The minimum wage that welfare reform was expecting people to live off of was in fact not enough to even support the buying of food. In Working poor, working hard Katherine Newman expounds on the fact that welfare benefits are cut off at low levels and unavailable to those that earn minimum wage and work a forty-hour week. Newman also states that only a “combination of the two income streams [welfare and a job] make it possible to manage…life.” (Newman) These two sources only emphasize the already established fact that welfare reform must be reformed
Particularly vulnerable groups were the old, who had no means of acquiring money. The young, were dependant on their parents’ financial status and good will, if they were not orphans. Seasonal workers were vulnerable due to the cyclical nature of their employment. Anyone who suffered from illness either long or short term fell into poverty because there were no sickness benefits. Women were another vulnerable group because they were always paid at a lower rate than men.
His mother suffers in a couple ways. She is in and out of jobs frequently and depends on her bosses to help her through life. Erick recalls that “she almost always [gives] the man her number if he [is] wearing a suit (Gilb 546). The mother is obviously in need of assistance and accepting help where she can find it. Based on research from About Families, single mothers of ethnic minority are least likely to gain financial assistance, and don’t receive much social support (About 15).
For example, women now go out to work, just as men now help with housework and childcare. However Feminists reject the ‘March of Progress’ theory, and argue that women remain unequal within the family. Anne Oakley argues that we still live in a patriarchal (male dominated) society, and therefore women occupy a subordinate and dependant role within the family and wider society. In addition in Mary Boulton’s research backed this, she found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a majority role in childcare. Overall it could therefore be argued that rather than partners becoming more equal, women now have to carry a ‘dual burden’, whereby she is responsible for two jobs of unpaid or paid labour.
Many low wage worker are limited to housing resources because the income received does not match rent for a month. How does the government expect one to live off $8 an hr and pay if rent for a family of three is over amount received. In the book Nickle and Dimed barabars who posed as a low wage worker was limited to the type of housing she could afford earning $7 an hr got her a hole in the wall. She stated, “Trailer trash was now a demographic to aspire to”(12). Many workin people have no choice but, to live in poor living arrangments.
By 1945 80 percent of collective farm workers were women, providing a more traditional role for women in manual labour. The rapid growth of industrialisation and collectivisation led to a dramatic decrease in births in the early 1930’s. The government tried to implement measures to bring the birth rate back up. Women who had more than 6 children qualified for state help. The rewards were considerable amounts of money, women with 7 children received 2,000 roubles a year for five years and 5,000 a year for women with 11 children.
About 80% of female Baby Boomers worked which was also a contribution to the two income family. The higher percentage of two income families contributes to the simulation of the economy from purchases. Based on the financial planning literature provided by, The Social Security Bulletin (2003/2004), a fifty percent replacement rate represents a shortfall that could create economic challenges and necessitate lifestyle adjustments. The fifty percent replacement will not only have an effect on benefits but also the simulation of the economy. A little over a third of the current retirees but over two-fifths of near term and Baby Boomer retirees will replace less the three-quarters of their preretirement income.
Another change that has happened in childbearing since the 1970's is that women are having fewer children and children later in life. Between 1971 and 2005 the average age of a women when having her first child rose by three years. Also the average number of children per family went all the way down to 1.84 in the UK when 30 years back it was 2.95. Women are also choosing to remain childless and a prediction has been made that a quarter of people who were born in 1973 will be childless when they reach 45. This all reflects the changes in society since the 20th century and that women have more options
Kay Sarkodie SOCI 2301 Professor Boutte-Heiniluoma November 9, 2014 The Changing American Families America’s culture has changed in drastically since the 1950’s (MailOnline). From the music people listen to, the fashion industry, technological advances, and the type of activities people are doing for fun – the American culture has taken a complete turn. There have also been serious changes in marriage and family culture. Marriages in the 2000’s are not like they were when our grandparents and parents were young (Elliot). Without a change, all women would still be living life as a housewife like Lucy from “I Love Lucy” (Lamb) Divorce rates have increased since the 1950’s and the couples are getting divorced under different circumstances.
Research performed by the American Progress Organization shows that nearly 6 out of 10 women are the primary, sole, or co-provider for their family. As more dependence is being placed on women, the wages are expected to match with those demands. A route to a faster improvement would be to raise the minimum wage. The demand for more money is very high and women make up two-thirds of the minimum wage workers. A raise in the minimum wage gap would inadvertently help everyone, while still deliberately aiding in the step for equality in the workplace.