Persistent earnings inequality for working women translates into lower lifetime pay for women, less income for families, and higher rates of poverty across the United States. In each state in the country, women experience lower earnings and higher poverty rates than men.
Over a quarter (26 percent) of all undergraduate students, or 4.8 million students, are raising dependent children. Women are disproportionately likely to be balancing college and parenthood, many without the support of a spouse or partner.
Women in North Carolina have made significant social and economic advances in recent decades, but the need for further progress remains. A forthcoming report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), The Status of Women in North Carolina, shows that many of North Carolina’s women are vulnerable to challenges such as unemployment, a persistent wage gap, poverty, and the high cost of child care.
Only two states, Minnesota and Virginia, have used their PAF grants to provide services related to postsecondary institutions. This fact sheet describes several of the programs and initiatives created by these PAF grantees.
Parents with dependent children were nearly one quarter of students enrolled for credit at American postsecondary institutions in 2008. These students face significant challenges to remaining enrolled and graduating, including limited access to affordable child care, difficulty balancing the demands of school with the demands of work and family, and financial limitations that make it difficult to remain enrolled.
DOWNLOAD REPORT Postsecondary education yields myriad benefits, including [...]
DOWNLOAD REPORT Parents with dependent children now make [...]
Major disasters during the last decade have pushed planners and researchers to examine more closely the disparities among those hurt when crises hit. Research suggests that women often suffer disproportionately in comparison to most men when disaster strikes, while the elderly, and people in poverty, are more vulnerable than those with more mobility and those with greater access to resources.
Of the over 6 million students earning college credit at community colleges, 1.7 million (27 percent) are parents. Of those, about 1 million (16 percent) are single parents, more than twice the proportion at 4-year institutions. Three-quarters of single parents in college are women.
Women in the United States have achieved significant advances [...]
