Economic Security

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

Medical symbol [credit cogdogblog]In today’s rundown: A one-day, no-cost medical clinic for D.C. residents.  |  A breakthrough vaginal gel could help decrease a woman’s risk of becoming infected with HIV.  |  The Senate will take another go at extended unemployment benefits.  |  A look at the rising number of girls in the juvenile justice system.

— A one-day free medical clinic will open up in D.C. next month for Washingtonians who can’t afford the health care they need.  The no-cost clinic will be open on August 4th from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.  Click here for more details.

— A vaginal gel can significantly cut a woman’s risk of becoming infected with the AIDS virus, according to research that will be presented today at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna.  The gel, which was tested in South Africa, contains the antiretroviral drug tenofovir.  In the study, it reduced the risk of HIV infection by 39 percent in a group of women who used it for three-quarters of their sexual encounters.  According to The Washington Post, women who used it more consistently experienced 54 percent fewer infections.

— Senate Democrats are taking another shot today at a bill that would extend the deadline to file for unemployment benefits through the end of November.  Senate Republicans have blocked a vote several times over budget deficit concerns.  Click here for more.

— About.com’s Women Issues blog takes a look at “a vulnerable population” — girls who are in the juvenile justice system.  With an increasing number of girls entering the juvenile justice system, the blog explores what they’re being arrested for and why incarceration may not be the most effective way to help them.

Photo credit: CogDogBlog via Creative Commons

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

pink-hard-hat2In today’s rundown: We revisit men and their tenuous hold on American domination. We wonder what will happen to women who are being affected by the “mancession.” And another multi-billion dollar commitment to philanthropy.

— Jezebel.com asks if “the  mancession will harm ‘macho’ career women” — women employed in industries that have been traditionally dominated by men (like construction).  Jobs in these industries have been among the hardest hit during the economic downturn.

— And the Today Show wonders if this is really “the end of men,” debating about an article in Atlantic Monthly about the growing of achievements of American women as a whole.  The Women’s Foundation Program Officer, Gwen Rubinstein, wrote about this very topic last month on the blog.

— Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has joined a growing group of wealthy Americans who have pledged to give away large amounts of their fortunes.  Yesterday, Allen announced that “he planned to give more than half of his estimated $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy,” according to the New York Times.

So… what do you think about today’s topics?  Is there really a “mancession” going on and will women who are impacted have a harder time recovering?  What does the phrase “the end of men” even mean?  How will these major commitments to philanthropy change the nonprofit world?  Was a pink hard hat the wrong image to use in today’s post?  Weigh in here, on Facebook or on Twitter.  We’d love to hear from you!

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

In today’s rundown: Thousands of local residents will lose their jobless benefits by Friday.  |  Before the recession there was a skyrocketing number of women and minority-owned small businesses.  |  The government unveils a plan to combat HIV/AIDS.  |  A mother speaks to her son about domestic violence and the death of Yeardley Love.

— According to the National Employment Law Project, by the end of this week 7,600 people in D.C., 17,700 Maryland residents and 30,900 people in Virginia will lose their federal jobless benefits.  With five unemployed workers for every job opening in the U.S., NELP and others are calling for the Senate to restore extended unemployment insurance.  Lawrence Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, writes that extending these benefits is critical for the national economy.

— Census numbers show that in the years leading up to the recession, there was a boom in the number of minority and women entrepreneurs.  According to The Washington Post, “by 2007, minorities owned one in five small U.S. businesses, and women owned almost one in three.”

— The federal government has unveiled a new plan to combat HIV and AIDS.  The plan seeks to cut new infections by 25 percent over the next five years and will treat 85 percent of patients within three months of a diagnosis.  For details and local reaction, please click here.

— Doorways for Women and Families, one of our Grantee Partners, has a new entry on their blog by a volunteer who writes about being troubled by her 11-year-old son’s reaction to the death of University of Virginia senior Yeardley Love.

Gender Fatigue — Is Our Work Done?

