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Introduction: Thinking about Family Policy by Richard C. Hula The Normative Context of Family Policy Balancing the Policy Interests of Children and Adults by John Scanzoni A Feminist Approach to National Family Policy by Patricia Spakes Linking Ideology to Action The Policy Functions of Family Policies in Three States: A Comparative Analysis by Shirley L. Zimmerman State Initiatives in Family Policy by Steven R. Wisensale Latchkey Children and After-School Care: A Feminist Dilemma? by Clifton P. Flynn and Hyman Rodman Translating the Problems of the Elderly into Effective Policies: Filial Responsibility by Doris E. Dinkins Ford Abortion and Family Policy: A Mental Health Perspective by Gregory A. Wilmoth, Danielle Bussell, and Brian L. Wilcox Women Under the Collective: The Exigencies of Family Policies in China by Jean Robinson Exploring Impacts Post-Mortem on the Deterioration of the Welfare Grant by Theresa Funiciello and Sanford F. Schram Reagan's Federalism and Family Planning Services: Implications for Family Policy by Deborah R. McFarlane Child Support and the Feminization of Poverty by Andrea H. Beller and Seung Sin Chung Child Care in America: Retrospect and Prospect by Sally Lubeck and Patricia Garrett Rethinking Joint Custody Policy: Option or Presumption? by Clifton P. Flynn Policy Implications of Involving Parents in Head Start by Robert K. Leik, Mary Anne Chalkley, and Nancy J. Peterson The Future of Family Policy: A Postscript by Elaine A. Anderson References Index

With the recent surge in public attention to the "feminization of poverty,"1 feminist policy analysts have tended to subsume the economic privations of women of color under the general rubric of "problems of working women."2 Indeed, recent economic trends provide some support for the argument that gender inequity at work has become the crossroads at which the interests of all women intersect. The rise in female employment rates, the decline in real earnings among male workers, and the increasing incidence of divorce and of female-headed households suggests a growing convergence in the economic circumstances of White women and women of color.3 Women of all races and classes confront systematic disadvantages as workers. Despite twenty years of equal opportunity legislation, women continue to be confined to female job ghettos. Today, two-thirds of all working women are employed in predominately female occupations.4 Largely because of this continuing occupational segregation, the discrepancy between men's and women's earnings has changed very little in the past half-century. Since the 1940s, women have earned between 58 and 65 percent of what men

In the current debate about low-wage work and poverty, little attention has been paid to causes of basic structural change in the economy with the shift from a manufacturing to a services economy. Black women, a key segment of the low-wage work force, have gained and lost in this change. As the lowest paid, lowest status work force in the economy, black women benefited by a move out of domestic services employment where they had been restricted for more than a century. But static wages, high rates of part-time work, and a continuing overconcentration in new but marginal services job systems have created a crisis for personal income and black family support. The growing “feminization of poverty” is the product of growth of a subculture of low-wage work. Only through serious attention to the use of collective bargaining and equal opportunity regulation on behalf of this work force are these trends likely to be reversed in the 1990s.

Commonalities between recent feminist thinking and community psychology are described in order to argue that a feminist agenda can and should be more fully incorporated into the discipline of community psychology. The two domains share a historical context and significant theoretical assumptions — e.g., the importance of empowerment for social change. Generally accepted goals and methods from each domain and examples of research, theory, and practice are presented for purposes of documentation and illustration. This article also addresses the critical question, Why hasn't community psychology incorporated a feminist agenda more fully into research, theory, and practice, given its compatibility with feminism? Finally, a discussion of how a feminist agenda would strengthen community psychology and strategies for accomplishing such an agenda are presented. Areas of concern include classroom dynamics, field placement opportunities, the psychological consequences of sexist language, the complex interactional effects of multiple oppressions (e.g., racism, sexism, and ageism), homophobia as a community problem, violence against women, and the feminization of poverty.

