Women's Voices. Women Vote. - Blog

It's Time to Pay Back Alice Paul

2010-08-26T13:37:00Z

by Page Gardner

Today, Equality Day, marks the 90th anniversary of the certification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. A lot has changed in ninety years, but one fact remains more salient than most: women are a political force to be reckoned with in this country.

by Page Gardner

This is particularly true of unmarried women -- single, divorced, widowed or separated - who make up one of the fastest growing demographics in the country and now comprise 25 percent of the eligible voting population--that's almost 51 million women. While unmarried women turned out in record numbers in 2008, they are still underrepresented and under-registered. In 2008, of the nearly 51 million unmarried women who were eligible to register to vote, only 35 million did register. That means 16 million women who could have voted did not even register.

And those numbers are not expected to improve for the 2010 elections. In the past, on average only 40% of unmarried women voted in midterm elections, compared to almost 60% in the 2008 presidential election--this means that come November, more than 30 million unmarried women who could be voting might not.

90 years ago, women from all walks of life fought hard to give a voice to the voiceless and ensure that there was room for more views at the political table. Today, we need to fight to make sure everyone who has a voice is using it and that those who can pull up a chair to that table are doing so. The stakes are too high to let millions of American women stay silent and sit this election out.

Women paid dearly for the right to vote. Alice Paul was beaten, imprisoned and brutally force fed by her jailers for daring to demand American women should have the vote. But the courage and persistence of Paul and her fellow suffragettes paid off ninety years ago today with the certification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women their political equality. Today, even though women turnout at equal or great numbers than men on election day, more than one in four American women is still not registered to vote. If you're one of them, thank Alice Paul today by visiting Women's Voices. Women's Vote website and registering to vote.

If you are already registered, talk to five women you know about registering to vote. It's quick, it's free and it's important.

New Report Shows Effects of Great Recession on Unmarried Women

2010-08-13T16:38:00Z

Study highlights impact on growing segment of American wage-earners

Washington, DC—Today, Women’s Voices Women Vote and the Center for American Progress unveiled The Other Half: Unmarried Women, Economic Well-Being and the Great Recession which highlights the impact of the Great Recession on unmarried American women and the families and households that rely on them. This demographic has grown to include three in ten households and they are raising 25 percent of all American children under 18.

These women are making important contributions to our economy and communities as well as to their own families. Two out of three unmarried women are the sole earners or one of multiple earners in their households. Among the less than 20 percent of unmarried women who are single mothers, more than four out of five of them (82 percent) are either the sole or one of the earners supporting their household. But unmarried women have been deeply affected by the Great Recession that began in December 2007. Even prior to the recession they had lower earnings, income, and wealth, and were more likely to face poverty than men or married couples; unmarried women face an uphill battle during economic downturns.

“Unmarried women play a vital and growing role in the health of our economy and communities,” said Page Gardner, president of Women’s Voices Women Vote and co-author of the new report. “It is critical that we understand the challenges faced by unmarried women and ensure they have a voice in the political and policy-making process,” continued Gardner. “Clearly, improving the situation of unmarried women will improve our national economy overall because of their contributions to private sector growth.” “Unmarried women—like all Americans—have been hit hard by the Great Recession. The Recovery Act has been a critical policy for jumpstarting our economy and helping families in need, especially the unemployed,” said Heather Boushey, Senior Economist at the Center for American Progress. “We need to continue the sound economic policies of the act, including making sure the long-term unemployed continue to receive unemployment benefits.”

For a PDF of the full report, please click here.

Phyllis Schlafly (Accidentally) Gets Something Right: Everyone Should Recognize the Growing Power of Unmarried Women Voters

2010-07-28T00:01:00Z

While stumping for Michigan politician Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski, Phyllis Schlafly once again dipped into her poisoned well of rhetoric. Her target was unmarried women, and she returned to the tired old trope of welfare abuse. Ms. Schlafly said the only reason these women turned out to vote was because “when you kick your husband out, you gotta have Big Brother Government to be your provider.” Her comments are insulting to unmarried women and to the democratic process.

Rather than denigrating American citizens for exercising their rights and doing their civic duty, we should be celebrating increased participation in our democracy. Ms. Schlafly, however, did inadvertently manage to stumble into one truth: the burgeoning political power of unmarried women.