Posted on by Gwen Rubinstein

Barack_Obama_signs_Lilly_Ledbetter_Fair_Pay_Act_of_2009_1-29-09Do you care about the role of women in our workforce?  If so, you may be suffering from gender fatigue.

According to an article in Newsweek (“Women Will Rule the World”), the debate over women in the workforce in the United States is an old issue.  “We’re done,” the magazine quotes Rosalind Hudnell, the head of diversity and inclusion at the Intel Corporation, as saying.  I am not making any of that up.

I am suffering from fatigue, alright – but I am tired of silly articles about how our work is done and how women will soon rule the world.

As far as I know:

  • The U.S. still has a pretty significant gender pay gap, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner.
  • Women are still segregated in “women’s” jobs such as secretaries, nurses and teachers.
  • Men still earn more than women at every educational level.  In fact, women with some college or an associate’s degree actually have *lower* median weekly earnings ($628) than men who are high school graduates but have no college ($709), according to the 2009 Women in the Labor Force Databook.
  • Government funded training programs perpetuate occupational gender segregation, according to a new report by the Center for American Progress.

I think what we are suffering from is imagination fatigue.  Why can’t we imagine and work to create a world where women and men of equal skill and education are paid equally for the same work?  Why can’t we imagine and work to create a world that places a higher value (literally) on “women’s work?”  Why can’t we imagine and work to create a world that didn’t think of certain work as “women’s” or “men’s?”

I would love to hear what fatigues you about this conversation, as well as what you want to imagine and create.

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

Photo credit: The White House; President Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

Community Foundation LogoIn today’s rundown: Several Women’s Foundation Grantee Partners receive new grants for the mental health services they provide.  |  HUD grants $190 million for homeless assistance around the country.  |  Why marriage may not be the panacea to poverty.

— Several of our Grantee Partners were among the recipients of $973,000 in grants from the Community Foundation’s Neighbors in Need fund.  Among the 51 safety-net and mental health service providers that received the grants were Ascensions Community Services, Inc., Northern Virginia Family Service, So Others Might Eat, Calvary Women’s Services, Doorways for Women and Families, and Thrive DC.  Congratulations!

— The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced nearly $190 million in new grants for homeless assistance programs across the country.  Funding to this area will include more than $270,000 to the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, over $90,000 to Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network and $933,000 for the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness in the District.

— The Bush administration pushed marriage as one method for fighting poverty but a new study confirms the views of skeptics who say financial issues should be addressed first.  Click here for details.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

In today’s rundown: A Grantee Partner discusses immigration reform with the president.  |  The Senate rejects extended benefits for the long-term unemployed for the fourth time, leaving more than two million people without unemployment checks.  |  The economy and unemployment have caused an explosion in the number of people with HIV or AIDS who need antiretrovirals but cannot afford them.  |  Local girls get hands-on experience in science labs.

— Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland, a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner, met with President Obama earlier this week to talk about immigration reform.  Later today, the president will speak at American University about the need for reform.  Torres hopes the president addresses several issues.  Click here to find out what he doesn’t want the president to consider.

— Yesterday, the Senate rejected a bill that would have reauthorized extended benefits for the long-term unemployed.  This is the fourth time the Senate has rejected the bill and Democrats won’t make another effort to break the Republican filibuster until after the July 4 recess.  By that time, more than two million people will have missed checks.  Click here for details.

— “The weak economy is crippling the government program that provides life-sustaining antiretroviral drugs to people with HIV or AIDS who cannot afford them,” according to the New York Times.  The rapidly expanding waiting lists are caused by reductions in government resources and ballooning demand caused by unemployment and the loss of health insurance.

— Girls in Loudoun County have spent part of their summer getting hands-on experience with molecular biology and genomics.  The high school students are participating in the free five day workshop called the Genomic Opportunities for Girls in Research Labs (GO GIRL).  Click here to find out what they’ve learned.

Defeat Poverty DC: If Not Now, When?

