Grantee Shows Census Data Paints Dire Picture for Women and Families

We frequently comment on the devastating impact of the economic crisis on women, particularly low income women, women of color and single heads of households. Our grantee partners are advocating tirelessly for inclusive and just economic policies that support women, families and their communities.

Now, our grantee, the National Women's Law Center, has analyzed the newly released 2009 Census data. The numbers paint a dire picture.
According the NWLC's analysis:

• Poverty among women climbed to 13.9 percent in 2009, the highest rate in 15 years and the largest single year increase since 1980. Rates are even higher for women of color and single mothers.
• More than 15.4 million children lived in poverty last year, over half of them with single mothers.
• Lack of insurance coverage among women has never been so high: 19.1 million women aged 18-64 -- nearly 1 in 5 -- are uninsured. Even more women would have joined the ranks of the uninsured without the safety net of public health insurance programs such as Medicaid.
• For women in the workforce, the wage gap hasn't budged: women still make only 77 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn. In an already down economy, women and their families remain shortchanged by an unfair wage gap.

Join the Ms. Foundation and our grantee partners as we advocate for a just and equitable economy.

See our earlier posts:
Recovery for Who? Economic Recovery Means Little to Struggling Low-Income Women, International Museum of Women, Economica: Women and the Global Economy online exhibit, September 2010.

Tired Americans Want Government Help, Politico, June 24, 2010

Photo by Elizabeth Rappaport, woman and child (detail), march for immigration reform, Washington, DC.