Poverty

Women are more likely to be poor than men, both in the United States and across the globe. Female-headed households are more liable to live in poverty. Families headed by single women in the US are more than twice as likely as other families to be poor. The poverty divide is even more dramatic for people of color: in the US, African-American (26.5 percent) and Latina women (23.6 percent) register much higher poverty rates than white women (11.6 percent). Evidence-based, research-driven policies and programs that recognize the diverse realities of poverty and attack its root causes are critical for producing change.

Expert Profile

Location:

United States

40° 42' 51.6708" N, 74° 0' 21.5028" W

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As Member Center Relations Liaison, Kadija Ferryman coordinates the activities pertaining to NCRW’s over 100 Member Centers. At the Council she builds relationships with existing members, conducts outreach with potential centers, connects Member Centers to research opportunities within the Council and beyond, and works on special projects such as the annual Member Center Awards and Annual Conference. She worked for six years as a public policy researcher at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. where she conducted in-depth research on public housing transformation in cities across the country. She is a graduate of Yale University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at the New School where she completed her Master’s degree.

Location

New York, NY

United States

40° 42' 51.6708" N, 74° 0' 21.5028" W

See map: Google Maps

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Pay Equity and Single Mothers of Color

Teaser:

Recent Census data indicates that women earn 77 cents on the dollar compared to men--but for women of color, that wage gap is even higher.

Editorial:

From the Center for American Progress:

Although social and political efforts have been made to close the wage gap and in turn the wealth gap, recent Census data still indicates that women earn 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. For women of color the gap is even wider: Black women earn 69.5 percent, and Hispanic women 60.5 percent, compared to the earnings of their white male counterparts.

The wage story is just as unequal for single mothers: They make less than men, less than married women, and less than women without children. Adding race to the equation, single mothers of color are hit hardest by the wage gap. Studies show that single mothers of color are much more likely to live in poverty and face significant barriers to creating wealth. Lower wages can often prevent families from engaging in asset- and wealth-building mechanisms such as pension plans because of fewer job benefits and resources. Lower earnings can hinder families from investing and saving their money, a key strategy for building wealth. Additionally, wealth not only impacts economic security but long-term retirement security as well.

While it’s recognized that the racial wealth gap is widespread there is a critical need to understand the intersection of race and gender in accumulating wealth.

[...]

Source:

Center for American Progress

URL:

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/04/pay_equity_color.html

Date:

April 17, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Job Growth Slows for Women and Men in March

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 04/12/2012 - 10:08am

According to IWPR analysis of the April employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth slowed in March with 120,000 jobs added to nonfarm payrolls. In March women gained 38,000 jobs (about one-third of all jobs added) and men gained 82,000. Women’s employment growth was aided by strong growth in health care (26,000 jobs added overall) and food service and drinking places (36,900 jobs added overall). The gap between women’s and men’s employment in March is 1.9 million.

The unemployment rates remained largely steady from February to March, declining for women aged 16 and older (to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent), and unchanged for men (8.3 percent). As of March 12.7 million workers remain unemployed.

(April 2012)

URL:

http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/job-growth-slows-for-women-and-men-in-march

Member Organization:

Institute for Women’s Policy Research

More women vets are homeless, but housing scarce

Teaser:

CBS reports on the increasing levels of homelessness among female veterans.

Editorial:

From CBS:

Once primarily male veteran problems, homelessness and economic struggles are escalating among female veterans, whose numbers have grown during the past decade of U.S. wars while resources for them haven't kept up. The population of female veterans without permanent shelter has more than doubled in the last half-dozen years and may continue climbing now that the Iraq war has ended, sending women home with the same stresses as their male counterparts — plus some gender-specific ones that make them more susceptible to homelessness.

The problem, a hurdle to the Obama administration's stated goal of ending veterans' homelessness by 2015, is exacerbated by a shortage of temporary housing specifically designed to be safe and welcoming to women or mothers with children. The spike comes even as the overall homeless veteran population has gone down, dropping by nearly 12 percent to about 67,500 between January 2010 and January 2011, officials say.

[...]

Source:

CBS News

URL:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501363_162-57411007/more-women-vets-are-homeless-but-housing-scarce/

Date:

April 9, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Doing Without: Economic Insecurity and Older Americans

Submitted by asklar on Tue, 04/03/2012 - 10:34am

A new analysis of US Census Bureau data performed by Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) finds that 52% of elder-only
households report incomes that do not cover basic, daily expenses. While the threat of economic insecurity affects elders of all backgrounds, it varies substantially by gender, race, age, household composition and other demographic characteristics. In order to assess the economic security of today's older adults, WOW compared 2010 incomes for elders who live alone or with a partner to the US Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index for their household compositions and housing statuses. The Doing Without series presents findings from this analysis.

URL:

http://www.wowonline.org/documents/OlderAmericansGenderbriefFINAL.pdf

The Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 04/02/2012 - 10:44am

Women have made great strides in the last 100 years, but they remain vastly underrepresented in elective office, scientific fields and the boardrooms of California. The Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California focuses on key areas crucial to the advancement of women. This is the state's first comprehensive look at key areas impacting women's lives, such as changing demographics, poverty, mental and physical health, incarceration, employment, the media and much more. It presents never-before-compiled data in a format for general use by women, legislators and community-based organizations.

URL:

http://www.msmc.la.edu/status-of-women.asp

AGENDA Annual Conference 2012 external rev March 30

Submitted by vivhdem on Fri, 03/30/2012 - 5:13pm

AGENDA: NCRW Annual Conference 2012 - Agenda-Setting Nationally and Globally: Leveraging Women's Voices

Attachment:

AGENDA for 2012 NCRW Conference (external) 3-27-12.pdf

Executive Assistant to the President

Dinah Asante is Executive Assistant to the President. She has an M.S. in Urban Policy from the New School and studied at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada and the State University of New York, Old Westbury from which she received a B.S. in Marketing. She conducted research for the Women's HIV Collaborative of New York and for the Supportive Housing Network of New York. Dinah has private sector experience in the U.K. and U.S. and has held administrative positions for companies in Accra, London, and Ottawa. She also taught French in Ghana.

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Expert Profile

Location:

United States

40° 41' 59.4348" N, 74° 0' 26.0784" W

See map: Google Maps

Location

New York, NY 10005

United States

40° 41' 59.4348" N, 74° 0' 26.0784" W

See map: Google Maps

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Rep. Marcy Kaptur says that the poorest in America are women

Teaser:

"The poorest in this country are women,"claimed U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, when she appeared recently on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton.

Editorial:

From PolitiFact Ohio:

PolitiFact Ohio decided to focus on this simple statement about the economic plight of women.

Kaptur’s communications director Steve Fought provided PolitiFact Ohio with U.S. Census data and a National Women’s Law Center report to back up his boss’s statement.

The numbers indeed show that the poverty rate for women in the United States was 14.5 percent in 2010, which was 3.3 percentage points higher than for men.

Women also fared worse when comparisons were made within ethnic groups, such as white (non-Hispanic), black, Hispanic, Asian and native American. For instance, slightly more than 25 percent of all African-American women were in poverty in 2010, compared with 19.1 percent for African-American men.

[...]

Source:

PolitiFact Ohio

URL:

http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2012/mar/26/marcy-kaptur/rep-marcy-kaptur-says-poorest-america-are-women/

Date:

March 26, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

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What We Do

NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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