Why Women Should Vote: To Get Single Mothers the Support They Need!

Millions of single mothers struggle to provide for their families on their own. By voting, women can make sure our leaders in Washington support single moms so they can make ends meet for themselves and their families.

Single mothers in the workforce have low wages and little support.

• More than 75% of single mothers are in the workforce, and more than 75% of those who are employed work full time.  But single mothers’ earnings are low, and they don’t get the support they need.
• The typical single mother working full-time, year-round, earns $28,000, compared to $40,000 for the typical worker.
• Poor families (mostly headed by single mothers) who pay for child care spend, on average, 32% of their income on child care, a larger percentage of their family budget than higher-income families spend.  But only about one in six children eligible for child care assistance under federal law receives it.

Many single mothers and their children are struggling to make ends meet.

• In 2008, over 38% of single-mother families were poor, and the percentage of African-American and Hispanic single-mother families living in poverty was even higher (44% and 46%, respectively).
• Female-headed households today have an unemployment rate of over 13%--their highest in over 25 years. 

Some federal supports for single mothers have been increased, but many remain inadequate to meet growing needs and may soon expire.

• In 2009, Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).  These valuable improvements for low- and moderate-income working families, along with tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, expire at the end of this year.
• Some policy makers propose to extend all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts – including those that benefit only the top 2% of taxpayers – but not the improvements in the Child Tax Credit and EITC. That approach would give millionaires an average tax cut of about $104,000 next year, while 30% of single mothers would receive no tax benefit at all. 
• Other policy makers would extend tax cuts for middle- and lower-income people, including improvements in the Child Tax Credit and EITC, but not those that benefit only the top 2%.  That would prevent 12.9 million low- and moderate-income households from losing $8.3 billion in Child Tax Credit benefits next year, and 11.7 million households from losing an estimated $3.1 billion in benefits from the EITC. 
• Funding for child care assistance still falls short of meeting the need, despite increases provided in the Recovery Act. Without additional federal funding, waiting lists for child care assistance will lengthen, more restrictive eligibility criteria will be imposed, and payment rates for child care providers will fall.
• The child support program serves over 17 million children – one in four – and collects over $24 billion for families annually.  Unless Congress takes action, a cut in child support enforcement services will take effect in October 2010, costing families (mostly headed by single mothers) about $1 billion a year in owed child support.

If women vote, Washington will listen.
REGISTER. VOTE.

The National Women’s Law Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has been working to advance and protect women’s legal rights since 1972. NWLC takes no position on candidates or elections, and nothing herein should be construed as an endorsement of any candidate or party.