State Poverty Numbers Reveal Bleak Situation for Women and their Families

For more about state poverty and wage numbers, please go to our overview page on the state-by-state 2010 Census data.

NWLC’s calculations of just released state-by-state Census poverty data reveal more grim news about the hard times facing America’s women and families.

In 2010 roughly half of female-headed families with children were poor in Mississippi (51.2 percent), Alabama (49.3 percent), West Virginia (48.7 percent) and Kentucky (48.5 percent), and in five more states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, and South Carolina), their poverty rates topped 45 percent.  

In 2010, roughly a third or more of black women were poor in ten states (ME, IA, OR, MN, NH, MS, RI, WI, UT, and NE) and in Maine and Iowa their rates topped 40 percent. Roughly a third of Hispanic women were poor in seven states (SC, PA, NC, TN, WV, OH, and MA).

Women and their families struggled in 2010 and 2011 has brought little improvement. Women have experienced anemic job growth and stagnant unemployment in 2011 and they have actually lost jobs and had increased unemployment over the course of the recovery. Women’s job loss during the recovery has been driven by the loss of 430,000 public sector jobs between June 2009 and August 2011. The vast majority of these jobs were lost as the result of state and local government budget cuts which have not only increased unemployment but have also cut vital services for women and families, including child care, education, and services for the elderly, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable people.

With so many women and their families hurting, we need a jobs proposal that will get people back to work. The President's jobs plan includes important provisions for women, and we need Congress to respond quickly to create jobs, grow the economy, and alleviate hardship for millions of struggling women and families.

Urge your Members of Congress to act quickly on these measures to address the unemployment crisis.