At the Golden Globes last night, Connie Britton wore a sweater that said “Poverty Is Sexist.”
What does that mean? Well, we interpret that slogan in light of what we know about poverty. And the data tell us that, year after year, women are more likely to live in poverty than men. Single mothers, women of color, and elderly women are at particularly high risk of living in poverty. Specifically:
- Women were 38 percent more likely to live in poverty than men in 2016, the most recent year for which we have data. In 2016, more than 16 million women 18 and older, lived in poverty – compared to about 11 million men 18 and older.
- Women made up nearly two-thirds of the elderly poor in 2016.
- More than one in three female-headed families with children were poor in 2016, compared to 17.3 percent of male-headed households and 6.6 percent of married-couple families. Poverty rates were higher for Black women who head families (38.8 percent) and Latinas who head families (40.8 percent).
- Women of color more generally, as well as immigrant women and women with disabilities, are more likely to be poor than white, non-Hispanic men.
Here’s hoping that attention to the sexual harassment, discrimination, and other forms of inequality – including economic inequality — that women face every day will bring real change in 2018 and beyond. #TIMESUP
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