Content area
Full Text
Abstract: The economic injustice of poverty continues to influence the discrimination and inequality of women rights across the nation, specifically African American women. The United States Census Bureau reports the current poverty rate of America is 15.9 percent. Of that percentage, the top ten states with the highest poverty rate included seven southern states. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, 48,810,868 people live below the current economic indicator of poverty; hence the need to confront the prejudices that plague the African American woman demographic. According to a study published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family about African American mothers in poverty deep Chicago neighborhoods, " ... households headed by never-married mothers experience more persistent poverty and longer spells of welfare receipt than do other types of motheronly households" (Franklin, Smith, McMiller, 1995). Even though the study is decades old, today's U.S. Census report, the federal minimum wage and U.S. poverty rate all support those findings. At this time, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Before taxes and other deductions, an African American woman head of household can earn $217.50 for a 30-hour work-week or $11,310 annually working for the federal minimum wage. This paper will look at the Top 10 States with the highest poverty rates as reported in the U.S. Census and analyze how African American women are living in poverty in America. More specifically, it will also review the economic conditions of African American women who reportedly struggle financially to sustain income in order to live in what is considered by the United States Census Bureau "sufficient" economic conditions.
Keywords: African American women; poverty; America; inequality; wages; women; poverty rate; minimum wage
The economic injustice of poverty continues to influence the discrimination and inequality of women's rights across the nation, specifically African American women. The United States Census Bureau reports the current poverty rate of America is 15.9 percent. Of that percentage, the Top Ten States with the highest poverty rates included seven southern states. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, 48,810,868 people lived below the current economic indicator of poverty; hence the need to confront the prejudices that plague the African American woman demographic.
According to a study published in the Journal of Marriage and...