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For Immediate Release: Monday, January 28, 2008
Contact:
WOMEN HIT ESPECIALLY HARD BY ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
Stimulus Package Should Include More Timely and Targeted Assistance
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The analysisfound that while women are being hit by rising unemployment at the same rate as men, they are less likely to qualify for unemployment benefits so they need both extended benefits and expanded eligibility. They are more likely than men to have subprime mortgage loans – even though their credit scores are equal or better – and are at higher risk of foreclosures.
Women’s lower incomes mean that rising energy and food prices take a bigger bite out of their family budgets. And lower-income women and their families rely on state services such as Medicaid, child support enforcement, and child care assistance, which face cutbacks as a growing number of states confront budget deficits.
“So many are feeling the pinch of this economic slowdown, but because of their particular vulnerabilities, women are being hit especially hard,” said Nancy Duff Campbell, Co-President of the National Women’s
NWLC today sent a letter to all members of the Senate urging inclusion of provisions in a stimulus package targeted to women and low- and moderate-income individuals and families, including:
§ Extended and expanded unemployment insurance benefits, including incentives for states to expand eligibility to reach more jobless workers, especially women.
§ Increased Food Stamp benefits to quickly deliver financial assistance to those in need, including poor elderly women without earnings who will receive no benefits from the proposed tax rebates.
§ An increase in the federal match rate for Medicaid, to avert cuts to a program that provides health care coverage for one out of three low-income women. The increase should be conditioned on states’ protecting Medicaid eligibility and passing on a portion of the enhanced match to localities if they are required to contribute to state Medicaid costs.
§ Restoration of funding cut from child support enforcement to prevent single mothers from losing $1 billion a year in owed child support, which they will spend quickly to provide for their families.
§ General fiscal relief for states and localities to help avert cuts to other vital services, including child care assistance, education, health care, and social services.
“Tax rebates will benefit millions of low-income families. But the rebates will not reach poor elderly women with no wage income, and there are additional measures that would provide more timely and targeted assistance to women and more effective stimulus to the economy,” said Joan Entmacher, NWLC Vice President for Family Economic Security.
A copy of NWLC’s fact sheet detailing women’s specific vulnerabilities is available here. For a copy of the letter to the full Senate, click here.
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