The ‘Welfare Queen’ Stereotype’s Hidden Cost:Your Mental Health
You’ve probably heard the story of the Welfare Queen, whether you know it or not. She’s a woman who has multiple children, with multiple men, and relies on the government to support all of them. She is relishes in each new pregnancy because that means more money for her. She spends her money frivolously and lavishes her family with meals of lobster and steak. We all “know” this woman and yet she doesn’t really exist.
Fact & Fiction of the Queen
This idea of the Welfare Queen is rooted in a mix of stories from the 1960s to 1980s about who receives federal subsides. In his book The Queen Josh Levin dives into the who this stereotype is actually based upon. In the book it is made clear that these harmful stereotypes were inflated and conflated with African-American people, specifically women to demonize welfare. If we look at the numbers, this is not quite the picture we see.
When looking at programming that what we typically envision when we think of welfare (SNAP, Housing assistance via HUD, TANF, and Medicaid) by in large there are more White people who rely on these services. If we look at programs like HUD’s housing voucher program (formally know as Section 8) the typical recipient is a retired elderly individual. When removing the elderly, the typical family is usually a woman and her two children. How different the reality of who actually receives assistance and who is expected to receive is. The stereotyping can have a resounding impact on both the person living in poverty and the wellness weavers (mental health providers, welfare assistance workers, social workers, faith leaders, etc.) mental health.
Impacts on Clients
Stereotypes cannot only harm our mental health but our willingness to access resources. For folks needing assistance, it can create situations where they may be more willing to go without basic needs being met because they want to be opposite of the stereotype. Having a desire to “prove people wrong” about who we represent be it their race, ethnicity, gender, or economic position. There are many studies that link mental health to poverty, particularly how poverty can worsen difficulties with mental health and can exacerbate anxieties and stressors that go hand in hand with living in poverty (Krikbride et. al., 2024; Knifton, 2020). The stereotyping, including the Welfare Queen trope, can also touch our physical health. In an article by Lapham & Martinson (2022) they found that facing judgement or even the perception of judgement about being on assistance affected mothers physical health negatively. Not only is the mental and physical health of our clients impacted, but the mental health of the weaver.
Impacts on Weavers
Working with highly vulnerable populations can come with its own challenges and rewards. The fulfillment of seeing clients get their basic needs met, the satisfaction of addressing societal ills, and the widened understanding of the world around you can all fruit of that labor. And that labor is just that…labor. It is work that often extends beyond what is in a job description. It is work that can feel gut wrenching and hopeless at times. Knowing that clients have so much going against them and how unfair the balance of power can be. Trying to balance the weight of poverty on your clients while still addressing the issues they’re trying to work on is a challenge. The Welfare Queen trope can deepen the stigma that people, namely women, living in poverty face. The tentacles of that stigma can wrap around your work with a grip that feels impenetrable. Your clients, congregants, students, may internalize these preconceptions. Making their experience who they are as people and not what they are living through. More importantly wellness weavers must be mindful about how we show up.
There are many instance where this Welfare Queen trope impacts how weavers interact with recipients. Researchers (Master et.al, 2014) found that even when going through the welfare application interview, some applicants are subject to discussions about their reproductive health. They found that a third of applicants were admonished with discussions on “…moral deficiencies they ascribed to women who had children and sought state assistance for their support (p.8).” Being admonished while attempting to seek services can be incredibly detrimental to a person and likely their mental health. The study also spoke about more covert ways morality, specifically interviewers their own moral code, was placed on potential recipients.
Our Charge
The ‘Welfare Queen’ stereotype isn’t just a myth, it’s a systemic barrier to wellness. Economic insecurity, racial bias, and policy gaps create real stress on mental, physical, and community health. At Fostering Wellness, we help individuals and organizations build resilience through equity-centered well-being. Let’s shift narratives and systems together. Join our upcoming Cultivating Radical Resilience: Systemic Strategies for Practitioners Serving Marginalized Communities course to reframe narratives and build systems that support collective wellness.