Half of all American women are unmarried, and unmarried women are members of the Rising American Electorate, a group that also includes people of color and young voters between the ages of 18-29. Together, the RAE now represents 52% of voting eligible citizens. Though members of the RAE had record turnout in the 2008 election, they are still underrepresented in both voter registration and turnout. Our democracy functions best when more voices are part of the process; we must work to ensure that this growing segment of American society continues to make itself heard in 2010 and beyond.

While a democratic system that is representative of the needs of all voters may be anathema to Phyllis Schlafly, our society only benefits when participation in our democracy is robust and our government is responsive to the needs of all of its citizenry. Harnessing the power of the RAE is the key to advancing these principles and securing our future, rather than stifling participation, clinging to the past and promoting the politics of hate and division.

Unmarried Women Continue to See High Unemployment in April

2010-05-11T13:18:00Z

By Heather Boushey, Liz Weiss

New data released last week by the Labor Department shows the continuing consequences of the Great Recession for unmarried women. This group continues to experience high and extended unemployment as well as underemployment, and this underscores the urgent need for Congress and the administration to continue to focus on job creation and policies to spur demand and assist the unemployed.

The following originally appeared at AmericanProgress.org and is reproduced with permission.

By Heather Boushey, Liz Weiss

High unemployment poses enormous challenges for all kinds of workers, but it can be a tragedy for unmarried women. Unmarried women already face higher-than-average poverty, many are responsible for family members including children and elders, and they frequently do not have a partner to rely on during times of economic distress.

Last month, 10.8 percent of unmarried women (age 16 and over) were unemployed (data by marital status is not seasonally adjusted). Of unmarried women who had jobs, 8.1 percent were working part time but said that they wanted to work full time. Nationally, unemployment was at 9.9 percent and 6.6 percent of workers worked part time but would prefer full-time work (part-time data is not seasonally adjusted). Women who head a household without a spouse (with a child, parent, or other dependent household member) faced a slightly higher unemployment rate than other unmarried women, at 11.0 percent in April.

Once unmarried women have lost a job they are having an especially tough time finding a new one, like workers in general. The typical unemployed unmarried woman who is widowed, divorced, or separated has spent 25.4 weeks actively looking for work. The typical never-married unemployed woman has spent 21.2 weeks seeking a new job.

Many unmarried women are struggling with unemployment spells lasting longer than six months. More than 4 in 10 (43.2 percent) never-married unemployed women have been out of work and searching for a new job for at least six months, while nearly half (46.5 percent) of previously married women are among these “long-term unemployed” (see figure).

The youngest women have the highest unemployment among all unmarried women. Unmarried women ages 16 to 24 had a 15.5 percent unemployment rate in April compared to 9.7 percent of unmarried women ages 25 to 54 and 7.1 percent among unmarried women age 55 and older. Younger, unmarried women tend to be “never married” rather than divorced, widowed, or separated, and never-married women are experiencing higher unemployment than other women: Among never-married women,12.0 percent were unemployed in April compared to 9.0 percent of previously married women.

High unemployment among young, unmarried women may have long-term consequences for them and their families. High unemployment at the start of a career can potentially drag down lifetime earnings by setting a low baseline when a worker finally gets her first job as well as straightforward lost income during unemployment. What’s more, young people who graduated last year and have been unable to find a job—or find a steady job—will be competing with this year’s graduates. Employers may see last year’s grads as “stale” and focus on the new cohort of “fresh” grads.

Young unmarried women may not be well prepared to cope with a spell of unemployment, either. Since they are young, they have had little time to save up for an emergency such as an unemployment stretch, and younger workers who do not have as much work experience are less likely to qualify for unemployment benefits.

But while young workers and never-married women have higher levels of unemployment than unmarried women more generally, they also tend to be unemployed for a shorter period of time. Older workers and previously married women who have lower overall unemployment rates and are slightly more likely to be out of work for six months or more.

Long-term unemployment compounds older workers’ economic uncertainty. Older workers and divorced, widowed, or separated women may face their own set of challenges in their job searches. Older workers may have developed more on-the-job skills over their careers and seek employment that matches these skill sets. They are also likely to own a home and have deep ties in a community, making it harder for them to pick up and move for work. And women who were previously married may be returning to the workforce after the end of a marriage—and time out of the workforce—and re-entering the labor market in this economy may be especially challenging.

