Economic Security

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending February 6, 2009)

Posted on by The Spotlight and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty. And every Friday, look for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty.

Here’s this week’s news:

• In a New York Times op-ed, columnist Gail Collins criticizes verbal sparring over the stimulus bill, which led to cuts from the bill, including funding for family planning for low-income women.

• The Washington Post notes that President Obama’s new faith-based office will attempt to reduce both poverty and the number of abortions, while USA Today mentions that its increased scope will include teen pregnancy.

• According to the New York Times, one of the most significant elements of the new SCHIP bill for low-income health care is that it covers pregnant legal immigrants.

• The Kansas City Star covers a state lawmaker who is citing her sexual orientation and stance on Roe vs. Wade as possible reasons she’s been left of Kansas’s House Special Standing Committee on Children and Families.

• An Orlando Sentinel column sheds light on the increased need faced by a charity that provides low-income women appropriate professional attire for job interviews.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

Ledbetter Act doesn't solve the problem of fair pay. That's up to us.

Posted on by Sharon Levin

Last week, President Obama signed his very first bill and it was on a key economic issue for women – fair pay.  What a wonderful and symbolic way to start the new Administration.  I am thrilled by all of this.

But, I have to admit that I do have some concerns about our next steps in the fight for equal pay for equal work .

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act reverses a Supreme Court decision from 2007 that ignored decades of legal precedent and closed the courts to women and minorities seeking redress from employees who had discriminated against them. (Please note, in Ledbetter’s case, a lower court found that she had – in fact – been discriminated against. The Supreme Court didn’t disagree with that fact; it just disagreed about when she should have filed the case.)

There are a lot of things to celebrate about the President’s signing of the Ledbetter bill:

  • It signals to the country that discrimination against women and any type of wage discrimination will be taken seriously by the Administration.
  • It tells the nation that the President understands the concerns of working women and their families and that he is on our side.
  • It proves a political theory that I have long believed to be true. Most polls show that fair pay is a top issue for women. Many of us have said that if we can show that government can make a difference in this area, women will vote based on it. President Obama campaigned with Lilly Ledbetter and made this a signature issue of his campaign. And, as we know, many more women voted for him than voted for McCain.
  • As a legal matter, the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision needed to be fixed and the law needed to be returned to the pre-2007 standard if our anti-discrimination laws were to have any teeth.

So, why do I have concerns?

We must remember that this bill does not move us forward in our fight for fair wages. It – very necessarily – bring us back to where we were two years ago. And, in 2007, we had not made any real dents in the wage gap for 20 years.

We still have a lot of work to do.

My fear is that – as so often happens in our media age of sound bites – the message that people will take from the press coverage of the bill signing is that this new law solves the problem of the wage gap completely.

It doesn’t.

I am also concerned that when we turn to Congress to address the “nitty gritty” of dealing with the wage gap, they will say, “We’ve already done something on equal pay. You’ve had your day and we have other issues to address.”

And, my final worry is that the tremendous political support for fair wages that was created during the campaign will dissipate now that the Ledbetter bill has been passed.

Now, while public attention is still on the wage gap, we have to start building the case for the measures that are needed to really bring men’s and women’s wages into equity: we need women to be able move from the lowest paying jobs to jobs that allow them to support their families; we need laws that support work-family balance so that working moms are not penalized at the office; and, we need employers to bring transparency to the wages that they pay so that their employees will know if they are being treated unfairly.

I thank President Obama for making fair pay the focus of his first bill signing.  And, I salute Lilly Ledbetter for her tremendous courage and effort to make sure other women don’t face the same discrimination that she did.

We must take advantage of the opportunity that they have given us to really create a public conversation on the wage gap.  To do anything less would be a failure to honor both of their work.

Sharon Levin is The Women’s Foundation’s director of  policy advocacy.

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending January 30, 2009)

Posted on by The Spotlight and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.  And every Friday, look for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty.

Here’s this week’s news:

• A New York Times editorial calling for more rights for caregivers mentions that most are impoverished women.

• The Washington Post profiles a group of young women who have moved to a troubled D.C. neighborhood to do missionary work for the poor.

• The Miami Herald covers a school that brings engineering and robotics to low-income girls.

