Advocating for families

Description of social/economic issue

Women and children in America are more likely to be poor than men. Over half of the 37 million Americans living in poverty today are women and children. These women are further behind than women in other countries, and the gap in poverty rates between men and women is wider than anywhere else in the Western world. Consider the following facts: According to Cawthorne (2008), in 2007 the poverty rates for women consisted of 13.8 percent of females were poor compared to 11.1 percent of men (Cawthorne, 2008, p.1). With more than half of poor children living in female-headed families in 2010, the child poverty rate jumped to 22 percent. As usual, single mothers are having the hardest time of all. More than 40 percent of women who head families are now living in poverty.

Women face a much greater risk of poverty for a number of inter-related reasons. Women are paid less than men, even when they have the same qualifications and work the same hours. Women who work full time earn only 77 percent of what men make, leaving a 22 percent gap in average annual wages. Discrimination, not lack of training or education, is largely the cause of the wage gap. Cawthorne (2008) suggests, even with the same qualifications, in 2007, full time, year-round female workers aged 25 to 32 with a bachelor’s degree were paid 14 percent less than men (Cawthorne, 2008, p.2). Women are segregated into low paying occupations, and occupations dominated by women are paid low wages. Women are more likely to do “pink collar” jobs. These jobs consist of teaching, child care, nursing, cleaning, and waitressing, which typically pay less than jobs in industries that are male-dominated. In 2010, nearly half 43 percent, of the 29.6 mill...

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...t satisfaction surveys and also interview clients prior to receiving assistance form the housing program. After clients have received assistance data will then be collected using the same methods as before. Clients will be expected to take a survey on what they expect from the housing program. After clients are in the program they will be expected to take another survey to determine if we reached their expectations and how we can improve our methods. Shaw University social work students will then compare and analysis both sets of data from before and after to determine the effectiveness of the housing program. After students have properly analyzed the collected data they will then meet to determined areas of satisfaction and areas in which improvements are needed. Changes to the housing program will be solely based off the information collected form clients.