Unemployment is expected to persist for some time, and the time many workers—especially young workers—spend unemployed is likely to have repercussions into the future. The variety of challenges American workers—especially unmarried women—are facing in the continuing labor market recession speak to the need for Congress to act. There are three ways it can help.

First, Congress should focus on extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed and other relief programs such as subsidies to help the unemployed pay for their health insurance coverage through the COBRA program. Congress recently extended these programs through June 2 and May 31, respectively, but they will need to be extended again as that date approaches. It should extend these programs through the end of 2010 and continue to focus on job-creation policies.

Second, rather than set a nationwide cut-off for extended unemployment benefits, Congress should improve the unemployment insurance trigger system. This way, they could fix the trigger that should automatically turn off extended benefits once a state’s economy has pulled out of the depths of the labor market recession.

Finally, Congress should focus on youth unemployment by expanding programs like AmeriCorps and YouthBuild, which can give young workers the start they need even in this troubled economy. These programs can help young workers and other unemployed workers build skills while earning money during these tough economic times.

Like all workers, unmarried women continue to face high rates and extended periods of unemployment. Unmarried women face different challenges in the labor market—with young workers facing higher unemployment and older workers facing more long-term unemployment—but the necessity of an improved labor market, as well as public policies to support unemployed workers, is an urgent matter for all.

Heather Boushey is Senior Economist and Liz Weiss is a Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress.

What Single Moms Really Need This Mother’s Day

2010-05-06T17:51:00Z

By Page Gardner

Ten million American women are raising children on their own. On this Mother’s Day, we should thank these hard-working moms and look to what we as a society could be doing to improve their lives, and the lives of their children.

Today more than one in five American children (23 percent) lives in a family headed only by a mother. These 17 million children make up the next generation of Americans and they are their mothers are facing a steep uphill climb with little support from our nation’s policymakers. One of the hard facts of life for single mothers today is that they must take care of their family on one, often very low income. Right now an unmarried woman –a woman who is divorced, separated, widowed or single—only makes 56 cents for every dollar made by a married man. The family income of nearly three in ten children living with a single mother is less than $15,000 a year.

Not surprisingly, then, the highest rate of poverty in the U.S. is in households headed by a single mother. Of all women living in poverty – 75 percent are unmarried women. And this is despite the fact that more than half of single mothers in poverty are in the labor force—either working or looking for work.

Further, in 2008, more than a third of single mother households and half of low-income single mother-households did not have enough money or other resources for food for their families. Indeed, more than four in ten “food-insecure” households with children under 18 are headed by a single mother.

These numbers are eye-popping and represent one of the biggest demographic shifts in the last 50 years. But our nation’s policymakers have been slow to recognize or embrace this new family norm. Our policies are still being shaped by a definition of the family that does not reflect today’s reality. Fact is the number of unmarried women and women-headed households in on the rise – and the children they are raising are doing without basics – food, heath care, and housing.

We can do more to support the single moms raising our next generation, starting with providing the supports necessary for mothers who must combine working and caregiving. There is legislation before Congress now that would increase access to safe and affordable child care and to grants and tax credits that will help single mothers pay for higher education. There are also bills that have been crafted that would increase the economic security of these single mothers by raising the minimum wage and providing job training to help workers prepare for better jobs and careers. Congress also has the opportunity to pass legislation that would guarantee paid sick days for workers so that no mother—or anyone—gets fired for doing the responsible thing and caring for a sick child.

And, Congress has the power to give these women the best Mother’s Day gift of all, and that would be to put an end to gender discrimination in wages and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so these hardworking single mothers can bring home enough money to care for their families themselves.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro on Equal Pay Day

2010-04-22T16:56:00Z

The following statement was delivered by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.)

Among the many great benefits of the commonsense health reform package we passed last month is a guarantee that finally in America being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition. By bringing an end to discriminatory policies like gender rating and insurance coverage for maternity, preventive, and wellness care, our legislation puts women’s health on an equal footing at long last.

The following statement was delivered by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.)

It is time now to do the same for women’s earnings. I cannot think of a better way to follow our historic success on health care last month than finally signing the Paycheck Fairness Act into law. In America today, women now make up half of the work force. 2/3 of women are either the sole breadwinner or co-breadwinner in their family. Women are also more likely than men to graduate from college. They run more than 10 million businesses with combined annual sales of $1.1 trillion, and are responsible for making 80% of the consumer buying decisions.

