Drawing on feminist theories of parenting and the welfare state, I analyze experiences of diaper need as a case of how gender, class, and race inequalities shape the social organization of caregiving and limited policy responses. Data from in-depth interviews with 70 mothers who experienced diaper need and 40 diaper bank staff revealed obstacles low-income mothers face in managing lack of access to children’s basic needs and how gendered assumptions of parental responsibility thwart public diaper support efforts. I use this case to theorize gender policy vacuums: These occur when gender disparities and ideologies prevent systematic responses to structural problems. Empirically this study contributes to understandings of diaper need as a problem of the gender structure that cannot be solved with alternative diapering methods that assume middle-class, white, androcentric privileges. Theoretically it illuminates key mechanisms by which feminized care labor is devalued and rendered invisible and how this erasure rationalizes lack of redress for gendered inequalities and creates policy gaps around caregiving.

借鉴育儿和福利国家的女权主义理论，我分析了尿布需求的经验，作为性别、阶级和种族不平等如何塑造照顾和有限政策反应的社会组织的一个案例。对 70 名经历过尿布需求的母亲和 40 名尿布银行工作人员进行深入访谈的数据揭示了低收入母亲在管理缺乏儿童基本需求方面面临的障碍，以及对父母责任的性别假设如何阻碍公共尿布支持工作。我用这个案例来理论化性别政策真空：当性别差异和意识形态阻止对结构性问题的系统反应时，就会出现这些真空。从经验上看，这项研究有助于理解尿布需求是一个性别结构问题，无法通过假设中产阶级、白人和男性中心特权的替代尿布方法来解决。从理论上讲，它阐明了女性化护理劳动力被贬低和变得不可见的关键机制，以及这种消除如何合理化缺乏对性别不平等的补救，并在护理方面造成政策空白。