Single, Divorced and Widowed Women in America
The Wage and Education Gap that Leaves them Behind.
Sep 7, 2008
Women who are unmarried comprise 26 percent of the electorate, more than one in four of all voters. However, now in the 21st century, they still make less money, have fewer assets, have less access to health care and face more job insecurity than other Americans.
The challenges facing them include:
- Over 40% of unmarried women have household incomes of less than $30,000 a year .
- Unmarried women makes less than others for the same work and earn only 56 cents to every dollar earned by a married man.
- There are 12.2 million single-parent families in America with more than 10 million headed by single mothers many who live below the poverty line.
- Unmarried women are more likely than other Americans to have no health insurance.
- More than 25 percent of unmarried women rely on Social Security as their only income.
Single Women and the Wage Gap
Single women face pay discrimination at every level of employment, earning just 56 cents for every dollar a married man earns. Their median wages overall pay only 77 cents for every dollar earned by the same comparison.
Single Women Tax Credits
Single women are discriminated against under the present Earned Income Tax Credit rules and a childless woman under age 25 is not covered at all by the EITC. For single women with children, the benefit is totally in inadequate because they usually do not have other deductions such as interest on a home mortgage.
Single women who are poor or earn a low-income usually do not benefit from Child Tax Credits. It can be worth up to $1,000 per child but a family must earn a minimum of $12,050 in 2008 which does not benefit many single parents.
Single Women and the Minimum Wage
Single women often work in minimum wage jobs which now pay $7.25 a hour which translates into $15,080 for a 40 hour week. This barely exceeds the federal poverty line of $13,690 for a family of two or $17,170. for a family of three. In addition, few of these minimum wage jobs provide health insurance or child care.
Single Women and Lack of Education
Single women lag substantially behind both married women and married men in getting college degrees. Most four-year and two-year college programs are not designed to meet the needs of working women who have families. They would benefit from such opportunities as distance learning and online courses, flexible course schedules and school-based child care programs.
Single women are often denied the American dream of being economically self-sufficient, obtaining a good education for themselves and their children, owning a home and a secure retirement. Until the playing field is leveled, they and their families will continue to suffer.
Source:
Page G. Gardner and John Pedostra. Overlooked So Far: The Nation's Unmarried Women in 2008. Women's Voices. Women Vote and the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
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