Posted on by Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat

DefeatPovertyDC Logo

With poverty more of a problem than it has been in decades, The Women’s Foundation’s Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat says now is the time to step up and take action.  She calls on individuals, politicians and organizations to come together to defeat poverty.  Read on to find out what you can do.

Sometimes problems appear to be so big that they seem insurmountable and we become paralyzed just thinking about what it would take to overcome them.  We forget that the problem didn’t simply happen overnight.  Generally, there were a series of events, words and/or actions that, when left unresolved over time, culminated into a much larger problem.  And of course we want there to be a quick, easy fix because anything else is just too hard, too daunting to contemplate.

I can’t help but wonder if that’s the case when it comes to the “problem” of poverty in the nation’s capital.  Do we think it’s insurmountable? Are we so daunted by the stats that we are paralyzed?  Do we think it’s really someone else’s problem?

Regardless of the answers, at what point do we decide to turn a challenge into an opportunity?  My response: Now! And here’s why.

Successes and Setbacks

Seven years ago, Washington Area Women’s Foundation released A Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area, which found that single, female-headed families suffered disproportionately from the region’s poverty.  In the District of Columbia, 30 percent of women-headed families lived in poverty.  These stark findings have guided our grantmaking over the past six years with a laser-like focus on improving the economic security of low-income, women-headed families.  This approach has helped 6,000 women increase their incomes and assets by $22 million.  Last year alone – in the midst of the recession – we helped 66 women become homeowners, 1,000 women increase their assets by $2.2 million, and 70 women increase their incomes by more than $600,000 due to job placements.

But even as we celebrate the achievements of thousands of women, we’re seeing frustrating setbacks across the community.  Today, 37 percent of women-headed families in DC are living in poverty—the highest poverty rate among all family types.  Some may look at the increase and throw up their hands in defeat and stumble off the field in dismay (apologies for the soccer analogy, World Cup fever).

I think that’s the wrong reaction.  At The Women’s Foundation, the startling statistics are pushing us to think creatively about our work and our investments, forcing us to re-examine our assumptions and open our minds to new possibilities, and most importantly, reinforcing the importance and necessity of collective action.  No one individual, nonprofit, business, government agency, or funder can do it alone, but collectively we might have a fighting chance.

Be Part of the Solution

That’s why Washington Are Women’s Foundation is supporting Defeat Poverty DC, a coalition of organizations and residents in the District working to bring greater focus during the 2010 election season and beyond to the damaging effects of poverty on our entire city.  As the mayoral and City Council races kick into high gear in their run-up to the primary on September 14th, there is no better opportunity to highlight the critical need to address poverty in DC.

Tired of feeling paralyzed?  Want to do something?  Visit Defeat Poverty DC’s website and take action:

  • Join the Campaign and receive email alerts and updates about the campaign, as well as actions you can take to make a difference.
  • Email Local Officials about this effort using a template email, which you can personalize or send as is.
  • Spread the Word about Defeat Poverty DC through Facebook and Twitter accounts and by talking about the campaign on your community listserv.
  • Download a Notice to Candidates and post it on your window or door to let candidates know that when they come knocking you expect to hear their plan for defeating poverty in DC.
  • Attend a Volunteer Training on June 30th to learn about the best ways to get candidates to support real solutions to poverty.

With the poverty rate increasing to 19 percent last year (the largest increase since 1995), now is the time to come together and insist that our political leaders actively work to defeat poverty in DC by advancing policies that:

  • Make Work Possible through job placement, increased literacy, and access to quality child care and reliable transportation.
  • Make Work Pay by improving job training, ensuring access to better wages and benefits, and lessening the tax burden on low-income families.
  • Make Basic Needs Affordable by bridging the gap between the high costs of living in DC and the incomes of working poor residents, including increased availability of nutritious food, health care and affordable housing.

If not now, then when?

Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat is vice president of programs at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

In today’s rundown: As the economy continues to struggle, community college enrollment is on the rise.  But rising enrollment and tight budgets could be bad news for some students.  |  IT remains a growing profession, yet women are leaving the field in droves.  |  The only woman to pitch in the Negro American League could be honored in D.C.

