Women, Poverty and Education: Can Society Do Better for the Next Generation?

As a graduate student involved in extensive research, I have found that society and policy are doing our young and single mothers severe injustices. They are effectively denied the tools needed to pull themselves from dependence to self-sufficiency. This conclusion has been supported by the daily interaction I have with many women in my place of work. I see women daily who are, for the most part, single; young; pregnant; and trying to live on assistance. I say trying to live on, because there is no way to live on what they receive. I was glad to see the governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski giving it a try and finding it very difficult. Welcome to the life of over 37 million people in the United States.

In the State of Michigan, the government requires employment as soon as possible after receiving the first disbursement of assistance. Time lines vary, but the average requirement is around six months. That is all well and good, except that education has been all but erased from the equation. Not to mention the fact that few employers are going to hire a woman who is obviously pregnant, it just doesn't happen.

Another factor in the cases of many of the women I see, is that they often lack a high school education. Completing that education counts toward the work requirement, either GED or alternative high school, but then that uses up the time period allowed to pursue education, preventing them from continuing into higher education. Unless you have been living in the Rain Forest or with a Desert Tribe, you know that a high school diploma doesn't get a person very far in the employment pool these days. Times are tough, and the more educated one is, the better the chance is of finding a job.

So many women are being required to take low wage jobs that do not earn them enough money to be free from the need for assistance, tramples their self-esteem and self-worth, and in the end still costs the government a bundle. Not only that, but their time and efforts are taken up, leaving little room to squeeze in education as a side pursuit. Education is the key tool to allowing women to move out of poverty. Why is it so hard for policy makers to understand that educating these women will not only save money, but add significant human capital to the economy?

I applaud those women who do work the low wage jobs, make the best of those resources they have and keep plugging away. I think we as a society can do better for them. These are our mothers, sisters, daughters and the women who are contributing to society our next generation. Can we not invest in them?