Women in poverty More women than men are living in poverty in the U.S. Men who migrate for employment or to avoid conscripted military work often leave women behind. Migrating across hundreds of miles and difficult terrain is often not feasible for women and children. Basic information about women in poverty includes the following (Bleiweis et al., 2020): ● Of the 38.1 million people living in poverty in 2018, 56%, or 21.4 million, were women. ● Nearly 10 million women live in deep poverty, which is defined as falling below 50% of the federal poverty line. ● The highest rates of poverty are experienced by American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women, Black women, and Latinas. About one in four AIAN women live in poverty. This is the highest rate of poverty among women or men of any racial or ethnic group. ● Unmarried mothers have higher rates of poverty than married women, with or without children, and unmarried women without children. Nearly 25% of unmarried mothers live below the poverty line. ● In 2018, there were 11.9 million children under the age of 18 living in poverty. This accounts for 31.1% of those living in poverty. ● Poverty rates for females and males are almost even throughout childhood. However, the gap grows significantly for women ages 18 to 44 (during prime childbearing years) and again for women ages 75 and older. ● Women with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than both men with disabilities and persons without disabilities. Women with disabilities have a poverty rate of 22.9%, compared to 17.9% for men with disabilities and 11.4% for women without disabilities. ● LGBTQ women experience higher rates of poverty than cisgender (sense of personal identity and gender correspond with their birth sex) straight women and men because of the intersections of discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression. Reasons women live in poverty The impact of sexism and racism on society limits the employment opportunities that are available to women. Some of the causes of poverty in women include the following issues: ● Wage gap : Based on 2021 data, women working full time, year-round earn on average 83 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). This figure has remained relatively stable in recent years, as data from 2018 indicated women were earning an average of 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. This gap continues throughout the life span, leaving women with fewer resources and savings than men (Bleiweis et al., 2020). ● Occupational segregation into low-paying jobs : Women are disproportionately represented in certain occupations, especially low-paying jobs. This is due, in part, to the perception of gender roles that assume women’s work is low skilled and undervalued. This is especially true for women of color (Bleiweis et al., 2020). ● Lack of work–family policies : Issues such as insufficient paid family and medical leave as well as earned paid sick leave impact a woman’s ability to manage work and caregiving. Childcare is expensive and sometimes hard to access. These issues further compound problems associated with work– family challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the caregiving burden on women because of essential school and childcare provider closures, which has contributed to higher job loss among women (Bleiweis et al., 2020). ● Disability : Disability may cause, as well as be a consequence of, poverty. People with disabilities must deal with barriers to employment as well as lower earnings. Only 16.4% of women with disabilities were employed in 2018, compared with 60.2% without a disability (Bleiweis et al., 2020).
The instability that often accompanies mental illness can also lead to poverty. The cycle continues and grows as more people find themselves reeling from the pandemic's physical, financial, and emotional impacts. By contrast, higher-income people have been relatively unscathed economically (Human Rights Watch, 2022), and certain groups are disproportionately impacted by poverty. Women, children, and racial and ethnic minorities experience poverty more often than men, working adults, and White people, and individuals with disabilities experience poverty more often than those without current disabilities (Institute on Disability, 2020; U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). The unequal distribution of poverty across the population reflects the disparities in opportunities these subpopulations experience throughout their lives. Some examples of the disparity of opportunities include a disproportionate number of racial and ethnic minorities living in low- income neighborhoods and experiencing insufficient educational opportunity as well as women continuing to earn less than men (the most current data show that women earn 83 cents for each dollar men earn; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). Evidence-based practice! Research shows that the poverty rate in the U.S. is increasing. Healthcare professionals must be aware of data relating to poverty and work to decrease the growing problem of poverty. Key points related to income and poverty in the U.S. include the following (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020): ● Between 2019 and 2020, the poverty rate increased for non- Hispanic Whites and Hispanics. Among non-Hispanic Whites, 8.2% were in poverty in 2020, while Hispanics had a poverty rate of 17.0%. Among the major racial groups examined in the Census Bureau’s report, Blacks had the highest poverty rate (19.5%) but did not experience a significant change from 2019. The poverty rate for Asians (8.1%) in 2020 was not statistically different from 2019. ● Poverty rates for people under the age of 18 increased from 14.4% in 2019 to 16.1% in 2020. Poverty rates also increased for people ages 18 to 64, from 9.4% in 2019 to 10.4% in 2020. The poverty rate for people ages 65 and older was 9.0% in 2020, which was not statistically different from 2019. ● Between 2019 and 2020, poverty rates increased for married- couple families and families with a woman not working outside the home. The poverty rate for married-couple families increased from 4.0% in 2019 to 4.7% in 2020. In families that the woman did not work outside the home, the poverty rate increased from 22.2% to 23.4%. The poverty rate for families that the man did not work outside the home was 11.4% in 2020, which was not statistically different from 2019. Income data from the Census Bureau include the following information (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020): ● Median household income was $67,521 in 2020, a decrease of 2.9% from the 2019 median of $69,560. This is the first statistically significant decline in median household income since 2011. ● The 2020 real median incomes of family households and nonfamily households decreased 3.2% and 3.1%, respectively, from their 2019 estimates. ● The 2020 real median household incomes of non-Hispanic Whites, Asians, and Hispanics decreased from their 2019 medians, while the changes for Black households were not statistically significant. ● In 2020, real median household incomes decreased 3.2% in the Midwest and 2.3% in the South and the West from their 2019 medians. The change for the Northeast was not statistically significant.
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