The Feminization of Poverty: An Issue for the 90's

Abstract

When I was asked to present at this conference, I had to think about it. As a practitioner, I work day in and day out thinking about issues of poverty from the city, state and national perspectives. Sometimes, in this work, I have found myself so consumed by the reality of deciding day-to-day policy and operating our programs, and so caught up in thinking through how to be more effective in how we address these problems, that I wondered whether I had the time or the energy to step back and share with you some issues that I think are very important. However, I must admit that taking the time to stop and think about these issues in preparation for coming here, and going through some of the research that is being done, and talking to some old friends who do poverty research was very, very helpful, and will help me when I take over the Department of Income Maintenance next week.