004, 2017), sociological portraits are a methodological device that enables an understanding of the ways dispositions are transferred according to circumstances and evaluate ‘the degree of heterogeneity or homogeneity of the actors’ stock of embodied dispositions during prior socialisations’ (p. 32). The main concern behind the creation of sociological portraits, as proposed by this author, is, through empirical research, to understand how the study of dispositions and habits, competences and skills, the stock of dispositions and their updating, pausing and combinations, interspacing or struggle may influence theoretical reflection in sociology. In the research, seven sociological portraits were created based on in-depth interviews with women recipients of ISA from northern Portugal (districts of Porto and Aveiro). Before that, exploratory interviews were held with key informants (social and education professionals who work with ISA recipients). They were pivotal in gaining access to the field and locating potential participants. Following this strategy, a non-probabilistic, convenience sample was built. The interviewees’ age cohort was between 30 and 45 years old. They had children and have been enrolled in VET/training courses in the context of ISA. Correspondingly, the selected women had socially comparable traits, such as age range and social, economic, academic and professional backgrounds.

Our research reveals that activation policies may not have a real ability to create access to the job market. The value of ISA is clearly insufficient for the families’ needs. Conflicting with the objectives of ‘autonomy’ for which they were designed, welfare payments keep poor women poor and are a restraint to equality of conditions in their several dimensions. The interviewees revealed a low level of participation and decision-making over the courses they attend in order to keep the benefits. The placement of some people in VET has been merely palliative, an occupation for poor people’s time, regardless of their learning interests or real needs. Despite the potential personal and professional benefits of adult education, the mandatory character of adult education often underlies a lack of respect and recognition for disadvantaged groups as well as showing their lack of decision-making power, often resulting in a lack of motivation and interest in training. The role of social workers in situations of domestic violence or protecting the children from negligence and/or abuse were underlined. The municipalities’ role by investing in council housing and local social intervention offices is also to be highlighted. This research supports the assumption that poor women’ life paths have common features but are also heterogeneous. In this sense, their autonomy is conditioned but not determined by economic and gender constraints. It suggests a more empowered perspective of poor women who try to surmount their severe constraints, highlighting their strategies to cope with poverty. However, it is emphasised that this desire to show the idiosyncrasies in women’s paths does not deny the inequalities that condition their lives. This statement leads to the importance, recognised by intersectionality authors, as well as by equality studies, of socially engaged research and the need for public policies based on respect and recognition.

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