• The Knoxville News Sentinel runs an editorial arguing for pro-life policies from the new Administration, saying that they will benefit the poor.

• Following a personal appeal from President Obama, who was seeking bipartisan support for his new stimulus bill, House Democrats cut family planning benefits for the poor, as reported by the Associated Press.

• A Montana plan developed in response to teen pregnancy would allow CHIP to cover the cost of birth control, as reported by the Associated Press.

• An Associated Press article cites experts claiming that poverty in Mississippi is attributable to single parents.

• As noted by the Associated Press, a new mobile cancer screening lab for low-income Louisiana residents will offer mammograms.

• The Lincoln Journal Star focuses on single moms pursuing degrees.

• An Idaho food bank unknowingly gave out fish tainted with mercury, which the Associated Press indicates is dangerous for pregnant women.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

Think infrastructure jobs will only work for men? Think again.

Posted on by Gwen Rubinstein

As the economic stimulus package inches closer to Congressional approval and President Obama’s signature, many have focused on who is in and who is out – especially men versus women.

While predictable, this is not particularly productive.

Yes, men’s unemployment is rising faster than women’s.  Losses in the manufacturing and construction sectors have hit men particularly hard.

Still, unemployment among women is also rising, just not as fast. 

As usual, the losses are falling particularly hard on women-headed families, many of whom were also struggling before the recession. 

In addition, if history is any guide, we know women’s unemployment is likely to increase later in the recession.

In the work of repairing the economy, our policymakers need to find the wisdom to focus on the totality of the challenge for all Americans and the courage to question their assumptions.

One assumption I nominate for the recycle bin is that infrastructure jobs (and, for that matter, “green” jobs) are not and cannot be jobs for women.

Here at The Women’s Foundation, through investments made in our Stepping Stones Initiative, we have generated a lot of learning about how to support women in training for non-traditional occupations, such as construction.  Women who have completed these programs have gone on to good jobs with family-sustaining wages and benefits.

Here is one example from Washington Area Women in the Trades (a joint project of the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, Wider Opportunities for Women and the YWCA of the National Capital Area.

J. H. started in June 2008 as a ‘Transformer Tester Helper’ in general utility operations training at the PEPCO facility on Benning Road. The experiences she gained at the Washington Area Women in the Trades program helped her attain this very competitive job, which will put her on a solid career path, allowing her to help support her family and eventually to purchase a home. She starts at a great pay grade – double the minimum wage – and with a generous employee benefits package. After 12 months and after successfully completing the PEPCO exam, she will make even more.

Of course, this kind of success requires more than a physical program. To be successful, women need a rich and stable array of supports to sustain them during training and on the job, including child care, transportation, access to health care and access to financial education to help them reduce their debt, improve their credit and save for the future.

(I’m guessing men probably need some, if not all, of this, as well.)

Because Stepping Stones is a comprehensive and long-term initiative, it invests in all of these services to support low-income, women-headed families in our region.

Even in difficult economic times, we have continued to see our investments reap benefits for these women, their families and our community. I can only hope that our national leaders will look out of the windows of their Washington offices and into our greater Washington community for inspiration and help.

Gwen Rubinstein is a program officer at The Women’s Foundation.

Dear Mr. President…

Posted on by Lisa Kays

On the day after President Obama was sworn in just a few blocks from our office, the staff of The Women’s Foundation thought we’d offer our congratulations, along with (of course) a few items for our wish list of action on the part of the new President. 

So, in the spirit of, "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America," we respectfully ask:

Dear Mr. President, Please be holistic in your policies to improve the economic security of low-income women with children. We know what works – although we don’t always act as if we really do. Good policies and programs include income support (or paid time off for participating in training or re-training), child care and transportation (critical work supports), access to health (including dental and biopsychosocial) assessments and services, financial education (debt reduction, credit repair, savings) and access to other needed social services. They also cannot stop when the woman walks out of the training program and into a new job."  Sincerely, Gwen Rubinstein

