Female-Headed Households & Poverty.

Disclaimer: #SorryWeffer for the back to back blogs.

In The Truly Disadvantage, Wilson writes about the “dire social and economic consequences” that female-headed families face because they are much more vulnerable to poverty than other types of families (71).
            According to the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, over five million more women than men in 2012 were living below the poverty line.  What is more alarming, as Wilson notes, is that female-headed families are also more likely than male-headed families to be persistently poor (72). Wilson furthermore states that female-headed households are tied up with both poverty and dependency long-term. In a report done by the Population Reference Bureau, Mark Mather writes “the effects of growing up in single-parent households have been shown to go beyond economics, increasing the risk of children dropping out of school, disconnecting from the labor force, and becoming teen parents.”  Thus, the poverty experienced does not only apply to economic hardship but also affects different factors regarding the children of those families which can then perpetuate a cycle of poverty. Some policy suggestions that the report suggests are that “Ensuring that single mothers have access to education, job training, quality child care, and equal wages are some of the ways to ensure children’s successful transitions to adulthood.”

            In all the books and material that we have looked at in class, there has been a series of emerging themes that arise when looking at urban issues. For example, we spent a considerable amount of time looking at the transformation of neighborhoods and also looking at the creation of “the ghetto.” We looked at how segregation and isolation leads to inequality and poverty. We looked at how such isolation can lead to unequal distribution of resources but also not accessing certain networks or opportunities that would improve the conditions of many of those living in these low-income under-resourced locations. We looked at how many factors such as race and gender play into the perceptions of poverty and we even looked at the way that policies have been implemented and how some have been good and some…. not so good. What this all means is that the material that we are constantly looking at should be examined carefully to see at how all these different factors, issues, policies affect one another and affect the lives of many. Most importantly, we should also look at how we can learn these intersections and create policies that will create more access for those that are mostly affected, like female-headed households. 

            When thinking about female-headed families and poverty, one also has to take into account the gender gap that continues to exist. Even further, there needs to be an exploration on the way race has an effect on the gender gap. For example, as seen on the right, women of color get paid less than their white counterparts. How does that translate to poverty? Well, if female-headed households are more vulnerable to poverty and a cycle of poverty, then the population that is also more vulnerable is black female-headed households.