This article provides an empirical account of Herd and Moynihan's theory of administrative burdens as they apply to Australian child support recipients. Interviews with 41 separated mothers revealed how they were compelled to engage in the child support system and then required to expend significant time and effort undertaking administrative work on behalf of the state, often for little financial benefit. Unlike the examples provided by Herd and Moynihan, in this study, it was found that child support system burdens could be used by aggrieved fathers to inflict financial and psychological harms on their ex-partners. The state accepted fathers’ imposition of costs on mothers as they shared a financial interest in maintaining women's burdens. As a result, this paper provides three conceptual advancements on the existing theory, by articulating: how administrative burdens can be created and applied by non-government third parties, in this case individual ex-family members; how the state can acquiesce to the imposition of harms if these align with their interests; and how the state distributes obligations and autonomy along social lines, such as, in this case, along the lines of class and gender.

中文翻译：

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性别、恶意、义务和国家：分居母亲在澳大利亚儿童抚养计划中的行政负担经历

本文提供了 Herd 和 Moynihan 的行政负担理论的实证说明，因为它们适用于澳大利亚儿童抚养费接受者。对 41 名分居母亲的采访揭示了她们是如何被迫参与儿童抚养系统的，然后又需要花费大量时间和精力代表国家从事行政工作，而这些工作往往得不到多少经济利益。与 Herd 和 Moynihan 提供的例子不同，在这项研究中，发现受害父亲可能会利用子女抚养系统负担对其前伴侣造成经济和心理伤害。国家接受父亲对母亲强加的费用，因为他们在维持女性负担方面有经济利益。因此，本文在现有理论的基础上提供了三个概念上的进步，通过阐明：非政府第三方（在这种情况下为前家庭成员）如何制造和施加行政负担；如果损害符合其利益，国家如何默许这些损害；以及国家如何按照社会界限分配义务和自主权，例如，在这种情况下，按照阶级和性别划分。