Dear Mr. President, I urge you to take immediate action to reverse the damage done by new rule adopted in the 11th hour of the Bush Administration, which allows individual health care providers to deny critical information to patients based on the providers’ personal biases. The patient may not even know what’s missing. This rule is particularly damaging for low-income women whose access to health care is already limited.  Please, tell congress to withdraw this damaging rule.  I also ask that you invest in a new green economy. Not only will you work to stop global warming, but you can revitalize our economy through new job growth. We know the best way to improve the lives of communities is to stabilize family income. New jobs in high-growth industries such as this one will go a long way to improving our homes and country, inside and out.  Thanks!  Allison Mitchell 

Dear President Obama, My wish for your administration is that every time you consider a policy or program, you think about the amazing and strong women in your life – your wife, daughters, sister, mother-in-law, mother and grandmother – and think about what that policy would mean for them. Would it keep them safe or put them at risk?  Would it open the door to new opportunities for them or shut them out?  Given the incredible impact on your life that all of these women have had already, their continued guidance can only ensure that your message of hope, inclusiveness and understanding becomes a reality during your administration.  Sincerely, Sharon Levin

Dear President Obama, I would ask you to keep in mind in your staffing and appointments the importance of women’s leadership, which does make an impact in ensuring that decision-making reflects the needs, concerns and realities of women and families.  In addition, just as you are a model of leadership for a new generation who will no longer see race as a barrier to achievement, so too is it important to have similar models for young women showing that gender need not pose a challenge or deterrant to any of their dreams and choices.  Sincerely, Lisa Kays

Dear Mr. President, I hope that all little children to have access to quality early education programs so that they may succeed in school and life.  Sincerely, HyeSook Chung 

But most of all, we congratulate you, and wish you the best as you and your Administration work to lead our nation at a time of such challenge and opportunity.

Do you have any ideas or requests of the new President and his Administration for how they can work to improve the lives of women and girls?  Leave them in comments!

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending January 16, 2009)

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty. And every Friday, look for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty.

Here’s this week’s news:

  • As the House gets ready to pass an expansion of health care services, there is controversy about allowing immigrant pregnant women immediate coverage, according to The Washington Post.
  • As noted by the Los Angeles Times, cuts in state healthcare coverage include reductions in treatment for breast and cervical cancer for low-income women.
  • The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on a federal lawsuit against the “conscience rule,” which allows health providers to refuse contraceptive services, even in the event of rape, and which advocates fear will harm those in poverty.
  • In an article featured in the Venture County Star, it is reported that excess water in baby formula—a cost-saving measure for low-income mothers—can be harmful to infants.
  • The York Daily Record quotes Pennsylvania lawmakers who want to repeal a child-support tax that they think harms single mothers.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

Online tools help service providers help local low-income families.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

This morning, Phyllis introduced a Webinar hosted by one of our Grantee Partners, Wider Opportunities for Women, on a tool they’ve developed to help calculate the true income needed to raise a family in our region.

As Phyllis explained, "With the current economic downturn…families are increasingly focusing on cutting back. And for some families—particularly those headed by single mothers—this means slipping from barely making it to not making it.  But where is the line?  According to the federal poverty standard—which hasn’t changed since 1960—a family of three headed by a single mom isn’t poor if she earns a dollar more than $16,500.  Yet, the real costs of raising that family are far greater…The federal standard is based just on the cost of food and doesn’t include crucial costs to families like child care, health care and transportation."

That’s why WOW’s standard is important, as it shows the the real cost for a single mother to raise an infant and a pre-schooler is $55,000 a year in Prince George’s County, $58,000 in Washington, D.C. and about $70,000 to live in Arlington or Montgomery Counties. 

A bit more realistic.

The Self-Sufficiency Calculator will not only allow a family to calculate what income they’d need to be self-sufficient based on family size, geography, etc., but it also provides information on how to find jobs that would meet that level of income and are attainable even without a college or two-year degree.

The Calculator can be accessed at www.dcmassc.org. 

WOW recently hosted a session featuring two other resources that help direct service providers in our area help heads of low-income families, who are usually women. 

One is the DC Food Finder, produced by So Others Might Eat (SOME), another Grantee Partner.  The Food Finder is an excellent resource that uses Google mapping to show where a variety of food resources exist in relation to a particular neighborhood or address, from food pantries to low-cost groceries to farmer’s markets.

