Before reading this article I was aware of the pay gap disparity between men and women. However, I did not realize that women of color (African American, Latina, Asian-American and Native-American) were so misrepresented when it comes to wealth. According to the article, women of color are 43-46 percent likely(depending on their ethnicity) to live in poverty because they "experience the compounding negative economic effects of being both a woman and a person of color."(143) Some of the reasons why women of color are less wealthy than the rest of the country is because access to the "wealth escalator" (government benefits, tax code, and fringe benefits) is not easy.
Some of the key points highlighted in the article are: women of color are less likely to own assets (home ownership and retirement savings), women of color have greater debt (education loans and credit card), and women of color can't depend on the "three-legged stool" of retirement (pensions, Social Security, and personal savings). The wealth of Asian-American and Native American women is also highlighted. The fact that the Asian and Native-American population is so small in comparison to the overall population of the U.S. is the reason for not enough research on these groups. According to the article, Asian-Americans have a higher median net worth than white Americans because most Asian wealth is based on home equity. This is due to the high concentration of Asian population amongst few cities where the cost of living is above average. However, not much research has been done on Asian-American women so we can't draw conclusions about their wealth. As for Native-Americans, not much research has been recorded as a society as a whole never-mind male and female. The only research noted is from the National Longevity Survey that states the median wealth of Native-Americans in 2000 was $5,700.
I thought that the statistics mentioned in the article were alarming. For example, one-third of single Hispanic women and one-fourth of single African American women are "unbanked" and "nearly half of all single black and Hispanic women have zero, or negative wealth." It is the simple facts like these that go unnoticed which we take for granted. I didn't think living in the United States that anyone over the age of 16 wouldn't have a bank account. This poses a problem with financial freedom in the sense that these women don't have access to their money. It was also noted in the article that half of African American women have credit card debt and one of the main reasons being was they couldn't afford daily living expenses. After seeing these alarming statistics I did some research online and found a lot of articles that referenced our reading. It was interesting to see others takes on this economic crisis women of color face today.
I'm just as alarmed by those statistics are you are. It's so sad to read pieces like this that highlight just how disadvantaged so many in this country really are, especially women of color.
ReplyDeleteSad that so many women of color have debt from education, but are still stuck in menial jobs that don't allow them to get out of that debt and sek further education and secure better employment. Regarding women of color not having bank accounts, I know there are more than a few banks that run credit checks on people prior to opening an account. I always found it strange that so many people I've worked with(retail, mostly minority women)didn't have direct deposit and wound up taking their checks to check cashing stores, who would take out a sizable percentage of money from their checks. Hard to accumulate wealth when a large chunk of your hard earned money is taken away just so you can access the rest of it!
ReplyDelete