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Why are our tax dollars supporting these sexist and racist programs for low-income parents?
Promoting Marriage to Cure Poverty?
Jean Hardisty is President Emerita of Political Research Associates and a Senior Scholar at the Wellesley Centers for Women. She is the author of “Marriage as a Cure for Poverty: A Bogus Formula for Women” co-published by PRA and the Women of Color Resource Center
Flying well under the radar of public consciousness, the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act authorized $100 million for the promotion of marriage for low-income women and an additional $50 million to support fatherhood initiatives for low-income couples.
Taxpayers might assume that the program is driven by solid evidence from the social sciences that marriage does indeed result in a higher income for poor women. But there is no such evidence. This is a program driven by right wing ideology and a backlash against the social reforms of the 1970s and 1980s. http://www.peaceworkmagazine.org/node/535
Why are our tax dollars supporting these racist and sexist programs for low-income parents?
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about 1 year ago
I had to write an essay last year for my Women’s Studies class about this. I got an 80% on it. Unfortunately I can’t remember what the hell my point was, but looking at what you’re writing, this is insane. It promotes women’s dependence on men instead of promoting women’s independence and finding REAL solutions, like education and job training. If they really wanted to help low-income women, why don’t they provide training for jobs that don’t require any education but still pay well – i.e. blue collar jobs, typically filled by men only.
about 1 year ago
“This is a program driven by right wing ideology and a backlash against the social reforms of the 1970s and 1980s.”
Now there’s an assertion I’m sure is backed up by good solid research and sound reasoning. Riiiight. No anti-male, anti-family agenda there. Only the children’s best interests at heart, I’m sure.
I’ll tell you why our tax dollars are supporing a pro-family, pro-children agenda. It’s because society at large, and children and familiies in particular, benefit from it. Even if $150 mil is a pittance in the grand scheme of things.
Idealogues be damned.
about 1 year ago
I believe that it is just an “undercover” attack on women’s Independence by claiming they are helping women when they are really trying to convince them that they need a man in order to be successful. Basically trying to convince them that they can not make it on their own.
And Ladies you do NOT need a man to be successful in this world!
about 1 year ago
I think the point of promoting marriage was to get them off welfare.
In a lot of cases, both the mother and father are on welfare. They live together and squeeze out kid after kid. If they were to get married they would loose a portion of their “entitlement”.
They also figure these women that have 5 kids from 5 different fathers (or 30 potential fathers) would then have some responsibility to try to do a little family planning.
Also anyone receiving public assistance should be required to be on birth control and do drug testing.
about 1 year ago
waswis, I see you’ve taken your performance-enhancing steroids this morning. I fully support you in your aim to beat your “personal best” from last Sunday, even if they put an asterisk next to your name in the record books.
Honestly, at this point, I really don’t care how we try to “cure” poverty. Until we implement conditional sterilization and stop these baby factories, we’re just jerking each other off.
about 1 year ago
Women like you (who don’t want such things as you have outlined in the question) contribute really very very less to “tax dollars”. Further, such women take a lot from tax dollars in reality. As a neutral person, I think such women should first stop it before I think about low-income parents