Finally, the District Alliance for Safe Housing developed the Housing Resource Center, which helps identify housing appropriate in various situations, ranging from women fleeing domestic violence with children to affordable homes to purchase.  The resource enables service providers or individuals to input information relevant to them and then to access information particular to their situation.

 Many thanks to WOW, SOME and the District Alliance for Safe Housing for developing, updating and maintaining these tools that provide crucial information to our region’s low-income families as they strive for self-sufficiency.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

Good news for working women!

Posted on by Sharon Levin

On Friday, the House of Representatives passed two bills that would greatly improve the ability of women and other employees to bring claims of wage discrimination. President-Elect Obama has said that he would like to sign the bills — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act — in his first days in office. So, if the Senate moves quickly to pass both bills we could take an important step towards pay equity in the next few weeks.

The provisions of the bills include:

  • The correction of a Supreme Court decision that incorrectly bars many (if not most) wage discrimination cases from being heard in Court;
  • An increase in the remedies available to women who win wage discrimination suits and the easing of rules that allow women to bring class actions;
  • Procedures to bring greater attention to model employers so that others can emulate “best practices;”’ and,
  • A prohibition of employer retaliation against those who file wage discrimination cases.

Women still only earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by men.

The passage of these laws will allow women who have been paid less than they are worth to seek justice.

You can help to have these two bills passed quickly by contacting your Senators and urging them to support both the Ledbetter and the Paycheck Fairness Acts.  You can reach them at www.senate.gov or 202.224.3121.

Think about what a great way this would be to start the New Year!

Sharon Levin is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Policy Advocacy.

Stepping Stones Research Update: December 2008

Posted on by Lisa Kays

As part of our ongoing commitment–in partnership with The Urban Institute–to providing information and resources related to the goals of Stepping Stones, please find below a summary of recent research on issues of economic security and financial independence for women and their families.

This research is summarized and compiled for The Women’s Foundation by Liza Getsinger of The Urban Institute, NeighborhoodInfo DC.

Financial Education and Wealth Creation News

The Urban Institute looks at how the financial crisis is affecting retirement savings.  (Fact sheet) (Related text)

DC Fiscal Policy institute looks at why so many families in the city aren’t able to make ends meet, and offers policy recommendations on how to bridge the gap between earnings and basic expenses.  (Abstract) (Full text)

Jobs and Business Ownership News

The Urban Insitute looks at how scheduling and paid time off impact workers in low-skill jobs.  (Abstract) (Full text)

Child Care and Early Education News

The Urban Insitute reviews research literature on the impact of performance-based accountability on school and teacher behavior.  (Intro) (Full text)

Health and Safety News

ChildTrends explores what kids have available to them to eat at school, and what they’re really eating.  (Key findings) (Full text)

Other News and Research

The Brookings Insitution looks at how a new poverty measure would provide a more accurate picture of economic need in the United States. (Abstract) (Full text)

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending December 19, 2008)

Posted on by The Spotlight and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty. And every Friday, look for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty.

Here’s this week’s news:

  • The Los Angeles Times profiles a transitional residence offering housing and support services to homeless women and their children.
  • Many are concerned that a last-second Bush Administration policy allowing doctors to refuse services on grounds of “conscience” will negatively affect women and the poor, as noted by the Los Angeles Times.
  • As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, a California judge struck down an eligibility requirement making it harder for some low-income women to receive state assistance with pregnancy and childbirth.
  • The Salt Lake Tribune reports that many women victims of domestic violence have difficulty finding affordable housing in a recession market.
  • The Associated Press notes a report saying that because of poverty and other factors, the percentage of women being incarcerated on the rise.
  • In a tough economic climate, a Connecticut organization offering literacy and life-skills training to low-income women needs basic goods like food rather than toys, according to the Connecticut Post.
  • The Wilmington News Journal reports on a training session for a women-centered volunteer day with Habitat for Humanity.
  • The Tulsa World covers a charity that assists low-income parents – often single moms – with infant care expenses.
  • The Casper Star Tribune highlights a Wyoming-based job training nonprofit that has been a success placing single moms in good jobs.
  • The Corpus Christi Caller-Times editorial board criticizes a city council decision to cut a grant to Planned Parenthood.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  

To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.