And yet, right now in the 21st century women make only 78 cents on the dollar as compared to men. Women of color are even worse off. African American women make 68 cents on the dollar compared to the highest earners, while Hispanic women make only 57 cents. Unmarried women, those who are single, widowed, divorced, or separated, have an average annual household salary that is almost $12,000 lower than unmarried men. And they make a paltry 56 cents on the dollar when compared to married men.

Over a lifetime, these disparities take a huge toll on women. According to the national committee for pay equity, women are losing out on between $400,000 and $2 million on average over the course of a lifetime. As a result, 70% of seniors living in poverty are women. And this pay disparity is particularly galling when you consider the current crisis in our labor market. It is true that more men have lost jobs than women in the recent recession, mainly because of the industries affected. But that only means that more and more women are forced to take on the full burden of keeping their families afloat, making the problem about smaller paychecks even more acute.

The recession aside, this is not a new problem. In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower told the Congress, that, and I quote, “Legislation to apply the principle of equal pay for equal work without discrimination because of sex is a matter of simple justice.” Seven years later under President Kennedy, the Congress passed the Equal Pay Act to end the “serious and endemic problem of unequal wages.” And 47 years later, we all know that the act is not working as intended in its current form.

That is why we mark today, Pay Equity Day, the day that a woman’s 2009 earnings catches up with what men made last year. This is an occasion quite frankly I wish we no longer had to commemorate. The good news is that conditions are finally ripe to achieve real pay equity in America. We in the House of Representatives have now passed the paycheck fairness bill twice, legislation that will give real teeth to the Equal Pay act at last. Simply said, men and women in the same job should get the same amount of wages.

You would think that that is a no-brainer, but the fact of the matter is whether you are a waitress, bus driver, engineer, university professor, news anchor, women are being paid less for the same job as their male counterparts. Those of us who serve in the House of Representatives, men and women, different parts of the country, different education, different skills, we all get paid the same amount of money. That is not true for most women in this nation. Now, we have passed it in the House and we wait only for the United States Senate to act.

So we are on the cusp of achieving real economic security for American women. I urge my colleagues to impress upon the Senate the necessity of this legislation. We have a moral obligation to face this continuing pay inequity head-on. It’s time to get it done. Our passage of health reform last month has shown that the American government can still accomplish great things, that we can still make this country a fairer, a more compassionate, and more humane place for people to live.

Let’s finally ensure America’s women, now half of this nation’s workforce, are treated as fairly and as equitably as the other half. Let’s give real teeth to the Equal Pay Act at last and make sure that women are respected and valued for the job that they do and paid the same amount of money in the same job that any man may have. What we need to do is to make one of this one of the last Equal Pay Days in our history.

Equal Pay: A Matter of Economic Survival

2010-04-20T13:38:00Z

Despite the fact that women now make up half the nation’s workforce, the problem of unequal pay persists nearly 50 years after passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act. Most women are in the workforce today, and most families rely on the earnings of women to get by—especially those headed by unmarried women. Unequal pay is not just a matter of equal rights it is a matter of basic economic survival. In fact, families headed by a single woman are twice as likely to be in poverty as families headed by a single man.

Today is “Equal Pay Day,” the day that symbolizes how far into 2010 it takes for women to earn the same amount men made in 2009. Last year, men earned an average of $46,200 over the year, but women had to work all of 2009 and 4 months into this year to reach that mark.

In 2008, women made only 77 ce nts for every dollar a man earned. By marital status, the gap is even starker: unmarried women make 56 cents to the married man’s dollar. Even among unmarried Americans, unmarried women make 88 cents to the unmarried man’s dollar.

Unequal pay affects women throughout their lifetimes. As the Center for American Progress has described it, the “career wage gap,” meaning the total that women are underpaid during their career, adds up to huge numbers: $434,000 on average, and many hundreds of thousands more for women with college degrees.

This means that not only do women have less income to pay for living expenses or raise a child during their working years—it also means women have less money saved up for retirement and their Social Security benefits are lower, putting women in poor financial shape even after their working years.

