There are a number of ways of approaching the study of social policy, the most common is perhaps the division by ‘service’. A different approach is by ‘group’. Another is first to isolate a concept – for example, social justice or equality – and then to relate it both to policies in a particular area and to particular groups. Originally published in 1983, Women's Welfare, Women's Rights opted explicitly for an amalgam of these strategies. The primary focus of this title is women as a group and most of the contributors, who work from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives, take a particular policy area and try to see what is happening to women within it, concentrating chiefly on women’s experience in the family and in paid employment.

At the time opportunities for reading about women and social policy were limited so this book was intended to be helpful in redressing the balance. Today it can be read in its historical context.