Safety Nets

Women in the United States frequently lack basic services that are taken for granted in many other parts of the world. To be able to live in economic security, they require educational opportunities; paid sick leave; affordable, quality child care and elder care; as well as portable health care and adequate retirement benefits to protect them throughout their lives. While programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Food Stamps are available, they do not go far enough. More robust safety nets are needed to lift and keep women and their families out of poverty.

ARRA: Extending the Unemployment Insurance Safety Net to Victims of Domestic Violence

Recent changes to the unemployment insurance system as a result of the federal stimulus legislation have expanded an important safety net for victims of domestic and sexual violence who lose jobs as a result of the violence against them. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) included several provisions for modernizing state unemployment insurance systems, such as providing access to unemployment insurance benefits to various groups who were not previously covered by state laws, including victims of domestic violence.

To read the full report, click here.

Teaser:

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Post Date:

07/30/2010

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State Implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Appendix C: Safety Net

The ARRA provides significant funding increases for a number of human services, health, employment and other safety net programs. This additional support is intended to provide relief for lower-income families and others hardest hit by the recession. In addition, the funding will assit fiscally constrained state and local governments as they manage administrative and operational challenges stemming from the rise in demand for programs and services.

To read the full report, click here.

Teaser:

Economists agree that increased assistance to low-income families has the most immediate stimulative effect on the economy because those with the least amount of financial security traditionally engage in more immediate consumption and are less likely to divert those resources into savings or debt reduction. Safety net programs also provide education and training for America’s workforce, ensuring that there is a supply of qualified workers as new jobs become available.

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Post Date:

07/29/2010

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Safety Nets

NCRW Background Paper: Project on the Economic Recovery Act

Submitted by Kyla Bender-Baird on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 12:05pm

In the midst of the current economic crisis—which is exacerbating previously existing disparities and inequalities in the United States—the Recovery Act offers an opportune moment to raise up public investment for all Americans and make inroads on gender equality. Building on the Council’s commitment to policies and programs that advance women’s economic well-being, this project aims to gain a better understanding of the impact of the Act on women and their families. Additionally, the project would examine the inequities in the Recovery Act’s allocation of resources and ways to address the resulting disparities.

Attachment:

NCRW Recovery Act Background Paper FINAL _2_.pdf

A Brief History of the Women's Donor Activist Movement

Submitted by jzeilinger@ncrw.org on Wed, 07/28/2010 - 10:49am

This video was inspired by historian Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner who brilliantly determined to preserve and document the writings of suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage. In the 19th century, Gage complained that women of means funded their husbands' alma maters, churches and the ballet, but rarely stepped forward to fund their suffragette sisters. Imagine how different the world would be today if women had begun funding women sooner! This fast-moving video shows how today's women's funding movement, and new giving trends like Women Moving Millions, are literally changing the course of history. Video produced for The Sister Fund by Chicken & Egg Pictures, The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation and Great Plains Productions.

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High Rate for Deaths of Pregnant Women in New York State

Teaser:

New York Times: According to a new report, maternal mortality is higher in New York than in almost any other state. Women of color are the most affected, with black women seven times more likely to die in pregnancy than white women, and Hispanic and Asian women twice as likely. Factors like poverty and obesity, which impact communities of color more heavily, as well as lack of insurance, are a few of the social factors researchers discovered.

Editorial:

"More mothers die during pregnancy or soon after in New York than in almost every other state, and according to reports released on Friday by the New York Academy of Medicine and the city’s health department, social factors like poverty, obesity and lack of insurance may be responsible.

While the total number of maternal deaths are small — an average of about 40 a year across the state — city health officials said their analysis showed that maternal mortality was being driven by environmental factors like poor nutrition that could be changed through public policy. New York City’s analysis, billed as one of the most sophisticated looks at maternal mortality in the country, studied 161 women who died of pregnancy-related causes in the city from 2001 to 2005. It found that 49 percent of the women who died were obese. Black women, who were more likely to be obese, were seven times as likely to die in pregnancy as white women. Hispanic and Asian women were twice as likely to die as white women."

Source:

New York Times

URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/nyregion/19obese.html?_r=1

Date:

July 18, 2010

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Associated Issues & Expertise:

Policy Is About Priority: Where Do Moms Fit in?

Submitted by rsommers-flanag... on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 1:10pm

By Rylee Sommers-Flanagan*

This post originally appeared on the Health Justice Blog associated with the Health Justice Division of the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

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The Intersection of Race, Gender and Wealth: Why Disparities Matter

On March 8, 2010 NCRW Director of Research and Programs, Shyama Venkatewar, was invited to speak at a special policy discussion in honor of International Women's Day. Hosted by The Insight Center for Community Economic Development, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the National Council of Negro Women, the Women of Color Policy Network at NYU, and the National Council for Research on Women, the day focused on Economic Security for Women--how wealth building for women of color is a strategy for long-term economic recovery. Dr.

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Wealth to Health: How it’s All Connected

Submitted by rsommers-flanag... on Thu, 07/01/2010 - 4:06pm

By Rylee Sommers-Flanagan*

Earlier this week, my fellow intern, Courtney Fiske, reported on the findings released last month by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, which revealed a widening racial wealth gap between whites and blacks in the United States.

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Ms. Foundation Hosts Successful Capitol Hill Briefing on the Recession

Submitted by Kyla Bender-Baird on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 12:58pm

Last week, the Ms. Foundation for Women--in partnership with the Center for Community Change and Lake Research Partners--hosted a successful Capitol Hill briefing, sharing results from their recent poll on the impact of the recession on women. According to Gail Cohen from the Joint Economic Committee,

only in May did women gain almost the same number of jobs as men -- but only in temporary Census jobs. In the private sector in May, women lost 1000 jobs while men gained 42,000 jobs.

To learn more about the briefing and download results of the poll, visit the Ms. Foundation's blog, Igniting Change.

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Yes, Virginia, the Recession Really Has Hurt Women

Submitted by Kyla Bender-Baird on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 5:49pm

Hands down, this post from California NOW recieves the award for best title of a blog addressing the gloomy issue of the economic recession. The post discusses a briefing hosted by the California Budget Project, which challenged this whole idea of a "mancession." California NOW pulled out these (un)savory data points from the briefing:

The number of families supported solely by working mothers rose from 4.7% in 2006 to 8.5% in 2009.
California’s typical working woman earned 89.1 cents for every dollar earned by the typical working man in 2009.

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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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