Few Safety Nets for U.S. Women of Color

African American women "have the highest labour force participation rate of all women and are roughly just as likely as their male counterparts to be homeowners," thus making them pillars of household stability, Avis Jones-DeWeever, research director at the United Council of Negro Women and affiliated scholar at the Institute for Women's Policy Research, told IPS.

Combined with the fact that "they are more likely to earn less than both white men and women, have fewer assets and are five times more likely than men to receive subprime loans," financial safety nets for African American women in the current economic crisis are sparse if not non-existent.