"People say that money isn’t the key to happiness but I always figured that if you have enough money, you can have a key made." - Joan Rivers
Woman-lead households have become a societal normality, especially in the US. High divorce rates and the prevalence of single mother births have fueled the restructuring of the American family.
Unfortunately, many of these households are living below national poverty lines.
According to the 2016 US Census, female-headed households with no spouse experienced higher rates of poverty, 35.6 percent, than women in married-couple families reaching only 6.6 percent.
If the single mother is a minority, the probability of her family living below poverty is even more significant.
In general, women don't earn as much as men, but white women are earning more money than black women according to Single Mother Guide.
“If a single mother is able to work, her earning power still lags significantly compared with men’s, about 79¢ to a $1 for the same job - leaving a wage gap of 21¢ on the dollar. The wage disparities are even greater for women of color - African-American women earn only 64¢, while Hispanic and Latinas fare worse, being paid just 56¢ on the dollar."
In addition to having a higher earned income, white women are more likely to receive financial support from family and receive child support from their child’s father. Those differences make the story of poverty even more dismal for single black mothers.
The rising cost of health care and housing, coupled with low minimum wage and lack of adequate child care does even more harm.
So how do we fix the issue of African American single mothers and poverty? Let’s discuss some possible remedies.
One of the most obvious ways to alleviate poverty is through education. Obtaining a college degree could significantly improve the financial stability of single parent homes.
According to Miller, Gault, and Thorman (2011), “Expanding educational opportunities available to low-income parents - especially single parents, whose children’s outcomes are particularly dependent on the resources and education of their only parent - can dramatically improve children’s chances of escaping poverty."
Although education is a proven vehicle that removes people from poverty, that doesn’t mean that the road isn’t bumpy. Students, who are also parents, deal with the responsibilities of parenting while working and attending class. Time management, healthcare, childcare, and financial obligations are barriers that make persistence especially difficult for single parent college students.
Economists and sociologists have also suggested the Baby Bond program. This program will grant all newborns an income-based bond that will grow over their lifetime. Once they enter adulthood, recipients of the bond can then use the funds for school, toward buying a house, or to start a business.
According to Naomi Zewde, an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy at the City University of New York, in 2015, the median white young adult had a net worth of $46,000, versus $2,900 for the median black young adult. Had they been granted baby bonds at birth, white young adults would be worth $79,159 and black young adults $57,845. White kids would be roughly 40 percent wealthier than black kids, not 16 times as wealthy.
Though this program is growing in popularity, many activists argue that it doesn’t really address the need for reparations and actually overlooks the reason why the funding is being provided in the first place, by providing a bond to everyone despite their race.
Another proposed solution to the poverty issue is to reunite the family. I know that many of you would probably rather listen to nails scratching a chalkboard for eight hours straight than to get back with your ex.
However, our government has invested millions of dollars in the Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Demonstration Grant. This grant program teaches its participants the value of marriage, healthy relationships and life skills. Although there is substantial evidence that states that single parenthood increases the chances of poverty, that doesn’t imply that marriage will be the best solution.
According to Randles (2017), “...solutions to family instabilities and inequalities in the United States go beyond relationship-building programs alone.” States may see better results by investing in economic stability training, tax credits and living wage increases.
There really isn’t one magical solution that will fix the feminization of poverty, but we can strengthen ourselves by working together as a community to educate ourselves on financial stability and mobility.
Originally posted in Real STL News
Photo credit: BlackWallSt.com
Written by: Dr. Jovon Willis