Poverty is defined as a multifaceted concept which may include economic, social, or political elements. Poverty has had numerous historical definitions; however, it can be classified as a complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic needs such as clothing, food, and shelter. Historically, in the United States, people of color have faced a wide range of hardships which creates disproportionate rates of poverty among different ethnicities. Apart from only a person’s race, a person’s gender also plays a major role in rates of poverty. Single mothers of color face an extensive range of issues which add to their poverty rates. These issues vary from high costs associated with childcare/healthcare, welfare programs not working as well as they should, or even the lack of affordable housing.
According to a study done by the Public Health Reports for the years 1996 and 2000, “racial and ethnic minority children experience significant deficits in accessing medical care compared with Whites. Asians, Hispanics, and Blacks were less likely than Whites to have a usual source of care, health professional or doctor visit, and dental visit…” (Shi p431) This study displays the differences in the accessible healthcare/dental care for people of color when compared to Whites. Data from the year 1996 show that 5,504 Non-Hispanic Whites live below the poverty line and 34,193 Non-Hispanic Whites live above the poverty line. When compared to Asian, Hispanic, and Black poverty rates of 1996, there is a clear disproportion in the poverty rates. In the sample number, 563 of Asians live below the poverty and 1,638 live above the poverty line. For Hispanics, 3,792 live below the poverty line and only 6,123 live above the poverty line. Lastly, for Blacks, 3,597 live below the poverty line and a mere 5,966 of Blacks live above the poverty line (Shi p435). These statistics play a major role in understanding the disproportionate poverty rates across different ethnicities during 1996 in the United States. Apart from only someone’s ethnic background, a person’s gender played a major role in poverty rates in the mid 1900s. “In the United States, 19.8 million or 57% of the 34.5 million people living in poverty are women, and 13.5 million or nearly 40% are children under age 18” (Rice p355). It is important to note that nearly 40% of children under the age of eighteen that live in poverty are often in a family with a single mother. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, there have been major leaps in poor families headed by single mothers. In the year 1968, 35% of all poor families were headed by a single mother. In the proceeding 30 years, 1998, 53% of all poor families were headed by single women. (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1999; Weinberg, 1999). The following two charts display the changes of poverty status across different races for the years 1996 and 2000.
With families of single mothers continuing to rise, there is a massive decline in the number of poor women and children receiving financial assistance. In the year 1994 there was about five million families were receiving financial aid from the government. Just four years later in 1998, roughly three million families received aid. ¬Data provided by the census display that Blacks and Hispanics make up the larger percentage of families that receive public assistance which further emphasize the disproportions of poverty rates among people of color and Whites. “White adults have found it easier to find jobs or other avenues of support and also raising questions of discrimination” (Rice p358). This quote is important because it demonstrates that White people have an easier access to financial income compared to those of color, this means that people of color that are unemployed and receive no financial aid, face major issues when trying to get health care. With such a high number of color people being unemployed, questions begin to be raised as to what are some barriers that unemployment women face. A major barrier is the lack of access to health care and health insurance. Nearly half of all nonworking women with incomes of less than $17,000 have no health insurance (Rice p363). Single mothers of color have extreme difficulty with health insurance. As studies show, people of color had difficulty finding employment which leads to higher poverty rates amongst various ethnicities. Single mothers of color not only face the issue of employment due to ethnicity, but also the fact that they have a child to attend to. “Good health and access to health care often depend on having a good job and health care coverage, and keeping a job depends on staying healthy” (Rice p363) With health care cost being so high, single mothers are not able to have health care for themselves or their child.
