An analysis by the National Women's Law Center of U.S. Census data released last week found that there was an 18 percent increase in extreme poverty among elderly women last year. Extreme poverty is an annual income of $5,500 or less.
That's 133,000 more women since just last year who are over 65, living alone, on about $5,500 a year, or $458 a month, according to the National Women's Law Center, which just released its analysis of the census. Around 2.6 million elderly women are living in poverty as of last year, the NWLC said, and 733,000 of those live in extreme poverty.
That's because of the benefits to children from going to preschool, says Helen Blank, director of childcare and early learning at the National Women's Law Center.
Some notable groups signed on, including the National Women's Law Center, Save the Children, MomsRising, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and American Academy of Pediatrics.
4. You’ll have maternity coverage, no matter what. You may not know this but only about 12 percent of health plans sold on the individual market currently include coverage for maternity, according to Judy Waxman of the National Women’s Law Center.
The theory that men were being wiped out economically—and women were ascendant—gained some traction as job losses in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis fell heavily on men in blue-collar fields. That view has fallen out of favor as people have looked closer at where women have gained at men’s expense.
A study by the National Women's Law Center found that between 2009 and 2013 about 60 percent of the jobs women were hired for paid less than $10.10 an hour. Men who made that little constituted only 20 percent of the total. Overall, a woman with the same amount of job experience and education as a man can expect to earn about 23 percent less.
My organization, A Better Balance, has been fighting for such legislation as a matter of basic fairness. At a time when unemployment is still sky-high and many families depend on the earning power of both parents, economic security is paramount.
National Women's Law Center: "Women Are Routinely Charged More For Coverage Than Men." The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) defines "gender rating" as "the practice of charging women different premiums than men," and has found that women face significant price discrimination in the health insurance market:
Only 12 percent of those individual plans provide maternity coverage, according to an analysis published last year by the National Women's Law Center. Plans that do cover maternity services may have a separate deductible of up to $10,000 and impose a waiting period of up to a year before members can use the services, the study found.