women and their dependent children are making up an increasing proportion of the U.S. poor. The phrase has been adopted by women's movement activists of nearly every political persuasion. And, on the broader political landscape, both liberals and leftists have come to speak of the "feminization of poverty" as the women's issue of the 1980s. Its promoters see the "feminization of poverty" as the basis for an organizing strategy with the potential to mobilize millions of women and revive the women's

Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, the poverty rate has fluctuated widely, and at the same time the poverty population has undergone many changes, some mirroring the changing stereotypes of the poor and others less pronounced than the changing stereotypes would lead us to believe. A feminization of poverty has occurred, with many more of the poor now in households headed by women. Interestingly, aging of the poverty population has not occurred despite growth in the elderly segment of the overall population. Concerning turnover in the poverty population, we find that despite poverty theories emphasizing persistence, recurrent poverty is relatively rare and poverty is not generally passed from one generation to the next. Poverty prevention has come from both economic growth and government transfers; however, inequality in economic growth has contributed to poverty. With the proportion of elderly and female-headed households likely to continue at a high level into the future, poverty rates are also likely to remain high unless government transfers are increased.

Are the economic interests of black and white women similar? This article explores this question by reviewing data on the “feminization of poverty,” data on changes in the economic status of blacks, and differences in the occupational status of black and white women. The article reviews several policy questions, discusses ways in which the interests of black and white women differ in the policy arena, and concludes that although there are some similarities in the interests of black and white women, the racial interests of black women suggest that the interests of black and white women may frequently differ.

Discussions of women's poverty almost inevitably concentrate on income replacement for families for whom the institution of marriage has failed. In concrete terms, that has meant maintaining a strong focus on strengthening such income transfer programs as child support and welfare. Overlooked is the way labor market institutions contribute to the creation of poverty through their failure to provide sufficient income to all workers-and particularly through their inequitable treatment of women. The majority of those women who maintain households alone work, yet a fifth of them still have incomes below the poverty level. Since over 90 percent of the women on welfare have worked or are currently working,' it can be said that only when both marriage and the labor market fail to provide sufficient income do mothers turn to welfare. Realizing how labor market institutions contribute to women's poverty is, then, as much a key to understanding the dynamics of the feminization of poverty as is the study of welfare. Women, who have always had a disproportionate share of unemployment and underemployment, have nonetheless been underrepresented among recipients of unemployment benefits and services because unemployment insurance (UI) was created with male family heads and fulltime workers as its intended recipients. The situation of women workers, particularly working mothers, by virtue of their patterns of labor force participation, do not fit this breadwinner model. As a result, from its very

(1989). The Feminization of Poverty—A Reply to Pressman. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 238-245.

Socialist feminism provides a necessary corrective to the strict feminization of poverty analysis by incorporating analyses of race and class differences among women, of internal family politics shaped by the familistic ideology, and of the contradictory role of the welfare state. We use the concept of women's dual role to analyze the interconnections among the family, the labor market and the welfare state, and to examine the ways that gender and class struggles over the costs of reproduction of labor power are expressed as conflicts over welfare policies. We suggest five criteria for evaluating policy and use them to analyze two specific issues-the six-hour day and child support.

(1987). The Feminization of Poverty. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 329-337.

(1989). Comment on Peterson’s “The Feminization of Poverty”. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 231-238.

term "feminization of poverty" became prevalent in 1978-1979 following the publication of an article with that title by Diana Pearce (Pearce, 1978). In her article, Pearce pointed to the rapid increase in the number of children and women living below the official federal poverty level. Many women's groups thought that the feminization of poverty had created the conditions for building a truly multiracial women's movement. The implication was that gender was somehow becoming a more important factor in determining poverty status, that men were no longer poor. Like drug abuse and teenage pregnancy, women's poverty attracted attention when it spread out of the inner city into the white suburbs. Yet the origins of the feminization of poverty were profoundly different for black women than for white women. The

This study describes the effects of rapid social change and the breakdown of traditional life and family support systems on Black rural widows of Zimbabwe. It examines women's perceptions of their lives before and after widowhood and identifies conditions which are related to changes in economic position, status, self-concept, life styles and social relationships. These changes have created an increasing number of socially and economically destitute elderly widows and contributed to the feminization of poverty. This has profound implications for social policy in developing countries with limited resources.

