Women,+Poverty,+and+the+Family+Structure

Birth control contraceptives are not the first thing that comes to mind when dealing with the issue of controlling poverty amongst women. However in the 1960’s, as the second wave of feminism flooded in and reproductive rights for women were being picketed for, “birth-control advocates in Arkansas demanded that poorer women be granted greater access to contraception” (Welch). However, these demands for contraception were tailored to meet the federal government’s pledge to fight poverty, and the adjacent national opinion that overpopulation was to blame, rather than women’s’ rights. Arkansas is just one example of how incentives to prevent birth have been linked to women’s economic status, used as “instruments of control rather than individual self- determination” (Welch). By the early 1960’s, family funded programs were on the rise. The Cold War encouraged support for federally funded family- planning programs backed by those who viewed overpopulation as a threat to the economic stability of the United States’ and abroad. Advocates of overpopulation theory were convinced that by lowering population growth, they could reduce the spread of communism and poverty in third-world nations. “In 1961, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) formed a new division known as Planned Parenthood-World Population (PP-WP), which worked to build public support for population control as a part of United States foreign and domestic policy” (Welch). Increasing numbers of American families are experiencing the tolling effects of poverty. “In 2005, the overall poverty rate was 12.6%, representing a total of 37 million people. Of these, 10. 8% were families and 20.0% were children under age six. ” (Vandsburger, Harrigan and Biggerstaff). Contrary to popular belief, poverty is not just a problem of joblessness. It, however, being part of a workforce that is characterized by low incomes and unsteady employment. This workforce also contains unreliable wages from part-time, rather than full-time, work to sustain living about the poverty threshold. “Economic hardship increases the risk for emotional distress, which in turn destabilizes marital relationships and can lead to family conflict, violence, and family dissolution” (Vandsburger, Harrigan and Biggerstaff). This may flood over into harsh disciple upon children, child neglect, and abuse. “There is a strong body of evidence that single-parent families, particularly female-headed families, are one of the most socially and financially disadvantaged groups in the world” (Patrick, Cook and McKenzie). In Australia, welfare payments are allocated with the assumption that these women receive child support. However, we know that this is not always the case. Only 28% of women received these payments on time, 40% never received the payments in the first place, and 40% receive less than five dollars (which is the minimum) per week. The situation in the United States is similar. In 2001, only 21% of women reported receiving child support. In both countries, the outcomes for these women are similar. Women and children on welfare are further disadvantaged because child support payments are late or non-existent (Patrick, Cook and McKenzie). Family poverty has become associated with a variety of adverse health related issues, including poor mental health. Along with this startling bit of evidence, poverty experienced in childhood has been found to affect cognitive and other health and developmental outcomes. There are multiple periods throughout life where we are experiencing heightened biological changes. These are gestation, early childhood, and adolescence (Najman). “In the United States, the numbers of impoverished women with children and no cash safety net are increasing and constitute an emerging population” (Hildrebrant). Many have nearly exhausted the TANF program, a work-based welfare program that replaced Aid to Family with Dependent Children in 1996. TANF was structured to move families off of welfare and into steady jobs. The federal legislation that created TANF did not require those who were unsuccessful to report back. States were only required to report caseload amounts, percentages of people with basic education and job skills, employment statistics, and changes in absolute poverty. However, if states did not decrease their welfare caseload by at least fifty percent, they were blocked from receiving TANF grants. “TANF represents a sweeping redesign of support and services for poor women who need assistance to meet basic needs for themselves and their children” (Hilderbrant). Paid work is increasingly being seen as the main solution to poverty. This follows by more categories of citizens being expected to work their way out of it. Some argue that this is not possible, for the workforce is largely based on gender, and women living in poverty can only find low-end jobs with little mobility. Along with this, new work related technology has de-skilled jobs, while the qualifications for other jobs have been upgraded. Many people, compared to earlier decades, are experiencing a lowered sense of job protection. In countries like New Zealand, Canada, and Australia, there is quite a different situation occurring. Women are becoming increasingly more educated, and the cost of living has been rising. This has caused many women to enter the labor force. Moreover, gender segregation has been declining for decades. “Despite more women in paid work, a gender gap is still apparent in hourly earnings, persisting for full-time employees and all workers. This gap is influenced by occupational segregation by gender, variations in male-female working hours and levels of seniority, and gender discrimination” (Walters, pg 381). The gender earnings gap is larger in Canada than New Zealand (Walters). Many of us have heard of women shooting and or killing their husbands. This has been an increasing result of the issues concerning domestic violence and focusing on the issue of self defense. It has long been assumed that males are the breadwinners of the family. As a result, women often do not leave abusive households, for they cannot ensure their economic security. This may somehow be tied to their dependency upon the welfare system, some experts say. Not only do women rely on the welfare system for survival, but they are now more prone to committing acts of both violence and nonviolence. Women’s greater economic independence has lead women to do things that they would not have in the past such as live life as a single mother or chose to be a single mother. However, federal and state policies continue to treat these mothers as misguided and uneducated on the verge of becoming public charges (Greenwood). Many have argued that changes in the inner city produced a new and distinct class of people, known as the underclass. Jenks argues that this term is yet another to describe the lower class. “This class is characterized by its geographic concentration, its social isolation for the middle class, and its joblessness” (pg. 20). This new term gives the mistaken impression that all urban areas are worsening and that they should be avoided at all costs. During the time this article was written, urban class poverty had risen sharply (during the 1970’s and 1980’s). One popular explanation for this deals with the housing market. Some argue that fair housing laws were so poorly enforced that they did little to dismantle the racial divide in housing. This caused the growth of black-poverty in cities and to the increase of neighborhoods with high concentrations of poor black families. This caused many jobs to move from inner-city areas, leaving many black jobless. “Recent studies of poor urban families have focused on family management and parenting practices and the causes and consequences of teenage and out of wedlock births” (pg 27). Some argue that the rate of poverty has been increasing due to the abundance of female-headed black households and families. Notice has been drawn to the fact that black women are marrying at lower rates and never married black women are having children at a higher rate than married lack women are. One explanation for teenage births centers on the idea that inner city teenagers gain favorable reputations by participating in sexual activity at a young age. Another explanation revolves around health. The poor do not have access to the best health care, if any at all. This causes the pre-aging of women. It is because of this that they figure having children earlier in life will ensure that they can actually produce a family. Therefore, having children at an early age makes sense. Along with this, some argue that the concentration of poverty produces the isolation of the lower class from the middle class. “Concentration effects increase the likelihood of being unemployed, dropping out of school, taking up crime, and becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Many think the way to combat the crime, as mentioned above, in poverty stricken areas is to gain a type of social order. However, recent studies have found that social organization does not always lead to a lower crime rate. “On the contrary, in the black-middle-class neighborhood studied, dense, organized, internal networks between gang and nongang residents make for highly organized, powerful, drug dealers. However, a few approaches from the sociology of culture have taken shape. One such study is not to worry about characteristics that the poor share, but the boundaries they themselves place between one another (Small).