Women and Poverty in America

According to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau "There were 37.0 million people in poverty (12.7 percent) in 2004, up from 35.9 million (12.5 percent) in 2003…In each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, women's earnings were less than men's in 2004" (US Census 2005 .

Poverty in America is a statistic most of us- especially the current Administration, would like to forget. "After a decade of improvement in the 1990s, poverty in America is actually getting worse. A rising tide of economic growth is no longer lifting all boats. For the first time in half a century, the third year of a recovery (2004) also saw an increase in poverty. In a nation of nearly 300 million people, the number living below the poverty line ($14,680 for a family of three) recently hit 37 million, up more than a million in a year" (Alter 2005 42).

When it comes to downsizing, outsourcing, low-paying jobs, women seem to bear the brunt of it. And, when the economy falters, women are usually the ones to feel it first and more severely. This is not merely due to single-parent families in need, it is about the inequality of the job market, due to gender discrimination. "'Over the last three years, more and more women have fallen into poverty, with the loss of jobs, decrease in wages and increase in the number of uninsured helping to push many women into an uncertain and potentially devastating financial situation,' said Christina Smith FitzPatrick, senior policy analyst for the National Women's Law Center" (Sullivan 2004 O).

The poverty figures for men and women in the U.S. are truly disproportionate.. While women out umber men in total population, men come off better (if that is the proper term) than women when it comes to poverty. The Census Bureau compared the incidence of poverty among men compared with women. Look at these outrageous statistics:

POVERTY RATES FOR ADULT WOMEN AND MEN IN 2003