— Enrollment at Northern Virginia Community College continues to rise, even as the effects of the recession continue to be felt.  With classes available for about a third of the cost of most Virginia four-year schools, NVCC has an enrollment of more than 78,000 right now.  They expect to reach 84,000 by 2015.  Click here for details.

— Community colleges everywhere are seeing enrollment increases, but that’s not necessarily good news.  Two-year schools are becoming more difficult to get into and tight budgets mean course offerings have been cut.  Many students say they feel stalled.

— Information technology continues to be one of the fastest growing professions, yet women are leaving the field in huge numbers.  One woman tells Women’s e-News why she became disillusioned with a field she loved.

— The only woman to pitch in baseball’s Negro American League could be honored with a field named after her in Northeast D.C.  75-year-old Mamie “Peanut” Johnson was discovered nearly 60 years ago at what is now the Rosedale Recreation Center in Ward 6.  The D.C. Council still has to vote on the Mamie Peanut Johnson Field Designation Act of 2010.  Click here for more.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

heatIn today’s rundown: Ways for seniors and the homeless to stay safe as the temperatures stay high.  | The Obama administration’s plan to end homelessness.  | Gloria Steinem discusses women, men and equality with Stephen Colbert.

— The District has released its plans for helping people stay safe in the heat and humidity of the summer.  Click here for details on when cooling centers will open and when street showers will be activated.

— The Obama administration has released a 74-page strategy to end homelessness.  The plan includes expanding programs to secure housing for veterans and families with young children and increasing meaningful employment opportunities for people at risk of experiencing homelessness.

— In a previous post on The Women’s Foundation blog we raised questions after reading an Atlantic article entitled “The End of Men.”  Last night, Stephen Colbert discussed the same topic with Gloria Steinem, questioning why a gender pay gap is a bad thing and suggesting that children are the real enemy.

Not Time to Celebrate: Women Catch Up With Men in Achievements, Not Earnings

Posted on by Gwen Rubinstein

Equal Pay

An article in the most recent issue of The Atlantic (“The End of Men” by Hanna Rosin) asks a lot of questions about women’s progress in the economy.  Reactions are flying around Twitter and other cultural touchstones, like The Colbert Report.

One of the article’s questions I have been thinking about is: What if the modern, postindustrial economy is more congenial to women?  My conclusion so far is: I will remain unconvinced until women begin reaping the higher economic rewards that would and should follow if this were the case.

Currently, some economic rewards for women have come in the form of less job loss than men.  Overall, the recession has been relatively less economically dislocating for most women because the sectors women tend to work in (such as health care and education) have not been shrinking.  Although, as I have noted here before, women who head families have higher unemployment rates than many other population groups (11.6 percent in May 2010, compared to 9.8 among men 20 and older, for example).

Increasing educational attainment among women – both in general and relative to men – should also reward them economically.  Americans with bachelor’s degrees, for example, have more than two times the median weekly earnings of those who never completed high school (see here).  According to the National Center for Education Statistics, women are projected to earn 62.3 percent of associate’s degrees, 60 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 61 percent of master’s degrees conferred in 2009-10.

Still, these rewards are behind schedule:

  • Women surpassed men in attainment of associate’s degrees in 1977-78, bachelor’s degrees in 1981-82 and master’s degrees in 1985-86.
  • Women are not earning as much as men in most occupations.  According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation), median weekly earnings for full-time women workers were $657 in 2009, compared with $819 per week for men (a gender wage gap of 19.8 percent).
  • Women are not earning as much as men even in most women-dominated occupations. Women who are registered nurses, secretaries, maids and cashiers still have lower median weekly earnings than men in the same jobs.

We literally cannot afford to rest on our successes.  We must continue to advocate for women’s economic equality at the international, national and regional levels, including in pay, benefits (such as paid sick leave) and workplace flexibility.

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