By Monica M. Lewis
BlackAmericaWeb.com
A recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that more than 80% of Black single mothers have completed high school – an achievement that not only can aid them in raising families, but one that goes a long way in debunking the stereotypes of single Black mothers as welfare queens and drug abusers.
“We’ve kind of always known that Black women had much stronger labor force attachments than white women,” Rutgers University professor William M. Rodgers told BlackAmericaWeb.com. However, he said, a pay gap still exists between Black and white women – as does other hurdles that make managing a one-parent household difficult for women of color. “Many Black single mothers have challenges due to their surroundings,” Rodgers said, adding that more often than not, Black single mothers may face an array of problems, ranging from finding suitable childcare to recovering from domestic violence.
Last month, the U.S. Census Bureau released a study - “America’s Families and Living Arrangements 2003” - that explored the state of American family households. The findings, based on data collected from 2002 statistics, focused on a number of basic trends in household compositions, including living arrangements, marital status of adults, and characteristics of unmarried households. The study doesn’t delve into the employment history of single mothers, however it can be assumed that the better a person’s education, the better their chances are to obtain and maintain gainful employment.
The number of single-mother families increased from three million in 1970 to 10 million in 2003, while the number of single-father families grew from less than 500,000 to 2 million. There are now 3.1 million Black single mothers, compared to 6.4 million white single mothers and 1.8 million Hispanic single mothers. The rise in single-parent households developed, the study claims, for two main reasons – a larger proportion of births occurring in unmarried women in the 1990s than in the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise in divorce among couples with children.
According to the report, approximately 1,169,000 Black single mothers, or 37%, had graduated from high school only, compared to 2,235,000 – or 35% of white single mothers. For Hispanic single mothers the number was 586,000. But the number of Black single mothers with a bachelor’s degree or higher - 315,000 - was significantly lower than that of white single mothers with comparable education - 904,000 - and higher than that of Hispanic single mothers in that category - 90,000. About a million Black single mothers had some college, compared to 2 million white single mothers, and 396,000 Hispanic single mothers.
Read the entire article at:
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/singlemoms1221
BlackAmericaWeb.com
A recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that more than 80% of Black single mothers have completed high school – an achievement that not only can aid them in raising families, but one that goes a long way in debunking the stereotypes of single Black mothers as welfare queens and drug abusers.
“We’ve kind of always known that Black women had much stronger labor force attachments than white women,” Rutgers University professor William M. Rodgers told BlackAmericaWeb.com. However, he said, a pay gap still exists between Black and white women – as does other hurdles that make managing a one-parent household difficult for women of color. “Many Black single mothers have challenges due to their surroundings,” Rodgers said, adding that more often than not, Black single mothers may face an array of problems, ranging from finding suitable childcare to recovering from domestic violence.
Last month, the U.S. Census Bureau released a study - “America’s Families and Living Arrangements 2003” - that explored the state of American family households. The findings, based on data collected from 2002 statistics, focused on a number of basic trends in household compositions, including living arrangements, marital status of adults, and characteristics of unmarried households. The study doesn’t delve into the employment history of single mothers, however it can be assumed that the better a person’s education, the better their chances are to obtain and maintain gainful employment.
The number of single-mother families increased from three million in 1970 to 10 million in 2003, while the number of single-father families grew from less than 500,000 to 2 million. There are now 3.1 million Black single mothers, compared to 6.4 million white single mothers and 1.8 million Hispanic single mothers. The rise in single-parent households developed, the study claims, for two main reasons – a larger proportion of births occurring in unmarried women in the 1990s than in the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise in divorce among couples with children.
According to the report, approximately 1,169,000 Black single mothers, or 37%, had graduated from high school only, compared to 2,235,000 – or 35% of white single mothers. For Hispanic single mothers the number was 586,000. But the number of Black single mothers with a bachelor’s degree or higher - 315,000 - was significantly lower than that of white single mothers with comparable education - 904,000 - and higher than that of Hispanic single mothers in that category - 90,000. About a million Black single mothers had some college, compared to 2 million white single mothers, and 396,000 Hispanic single mothers.
Read the entire article at:
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/singlemoms1221
