The YWCA and Women’s Economic Advancement The Racial Wealth Gap

in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

Asset equity & supports for personal/home/family balance. Service and Advocacy understanding of WEA components poverty/welfare policy living wage pay equity life friendly policies financial literacy

in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

gender: male wage:18 cents/hr gender: female wage: 8 cents/hr

in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

gender: male wage: $1.00hr gender: female wage: 60 cents/hr

in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

gender: female wage: $23.00/hr gender: male wage: $30.00/hr

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Income is The River:  One’s weekly earnings or paycheck.  Used to buy groceries, clothing, pay rent, and pay for entertainment.  Excess income beyond what one needs to survive can be saved, building one’s wealth. Wealth is The Reservoir:  Total value of what one owns – home, cars, savings, stocks and bonds, real estate, etc. less what one owes.  Used for big purchases, pay for college, buy a business, or tapped when income runs dry.

 Gives choices  Can take time off to go to school  Can start a business  Research shows wealth vs. academic gap… (look up Conley stats)

 Savings, home purchases, and other investments made with a family’s surplus income.  Intergenerational support such as gifts, informal loans, and inheritances.

 Parents’ Net Worth is the single most important factor by far.  Ones’ own income is the second most important factor.  Other notable factors include:  single-parent vs. two-parent families  “Occupational prestige (professional jobs that have IRAs, profit sharing, etc.)”

 Some white families historically have enjoyed the benefits of government support and tax policies to buy homes, start businesses, grow wealth and prepare for retirement at a time that Blacks and others were largely excluded.  Looking at one important historical example, few if any African-Americans were able to take advantage of the Homestead Acts that provided landowning opportunities for many whites. Recent history continued this pattern of blocked opportunity because African-Americans were mostly shut out of the greatest wealth-building opportunity of the post-World War II generation -- home ownership.

 Unlike income, wealth is readily transferrable from generation to generation.  40 acres and a mule never happened. Yesterday’s inequalities are simply carried forward.  Reparations never given… previous inequalities simply carried forward

 Land ownership restricted to citizens and citizenship was limited to whites 1800S  The last racial barriers to naturalized citizenship were lifted in  One in four white Americans have an ancestor who was given Indian or Mexican land under the Homestead Act.  New Deal excluded many people of color from Social Security  All veterans of color were unable to access the GI Bill's educational and mortgage benefits  Discrimination by realtors and colleges made the benefits difficult for vets of color to use  VA and FHA lending rules actually blocked mortgages in mixed-race and urban neighborhoods.

Percent of population by race that does not have enough net worth to subsist for three months at the poverty level without income.  42 percent of Blacks  37 percent of Latinos  16 percent of Whites

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RESOURCES

In 2042, thirty years from now, people of color will collectively represent the majority of the U.S. population. If we continue along the governing path of the last thirty years, the economic divide between races will remain and, in many regards, will be considerably worse. The Emerging Majority measures the impacts of the past thirty years of public policy on the racial divide, examining a host of social and economic indicators, including income, wealth, poverty, health care, homeownership, education and incarceration.wealth The report then offers thirty-year projections based on data trends since the Reagan presidency. Its findings should prompt people of all races to unite in action for a more just and racially equitable future.offers Center for American Progress: The State of Communities of Color in the U.S. Economy:The State of Communities of Color in the U.S. Economy: Christian E. Weller, Julie Ajinkya, and Jane Farrell explain how communities of color were hit particularly hard by the Great Recession in 2007 and how they're still struggling as the economy recovers. From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half More than a Choice: A Progressive Vision for Reproductive Health and Rights Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development Institute for Women’s Policy Research - The leading think tank in the U.S. focusing primarily on domestic women’s issues with key program areas: Employment, Education Economic Change, Democracy & Society, Poverty, Welfare, & Income Security, Work & Family, and Health & Safety. How The American Economy Is Leaving Women Behind: Setting A New Course For Progress And Prosperity 4 IWPR created femstats.net as a primary resource for easily downloadable women-centered data.femstats.ne Transforming Pink to Green: Moving Jobs into the Green Economy