Newsflash: Women in Poverty in New York City

Article URL: http://wenews.ioco.com/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3753

Bowen, Alison. "Crisis Likely to Deepen Women's Poverty in New York." 25 Sept. 2008. 26 Sept. 2008 .

Frye, Marilyn. "Oppression." Feminist Frontiers. By Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier and Leila J. Rupp. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages, 2007. 7-9.

McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege and Male Privilege." Feminist Frontiers. By Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier and Leila J. Rupp. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages, 2007. 9-15.

Smith, Taigi. "This Place Called Home." Listen Up : Voices from the Next Feminist Generation. Ed. Barbara Findlen. New York: Seal P, 2001. 281-87.


With the state of the economy today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be a woman living in poverty in New York. While poverty is a widespread issue, it mainly affects women, since so many women are single mothers supporting their entire family. In addition, even when women can manage to hold the same jobs as men, they are often not paid as high of a salary. Many women, such as Tanya Fields are facing crises such as housing eviction, and are earning barely enough money to support their families (Bowen, pg.1). With the looming possibility of a bail out plan for financial institutions, the future gets even murkier, and for many women, their finances are on shaky ground. Extending this farther, women of color are at an even worse disadvantage since they earn well below what a Caucasian woman earns. The economy today has become very gender biased, causing women to be forced to live and suffer the abuse of poverty.

According to Janet, she stayed with an abusive partner only because she relied on him to pay for rent and food in order to survive. As she states, “Poverty is a form of abuse, she said. ‘It harms the mind and the spirit.’” (Bowen, pg. 1). Poverty is extremely widespread today, and as the New York Women’s Foundation’s June report states, “New York women are more likely to be poor now than in 1989”, which is a scary thought. Today, when discussing Wall Street, the talk automatically turns to the upcoming bail out plan, which the House of Representatives just denied passage. The plan would entail having the government buy around $700 billion worth of assets; some argued this would rip off taxpayers, and hurt the poor even more. A Bowen states, the effects of this will not be overlooked; as more and more Wall Street workers are laid off, more and more service workers will also find themselves without a job. Many of these people will be women who live in poverty. This will bring an extreme crisis as people will no longer be able to support their families unless they can find other jobs. However, the job market also seems to be going downhill.

To make matters worse, the problems in the economy will hurt African American women the most. Similar to the neighborhood depicted in Taigi Smith’s, “This Place Called Home”, many African Americans live in near-poverty conditions in New York City. However, she thought she would feel comfortable around people who she could connect with. Her neighbors though, did not have such a high paying job as Taigi did, and thus she continued to feel uncomfortable. This is not far from the truth, and many poor Americans happen to be African American. They tend to have worse jobs, earning far lower wages, with the average earnings of a Caucasian woman totaling to $39,700 and of an African American woman totaling only $33,800. This is a significant drop in income, caused in part by the types of job the women have, and also in part because of the family conditions they were raised in. As Diana Salas explains in this article, “Although poverty is identified as a problem, Salas said, policies don't target women, specifically women of color” (Bowen, pg. 1). This is something that needs to be changed, especially when concerning the economy, to allow for equal opportunities and equality between women and men.

As stated in Forbes’ Magazine, New York City was ranked the most expensive city. Here, people can afford to pay rent on a two bedroom apartment only; they cannot afford life’s other necessities (Bowen, pg. 3). This illustrates the actual abuse women living in poverty must endure. They have a hard time obtaining jobs, which means they have a hard time keeping their apartments or houses, and therefore they cannot afford to buy enough food, clothing, or other necessities that life requires them to. In turn this requires many women to either life with a husband they don’t care for, or live with a family member and rely on someone else’s income. Neither option is very enticing; in the end women are forced to be dependent on other people, they cannot be self-sufficient. Because of this, women are portrayed as being weaker than men because they cannot support themselves and their families on their own. Poverty is therefore a real abuse that needs to be amended in order to see equality between the genders. Although not all people living in poverty are women, the vast majority are, and need to be helped.

The bail out plan of Wall Street, although blocked, will ultimately be reconstructed into another plan to aid the failing markets. This plan, however helpful to the financial world, will only increase the oppression of women. The situation of women living in poverty in New York is similar to the bird cage example given by Frye. When looking close up, you can see the bars of the bird cage as obstacles, such as a job, money, a family, their gender, and their race. When looking at only one element, you can devise ways around it and you can see possibilities for that woman. However when you combine all the elements, you can see that these women really are trapped. As Frye states, “It is the experience of being caged in: all avenues, in every direction, are blocked or booby-trapped” (Frye, pg. 8). For example, a black, single mother, with a minimum wage job has relatively little hope of earning enough to support her family, or having the option of moving into a larger house. It is for this reason why poverty is a form of abuse. It forces women into corners with no options. As seen in the example mentioned earlier, many women turn towards their significant others to support them, even if that includes an abusive marriage. In situations like these, women have no choice, no escape plan; they are at the will of their caretaker.

For these reasons, it is imperative to implement a financial bail out plan that will aim to help women living in poverty. Instead of just helping the financial giants, it should propose a plan to help people facing foreclosure, people with a very low income, and single mothers with families. This is similar to the ideas discussed in Peggy McIntosh’s article, “White Privilege and Male Privilege”. In her article, McIntosh argues that while many people see others as having a disadvantage, they never consider that because of this, others must be at an advantage. This is similar to the financial problems in today’s society because while many saw the bail out plan as a disadvantage for others, they never considered that it might put them at an advantage. For example, the bail out plan might take money from taxpayers (hurting the poor especially), or there could be a run on the dollar. On the other hand, this would make Wall Street workers at an advantage because they would not be losing their jobs, they would still earn money, and their companies would be saved. This idea is assuming that most Wall Street workers are male while most poverty-stricken people are female. This furthers the notion that men gain advantages from women’s disadvantages because male privilege is very rarely recognized. Men don’t realize that they are at an advantage, so nothing is done to correct their behavior in society. If Congress, or Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke, the Treasury Secretary and the chairman of the Federal Reserve, took the time to consider the disadvantages of others, they might be able to realize that they are at an advantage and change the bail out plan to accommodate others. This would then hopefully lead to a downturn in poverty, and thus more equality between men and women. Hopefully more women would be relieved of the abuse they are suffering.

It is for these reasons that women convene in New York City, and other locations around the world, in order to voice their concerns and tell their stories. I commend the “A Day of Voices: Women's Tribunal on Poverty” because it highlights how poor these women are and how much help they need (Bowen, pg. 1). While the United Nations is including eradicating poverty by 2015 as one of their goals, this might not be enough. More women need to come forward and force others to hear them in order for change to take place.

As countless women suffer each day, it is impossible to recognize poverty as anything other than abuse. Women are being forced into this position, which only strengthens the divide between males and females. Women continue to be viewed as being weak because they are dependent on others. Males and people in power of Wall Street need to recognize that they are at an advantage and should be responsible for helping people like this. Overall, this shows the abuse women go through on a daily basis, and how in reality, they are trapped inside a giant birdcage, which has blocked all routes of escape. The oppression of women is real, and they are aware of the message, “Mold. Immobilize. Reduce.” (Frye, pg.1).