Posts Tagged Poverty

By Alexandra Brodsky • 9 years ago

Feministing Readz: Tales of Two Cities

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Sheila Bapat. 

Economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century emerged as the most prominent work addressing wealth inequality and the problems of capitalism this year. Capital provides data to demonstrate that the chasmic wealth inequality of today is unprecedented and is poised to only grow worse.

Piketty’s book, and works like it, satisfy the need for hard evidence of the problem of wealth inequality. They also satisfy the left (and by left I mean analytical) side of our brains. And that’s important — the notoriety of Piketty’s work positions the book to help influence dialogue about the problem of inequality as well as generate broader public awareness. A dispassionate work like ...

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Sheila Bapat. 

Economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century emerged as the most prominent work addressing wealth inequality and the problems of capitalism this year. Capital provides ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

New report shows how the “pregnancy penalty” drives economic inequality

A Better Balance, a legal advocacy organization in New York City, has a new report explaining how the “bias and inflexibility towards women in the workplace that starts when they become pregnant and snowballs into lasting economic disadvantages” is driving gender inequality and overall economic inequality in the city:

Despite advances in gender equality over the past 40 years, women continue to jeopardize their livelihoods simply by having children. The pregnancy penalty helps to explain why mothers as a whole continue to earn five to six percent less than non-mothers, and why historically disadvantaged women, single mothers and black women, have seen their wage penalties rise sharply since 1977. In New York City, single, childless women under age ...

A Better Balance, a legal advocacy organization in New York City, has a new report explaining how the “bias and inflexibility towards women in the workplace that starts when they become pregnant and snowballs ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Chart of the Day: Life expectancy for poor US women is declining

According to a new analysis from the Brookings Institute, the life expectancy gap between the rich and the poor in the US is growing, especially among women.

Comparing life expectancy at age 55 between folks born in 1920 vs. 1940 found that men, overall, have gained an additional five years — with the richest men gaining six years and the poorest gaining less than two. On average, women still live longer than men, but their life expectancy has increased by less than one year overall during this time. While the richest women have gained a few years, life expectancy among the poorest 40 percent has actually declined from the previous generation. The WSJ sums it up in the chart above. 

According to a new analysis from the Brookings Institute, the life expectancy gap between the rich and the poor in the US is growing, especially among women.

Comparing life expectancy at age 55 between folks born in 1920 ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Chart of the Day: Blame US policies, not single mothers, for child poverty

Single mothers in the US are disproportionately likely to be poor — a fact that some like to point to explain why we have such god awful rates of child poverty. The US ranks 34 out of 35 developed countries in terms of number of children living in poverty, which should be a national scandal but isn’t. Conservatives — who like to wring their hands about the plight of single mothers without actually asking them what they need (like, maybe health insurance?) — think marriage is the magic bullet. The federal government has spent nearly one billion dollars since 2001 on marriage promotion — a colossal waste of money. Just recently, a Heritage Foundation panel said ...

Single mothers in the US are disproportionately likely to be poor — a fact that some like to point to explain why we have such god awful rates of child poverty. The US ranks 34 out of ...
By Courtney Baxter • 10 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

Sex education in Mississippi is abysmal.

In Texas, the return of the back-alley abortion.

The three men convicted in the gang rape of the Mumbai photojournalist have been sentenced to death.

Where are the stories about female war veterans?

Young black musicians changing the face of classical music.

Sex education in Mississippi is abysmal.

In Texas, the return of the back-alley abortion.

The three men convicted in the gang rape of the Mumbai photojournalist have been sentenced to death.

Where are the ...
By Courtney Baxter • 10 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

Consent, the mixtape:  “To say that love is the overriding theme of pop music is misleading.”

A step by step of what the Hobby Lobby / personhood Supreme Court case really means.

Poverty and fatherhood in Camden, New Jersey.

A portrait of trans artists changing the landscape of contemporary art. 

Consent, the mixtape:  “To say that love is the overriding theme of pop music is misleading.”

A step by step of what the Hobby Lobby / personhood Supreme Court case really means.

Poverty and fatherhood in ...
By Syreeta McFadden • 10 years ago

“Paycheck to Paycheck” documentary puts a human face to the treadmill of poverty in the US

“Alis Volat Propilus…It means ‘I fly with my own wings.’ I don’t need anyone else to hold me up.” Katrina Gilbert looks into the camera fingering the tattoo of a bird just above her breast. The ink is a reminder and totem. It is our first introduction to Gilbert, whose story in the documentary Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert becomes the visual embodiment of the Shriver Report released earlier this year. Gilbert is one of 42 million American women who live at or below the poverty line. It is only a short moment later in the film that we become acutely aware that Gilbert may very well have her own wings, but it is ...

“Alis Volat Propilus…It means ‘I fly with my own wings.’ I don’t need anyone else to hold me up.” Katrina Gilbert looks into the camera fingering the tattoo of a bird just above her breast. The ...

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