More than twenty years after the height of the civil rights movement, black citizens still suffer the highest rate of poverty of any major group in America. The official rate of poverty for black Americans has never fallen below 30%.1 As Table 1 shows, the lowest official rate of poverty for black Americans was in 1978 when 30.6% were found to be poor. Since 1978, poverty among the black population has been on the increase. Between 1978 and 1983 the number of poor blacks increased by 2.3 million, a percentage increase of 30.3%. In 1983 there were 9.9 million poor black Americans, the largest number since the early 1960s (Bureau of the Census, 1976). The poverty rate for black Americans in 1983 was 35.7%,2 the highest since 1967, and almost three times the poverty rate for white Americans (Bureau of the Census, 1984: 20). This article will examine the extent and some of the major causes of continuing high rates of poverty among black Americans. The analysis will reveal important changes over the last two decades in the composition of the poor black population. Empirical analysis will be used to examine the relationship between the economic problems of the black male

The Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP), with headquarters in both northern and southern California, is a statewide mobilization effort addressing the issues of women and children in poverty.' The project evolved from a small group of East Bay (Oakland area) women who worked for "Women USA" in the 1982 elections by showing voters the political significance of the gender gap. Recognizing that economic concerns were at the heart of the common and critical issues among the diverse women they canvassed, its members based their strategy on linking economic issues to women's votes. The group quickly grew into the East Bay Women's Coalition, a broad-based organization of women across lines of age, race, income, political party, and special interests. With further expansion it took on its present form as the WEAP, a project that includes AFDC mothers, health workers, union members, seniors, women of color, lawyers, community organizers, academics, public policy specialists, and homemakers. The WEAP's interest is in the deteriorating economic situation that affects all

T here are two themes in this paper. The first, an exercise in revisionist history, argues that the conventional wisdom of an absence of any substantial labor market progress for women is mistaken. Instead, throughout this century, women's wages have been steadily rising relative to those of men, a progress likely to accelerate in the next few decades. Our second theme contends that this labor market progress is not enough. Alongside their labor market advances, the relative economic plight of many women is worsening. The downside news is the increasing feminization of poverty, a reflection of the growing instability of the American family.

Until now, the United Nations Capital Development Fund’s (UNCDF) Gender Equitable Local Development (GELD) programme has not been presented within an explicit human rights framework. This is strange given that the human rights based approach to development (HRBAD) aims to ensure that all human beings can live their lives fully and with dignity. HRBAD is fundamentally about the healthy and full development of individuals and communities. In addition, one of human rights’ central concerns is that people have equal access to the benefits of society. Initiatives to realize human rights therefore give priority to the most marginalized - the poorest - in a society. It is those individuals who have most difficulty in securing the basics that are essential to living their lives with dignity. Women in all communities are disproportionately represented among the poor. Thus, human rights have gender equity as a central focus. Put another way, we are dealing with the feminization of poverty. We are dealing with the concept of equal access (to development). In short, we are dealing with those who need (and deserve) greater priority in access to infrastructure and supporting services in order to reach a point of equality.

This paper uses Census of Population and Current Population Survey data to describe and analyze the sex-incidence of poverty in 1959, 1969, 1979, and 1984 according to a fixed standard and a standard that changes with national per capita real income. The popular view that there was a large increase in the percent of adult poor who are women and that this trend has accelerated in recent years is not supported by the data. There was considerable feminization of poverty in the 1960s, but in the 1970s the sex mix of poverty was relatively constant, and between 1979 and 1984 women's share decreased. The trend in feminization was more severe for blacks than for whites, primarily as a result of disparate trends in the 1970s. Statistical decomposition of the changes shows that an increase in the proportion of women in households without men was the principal source of feminization of poverty and the principal reason why the trend was more adverse for blacks than whites.