While the fact that men and women work at different kinds of jobs explains some of the wage gap, it certainly doesn’t explain why women often earn less than men even when they work in similar jobs and have the same education credentials as their male colleagues. As Senator Chris Dodd said at a recent hearing on equal pay, “Women are being paid less than men simply because they are women.”

An important bill in Congress aims to end pay discrimination based on gender. The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen current legal protections against wage discrimination, which have proven to be insufficient. The bill would allow employees to discuss their earnings with each other, so that women might learn if they are being discriminated against; currently, workers are not protected from retaliation if they share wage information. In cases where discrimination is found, women could recover not just back wages but also damages, as in cases of race-based discrimination. The bill would also limit the bases allowed to justify differences in pay, among other provisions.

The Paycheck Fairness Act passed the House early in 2009. The Senate held a well-attended hearing on the bill last month and it is now time for the Senate to put this crucial bill to a vote so that all workers will earn what they deserve and families will be on equal footing.

Page Gardner, Founder & President of Women’s Voices. Women Vote

This article originally appeared at The Huffington Post.

Health Care Equality – The case for extending COBRA coverage beyond only opposite-sex, married couples.

2010-04-06T15:33:00Z

COBRA is an important law that helps millions of Americans maintain health insurance during moments of financial uncertainty. However, it is a prime example of the kind of public policy that has not kept pace with the changing nature of the American household and workplace. By applying only to an employee and his or her spouse and children, it allows millions of other Americans to be discriminated against based on their gender, sexual orientation, and martial status.

The Equal Access to COBRA Act responds to a flaw in the current health care system and would move America closer to health care equality. As Weiss and Rosenthal argue, the ACT “would correct [these] outdated policies and ensure continued health coverage for more American families.”

We’ve written often here at the WV blog about the need for public policy to better account for the societal transformations that have made the traditional opposite sex married couple, with the man as the primary breadwinner, the norm. Policies based around the male dominated nuclear family no longer work for the way that many of us form unions, households, and live our lives. From the rise in same-sex couples to a near majority of Americans living unmarried to the growing numbers of women in the workplace, America has changed, but policies to address these changes have been slow to follow.

We began to look at these issues broadly with the publication of “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything,” a project of Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress (CAP). The report closely examined how women’s changing roles are affecting major societal institutions such as government and businesses and examined how our society is responding to one of the greatest social transformations of our time. We explored these issues in the specific context of the workplace during Fem2.0’s campaign to change the public discourse around work and life issues.

We also examined the flaws in public policy as they affected unmarried women in the context of health care. We reported early on about the unique health insurance disparities faced by unmarried women and recently highlighted an analysis by CAP’s Liz Weiss, outlining how the new health care reform law will address some of those disparities and help unmarried women.

Today, we note that Sen. Barbara Boxer has introduced legislation that would address another form of discrimination and inequality in health care by making same-sex spouses, domestic partners, and other beneficiaries such as parents, grandparents, or siblings eligible for eligible to receive coverage under COBRA. Our friends at CAP have once again undertaken an analysis of the legislation and argue that it will eliminate a discriminatory practice that “excludes tens of millions of people from basic [health care] benefits” and move us closer to greater “equality among American families.”

COBRA is a federal policy that allows workers that are let go from their job to keep their heath insurance by continuing to pay into their former employer’s health plan. However, because COBRA only applies to the employee and his or her spouse and children, there are many families with same-sex spouses, domestic partners, and multigenerational members who are not eligible for this coverage.

According CAP’s Weiss and Rosenthal, Boxer’s bill, the Equal Access to COBRA Act of 2010, “would guarantee same-sex spouses, domestic partners, and other beneficiaries such as parents, grandparents, or siblings the opportunity to maintain their employer-provided health insurance plan through COBRA. The bill would not require employers to offer health insurance to families or any relatives. It would merely offer all covered family members the same opportunity to maintain health care coverage.”

Weiss and Rosenthal note that “[n]ontraditional families, including domestic partnerships, same-sex marriages, and multigenerational families are increasingly common” and cite data from the Pew Research Center that show there are “6.6 million opposite-sex unmarried partners, nearly 800,000 same-sex couples, and 16 percent of Americans living in a multigenerational household.”

