Search

This document presents the conclusions and recommendations of a study conducted to explain the inequalities faced by low-income women in job training, employment, and earnings. The study explored the dimensions of the problems such women face, possible solutions, and the extent to which a group of Health Education and Welfare (HEW) and HEW-related programs address or fail to address those solutions. This document is divided into two major sections. Section 1 presents the conclusions and recommendations and a summary of the report. A brief description of nine federal programs which have potential for helping low income women are also included in this section. Section 2 reports the study in more detail. It provides a discussion of the issues involved and information from the assessment of selected programs with potential for assisting low-income women to increase their earning power. Conclusions and recommendations are also included in section 2. The following information is appended: a discussion of women in non-traditional jobs; selected budget data on several federal programs included in this study; a glossary of terms; and an explanation of vocational-technical education categories. (BM)

Severe methodological problems were encountered in an attempt to investigate the impact of Education Division programs on girls and women--and, in particular, to learn whether these programs have a differential impact by sex or by race/ethnicity. (The "Education Division" comprises the Office of Education, the National Institute of Education, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary.) The division remains in June 1977 unable to report fully and accurately what types of data are available by sex or by-sex-by-race/ethnicity. Gathering and reporting more kinds of data disaggregated by sex and by-sex-by-race/ethnicity is only the first step. Effective procedures also do not exist within the division for (1) analyzing the data and reporting them in a way that is meaningful to decision makers, (2) bringing the data to the attention of the appropriate decision makers, and (3) acting upon the data. Funding shortages and cutbacks have affected much related high-priority research. (In response to the problems identified, specific recommendations are addressed to specific groups within the Education Division for the generation and utilization of information necessary to the improvement of equity for women.) (JT)