Citizenship is, once again, on the political and academic agenda. This article explores some of its meanings for women. It examines some of the contradictions raised by notions of dependence and independence and the relationship between ‘private’ and ‘public’ forms of dependence. It then considers the implications of financial dependence and of the sexual division of labour and of time for women's rights and obligations as social, political and ‘active’ citizens. It concludes by drawing out briefly some policy implications, arguing that radical changes are needed in domestic life and in the organisation of paid employment and state provisions, if women are to be full citizens. This will require changing both our conceptions of Citizenship and the structures which fashion citizenship rights. Ultimately, neither the question of dependency nor of citizenship can be divorced from that of power.

Consideration of the income and social security needs of informal carers has remained conspicuously absent from discussions about ‘community care’. Similarly, carers have been more or less invisible in the development of social security policies. This paper reports on a study of the financial circumstances of a sample of working age carers, who were living with and providing substantial amounts of help and support to a disabled person in the same household. The study highlights first, the substantial work-related costs incurred by carers with full time employment; and second the financial dependency of carers without full time earnings, on their spouse, sibling or on the person being cared for. The implications of these findings are discussed in the light of recent developments in social security policies.

In 1969, the British Government established the Finer Committee to consider ‘the problems of one parent families in our society’. Its report, published in 1974, concentrated on the economic circumstances of these families, though it also looked at other issues including the welfare implications for children. Since then there has been further research in Britain focused on the economic circumstances of one parent families and continued interest in the health, welfare and development of children in these families. What was missing from the deliberations of the Finer Committee and is still omitted from subsequent research activities, is any substantial consideration of the health and welfare implications of lone parenthood for the adults involved. Yet such research is important. Firstly, one parent families are a numerically important group amongst British families caring for dependent children and it is predictable that they will continue to be so. Secondly, research into the social and economic circumstances and the health experience of lone parents, is also essentially research into the nature and causes of gender inequalities, because lone parents are disproportionately female. Finally, research into patterns of health and illness amongst lone parents would also be relevant to those planning a range of health and social services. This paper therefore seeks to contribute to knowledge about the health status of lone parents. Using data from a national annual household survey (the OPCS General Household Survey) we describe the subjective experience of health and illness amongst lone mothers and fathers. This is compared to the experience of parents in couple households and of different groups of lone parents according to sex, marital status, socio-economic circumstances and ‘normative’ gender roles in order to explore the relative importance of this group of factors in the aetiology of the patterns described.

New restrictions on the payment of income support and housing benefit to young people are likely to affect their ability to leave the family home. Yet little is known about the sorts of young people who leave home and the likely effects of the changes. This paper uses nationally representative data to look at the characteristics of Scottish teenagers who have left home, the reasons they gave for leaving home and the sorts of problems they faced on leaving. We also examine the labour market experiences of teenage leavers, and compare their experiences with young people who remained in the family home.