Analysis: Health Care Reform Law “Will Greatly Benefit Unmarried Women”

2010-03-28T16:53:00Z

Currently, one-quarter of all unmarried women ages18-64 have no health insurance. However, a recent analysis by Liz Weiss of the Center for American Progress identifies several ways in which the health care reform act signed into law by President Obama will address many of the health insurance disparities affecting unmarried women.

As we have noted before here at the WVWV blog, unmarried women face several obstacles to obtaining insurance. With less income, jobs that often do not offer health insurance plans, and without access to coverage provided by the policy of a spouse, these women often face significant challenges to obtaining health insurance.

The new law will expand nearly everyone’s ability to obtain insurance, which means that marital status will no longer be a barrier to unmarried women’s access to affordable health insurance. As the CAP analysis reveals “[a]nyone—including unmarried women—working in a small business or for a large employer that does not offer insurance will be allowed to buy insurance through new state-based insurance marketplaces, called ‘exchanges.’”

One key measure in the new law will benefit all women and will remove one of the most discriminatory practices in the current health care system. Insurance companies will now be prohibited from pricing based on gender rating, where women are routinely charged more for health insurance coverage than men.

The health care reform act is truly a historic piece of legislation that brings our nation one step closer to realizing the promise of a future where no one, including millions of unmarried women, is denied access to health insurance.

For more on how this legislation will benefit unmarried women, read the full report here.

Statement of Page Gardner, Founder and President of Women’s Voices. Women Vote, On the Signing of the Affordable Health Care for America Act

2010-03-23T13:00:00Z

This sweeping legislation finally addresses existing health insurance obstacles facing unmarried women and serves to expand quality, affordable health insurance coverage for them.

Today, President Obama signed into law the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which was passed Sunday evening by the House of Representatives.

This sweeping legislation finally addresses existing health insurance obstacles facing unmarried women and serves to expand quality, affordable health insurance coverage for them.

Unmarried women – single, divorced, and widowed – face unique challenges in obtaining and maintaining health insurance. With less income, jobs that often do not offer health insurance plans, and without access to coverage provided by the policy of a spouse, these women often face nearly insurmountable challenges to obtaining health insurance. One quarter of unmarried women between the ages of 18 and 64 are currently without health insurance. (See WVWV and the Center for American Progress’ joint report Advancing the Economic Security of Unmarried Women).

The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a major step forward in addressing the health insurance disparities that affect unmarried women across all income levels.

Unmarried Women’s Economic Security and Pending Legislation

2010-03-22T16:05:00Z

While unmarried women face major economic disparities, a new joint WVWV-Center for American Progress report sets out a comprehensive economic security agenda for improving the economic conditions of unmarried women, focusing on jobs and the workplace, single mothers, housing, health care, personal finances, and retirement.

Page Gardner, founder and president of Women’s Voices. Women Vote (WVWV) and co-author of a new joint WVWV-Center for American Progress (CAP) March_2010.pdf”>Advancing the Economic Security of Unmarried Women: Overview of Laws and Legislation in the 111th Congress by Liz Weiss and Page Gardner.

WVWV Releases Major Demographic Report on Unmarried America

2010-03-19T17:04:00Z

This week, WVWV released a demographic report and extensive PowerPoint presentation that detail the seismic shift in America since 1960, when America moved from a nation where marriage was the norm to today, where 45 percent of all adults in the United States are unmarried and half of all women live on their own.

The PowerPoint presentation -- 50 Years of Unmarried America: The Status and Importance of Unmarried America – offers a comprehensive and detailed demographic portrayal of unmarried Americans, documenting trends in their population growth over time; their current concerns about the economy, health care, and other issues; how they gather information, communicate, and network with friends, family, and others; and how they might be reached to engage in the public policy debates over issues that affect their daily lives.

The summary report – Unmarried America 2010: The Status and Importance of Unmarried America – highlights the fact that unmarried Americans have the same concerns and struggles as married Americans (jobs, wages, health care), but their concerns are amplified in the current economic downturn and may require different solutions to account for the ways that unmarried Americans live their lives. The report also offers clues on how to keep unmarried America engaged in the political process – contacting public officials, joining the national conversation, and voting in elections – so that their voice can be heard and public policies can be responsive to their needs.

Joint WVWV/CAP report outlines relevant legislation in the current Congress to address the economic security of unmarried women

2010-03-17T13:39:00Z

Today, WVWV and the Center for American Progress release a new report outlining relevant legislation in the current Congress that will advance the economic security of all Americans and especially unmarried women.