The article generalizes on the basis of two field studies conducted in slum areas (Ratmalana near Colombo in Sri Lanka and Khlong Tocy in Bangkok. Thailand) by Susanne Thorbek. who has her doctorate in Cultural Sociology. The article introduces some reflections on the most fundamental changes as a result of urbanization, the radical separation between factory and family, between the social units which are responsible for the production of things (and value) and of human life. This separation has grave consequences for women (and thus also for men) it is argued, and it becomes manifest and more extensive with urbanization This separation is the structural basis for the sharpened gender-struggle which develops in the cities, some outcomes of which are seen in terms of the changed definitions of the genders and their relationships, as well as the worldwide tendency to feminization of poverty. The impact of gender-struggle on women's work for incomes is discussed, a struggle which seems to be considerable since most women are dependent on men's networks or their relationship to individual men for access to reasonably paid work in both the registered firms and in most of the informal sector, or they are dependent on their male relatives' networks. Even in that part of the informal sector where they extend household chores into the market place (food, drinks, loans, small shops, prostitution), women are still partly dependent on such networks although the form may differ somewhat between the two areas. The forms and functions of families are likewise areas for gender-struggle and it is not only argued that city-life poses the extended and especially the women-centered family as a need for women but also that the cultural ramifications of gender-struggle have an important impact on the realization of such needs The mothers without husbands are also discussed in this context Finally, a few clues are given concerning the differences between the slum cultures and women's integration in these slum cultures It is argued that either women's problems, that is problems with the production of life, are taken up as important topics by the whole slum culture, or women's problems are seen as their's alone, which then means that women become the problem in the slum culture The study from Khlong Toey in Bangkok is published in Voices from the City, (Zed Books 1987) and the other is forthcoming.

When I first discovered that the state of Minnesota had passed a pay equity bill, I was intrigued and inspired to learn more. I felt that the concept of pay equity, or comparable worth, had revolutionary implications, and I was amazed that even a "liberal" state like Minnesota would pass legislation mandating equal pay for comparable work for its female employees. I told my professors that I wanted to write a paper investigating the context in which such a radical bill had been passed. They warned me that I would find very little radical intent, and very little interest in fundamental questions about labor market discrimination, on the part of the Minnesota state legislature. They were, of course, right; as this paper attempts to show, the Minnesota debate over comparable worth did not signify great strides in the feminist movement or in economic theory. The concept of comparable worth does raise fundamental questions about the (capitalist) economic system in the United States and the role of gender oppression in that system, but the Minnesota debate avoided many of these questions. As a result, the Minnesota bill has made concrete and significant changes in the lives of many women, but has fallen far short of a radical measure challenging the devaluation of women's work and the accompanying low wages received by women in traditionally "female" jobs. Economists have identified and studied occupational segregation and the wage gap for many years, particularly since the increase in female labor supply (mostly white married women entering the labor market) after World War II. Politicians have become more concerned because of the increased significance of women as a political constituency. Public interest groups and the press have contributed to this attention to women with their recent focus on the gender gap and the feminization of poverty. It is possible and even common for a female head of household to work full time and still be below the poverty line. According to the 1984 U.S. census, 47 percent of femaleheaded households were below the poverty level. In more than 20 percent of these impoverished households, the woman worked full time. Pay equity legislation has been one way of responding to these concerns, since it aims to increase pay for women in female-dominated jobs. In 1982 the Minnesota state legislature passed a bill mandating pay equity for its own employees; in 1984 it passed a second bill mandating pay equity for local government employees. Thus, comparable worth is currently being implemented in state and local government, including counties, cities, and school districts. For the state bill, a centralized wage negotiation process and the involvement of a strong union have ensured a consistent implementation, with substantial gains for women in female-dominated job categories. On the local level, the absence of these elements has resulted in a less consistent, less advantageous implementation of a bill that was framed in vague terms to begin with, because of certain political constraints.