In recent years, things have only gotten more difficult with single mothers and healthcare/employment. In August of 2007, the United States faced a severe economic downturn known as “The Great Recession”. The Great Recession created extremely high rates of unemployment in many parts around the country. The economic turmoil continued for two long years and was said to have “officially” ended by June 2009 (Wu, Keegan, Wang p2227). As displayed in the past, single mothers already have such difficulty finding employment which made them face a much higher risk now due to the economic status of the country. “For example, from 2006 to 2009, the unemployment rate for all parents caring for children in their homes increased from 3.8% to 7.8%, for married mothers from 3.1% to 5.8%, but for single mothers the rates were much higher (8.5% in 2006; 13.6% in 2009).” (Wu, Keegan, Wang p2227) This quote is important because the number of unemployed single mothers and poverty rates continue to grow while healthcare coverage rates continue to drop. During the time of the recession, data from a national sample of single mothers show the decrease in health insurance as single mothers’ loss their jobs. “We examine relationships between comprehensive measures of employment hardships and unmet medical or dental needs, employment hardships and the number of months mothers went without health insurance, and lack of health insurance and unmet medical or dental need between 2008 and 2010, the period in which unemployment peaked.” (Wu, Keegan, Wang p2228) Apart from the issues of health care being high and unemployment, single mothers also faced major issues with the state of welfare.
In the year 1996, welfare programs changed due to the implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). “PRWORA replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and abolished the federal entitlement that assured that claimants have a social right to receive cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states with more stringent eligibility requirements. TANF required work and work-related activities for a family to receive benefits.” (Ahn 14) After the implementation of PRWORA, there were few studies that showed that low-income single mothers’ total income had increased and so did their employment. However, other studies showed that poor families of single mothers were categorized as “severely poor”. These families had incomes below the 50% poverty threshold. Between the years 1994 and 1999, welfare caseloads declined 50% from five million cases to 2.5 million cases. Welfare recipients as a percentage of the United States’ population fell from 5.5% to 2.3%. (Ahn 15) This massive drop in welfare recipients is significant because it dropped almost 50% meaning that the few families that received welfare and relied on it, were just cut off. With the state of welfare being so unreliable, many single mothers were left living without employment, healthcare, childcare, and even housing. The following chart displays the employment status of low-income single mother families between the years 1993–2002.
With single mothers, not being employed, not being able to afford health care, and welfare not working as a should, housing also is a major struggle that single mothers face. “Our analysis indicates that the relationship between suburban employment and poverty suburbanization is stronger for Whites and Asians, while the suburbanization of the Black and Latino poor is more strongly related to the availability of affordable housing in the suburbs.” (Howell, Timberlake p80) This quote is important because it demonstrates the suburbanization of poor Black and Latino families means that there will be a shift I the availability of affordable housing in the suburban areas. With the increase in people of color over the last decades, the availability of affordable housing has drastically decreased making housing for single mothers that much more difficult. According to Howell and Timberlake, the Latino population has grown a total of 39.8% per decade. “Latino population grew at a rate of 39.8% per decade, over three times the overall growth rate in the 242 Metropolitan areas under consideration for Latinos.” (Howell, Timberlake 87). With the Latino population rates constantly growing, there are difficulties establishing affordable housing in these specific areas. “For Blacks and Latinos, the availability of affordable housing in the suburbs predicts an increasing suburban presence of the poor. For Latinos, increases over time in the supply of affordable rental housing were associated with increased poverty suburbanization.” (Howell, Timberlake 93). This quote further emphasizes what was previously states of affordable housing increasing as there is more poor people in specific areas, however, the supply (affordable housing) usually does not meet the demand, causing major difficulties in single mothers finding housing.
In conclusion, poverty is a mutafacient concept that involves economic, social, or political elements that affect a wide range of people around the world. Historically, in the United States, poverty affects people often depending on a person’s ethnic background and even their gender. Families ran by a single mother of color face numerous issues ranging from high costs associated with childcare/healthcare, welfare programs not working as well as they should, and the lack of affordable housing just to name a few. In order to continue to reduce poverty rates in the United States, The United should continue to make jobs, attempt restructuring welfare, and continue trying to create affordable housing for low-income areas.