The report follows up from our 2008 report on the public policy needs of unmarried women and sets out a comprehensive economic security agenda focusing on jobs and the workplace, single mothers, housing, health care, personal finances, and retirement.

Today nearly half of American women are unmarried. More than ever, women are the sole supporters of themselves and their families. Yet they are more economically insecure than other groups, experiencing higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and a lack of health insurance. Unmarried women face gender-based discrimination, low-wage jobs that do not offer adequate income or benefits, an uneven burden of caregiving, and outdated policies that too often do not apply to modern families.

It is crucial that policymakers understand the changing demographics of those who live in America and the particular economic challenges faced by unmarrieds. Particular attention needs to be paid to unmarried women. Public policy must catch up to today’s America and ensure that the promise of America is available to all.

An event surrounding the release of the report features Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D, CT), Page Gardner, Founder and President, Women’s Voices. Women Vote and coauthor of “Advancing the Economic Security of Unmarried Women: Overview of Laws and Legislation in the 111th Congress;” and Avis Jones-DeWeever, Director, Research, Public Policy, and Information Center for African-American Women, National Council of Negro Women

The event will be moderated by Heather Boushey, Senior Economist, Center for American Progress.

Watch the event here

Unmarried Women Voters - Here Is Your Chance to Ask President Obama a Question

2010-01-29T22:23:00Z

On Monday the President of the United States is sitting down with Steve Grove from CitizenTube and will be answering a series of questions generated directly from their Youtube channel. They have about eight video questions up right now, but none of them are from women.

From our friends at Feministing:

Submission guidelines are simple: Just click the submit a question button on the top right. If you are doing a video, keep it to 20 seconds or less and you can text questions as well, but they would prefer video. On the right hand side of the CitizenTube homepage there is a list of topics to ask from.

The president should hear from women, and especially unmarried women. Submit your question, and if you put up a video, please let us know so that we can watch it and vote.

Why Focus on Single Women in the Workforce?

2010-01-29T15:26:00Z

There are currently more than 51 million single, separated, divorced, or widowed women in the United States. Unmarried women are also one of the fastest growing demographic groups.

Today’s workforce is comprised of employees with diverse family structures and changing life responsibilities. The prevalence of single workers and their diverse life circumstances means that workforce policies should address their needs. Indeed, we need to pay attention to the different ways that women are living their lives, and establish policies that will enable unmarried women to take care of themselves and their families.

There are currently more than 51 million single, separated, divorced, or widowed women in the United States. Unmarried women are also one of the fastest growing demographic groups.

Today, nearly half of all adult women are unmarried, which represents part of a broader societal transformation in which the traditional two-parent, one-worker family is no longer the norm. Marriage is now more than ever more an institution for the privileged: those with higher education and the highest salaries. Yet, generations of social focus on marriage makes many government-bestowed benefits inaccessible.

The fact is, our society, our families, and our workforce have changed, but workplace and public policies have not kept pace to reflect these transformations. Today’s workforce is comprised of employees with diverse family structures and changing life responsibilities. Single workers, with and without children, are now an important employee cohort that has rightly called attention to the need for family-friendly policies in the workplace.

The workplace now includes an increasing number of unmarried women, unmarried co-habiting couples, married people w/o children, and single-parent families. The prevalence of single workers and their diverse life circumstances means that workforce policies should address their needs. Indeed, we need to pay attention to the different ways that women are living their lives, and establish policies that will enable unmarried women to take care of themselves and their families.

In doing so, however, we must also recognize that very notion of balancing work and life is a luxury that many people cannot afford. For low- income workers, undocumented workers, and people working multiple jobs just to scrape by, policies like flex-time and family leave simply do not exist. We should therefore be crafting policies that support all workers as they try to meet the many demands of life in and out of work.

Finally, we must also not forget about the millions of single women who are out of work and who are truly struggling in these tough economic times. According to the October unemployment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Sixty-one percent of all unemployed women workers were unmarried. That means 3.3 million unmarried women (age 20 and over) were unemployed. For unmarried women who head families, the unemployment rate was 12.6 percent, 2.4 points above the national average. For these women, we must focus on policies that can help them find work in jobs that can support not only them, but their families.