USA. Women and Welfare

My name is Catherine Day-Jermany, mother of three children and victim of a sexist welfare system. I would like to thank the Tribunal for providing me with this opportunity to share my experiences of the oppression suffered by many sisters in poverty within the United States. I hope that my statements will help raise the consciousness of all women represented here, and therefore, strengthen us in the development of an International Sisterhood so powerful that all crimes against women will end now and forever.

Poverty means more than the lack of a job or the lack of money. Poverty means powerlessness -- the lack of control over our own lives' and over the institutions which have daily impact on us. Women are more vulnerable to poverty than most realize. For a woman who has been out of the labor force (raising children) and for the woman whose husband leaves her, welfare may be the only solution. With welfare comes all its "supportive" institutions, ethics and controls. Welfare is a back door marriage, with an inadequate man-controlled government subsidy.

Before discussing my personal plight against poverty and the welfare system, I would like to talk about some of the general, aspects of welfare and poverty in the U.S.

Many women from the second, third, and fourth world countries often considered the problems of poverty in the United States not a serious one. For those of us who must live in the "Land of Plenty" with Nothing, our plight, to us, is no less than the crimes against our sisters in other countries. Our children go to bed hungry, when our country pays the farmers NOT TO GROW the food we need; we are all sick, when the U.S. scientists have the cures for most of our problems. In the rural areas of the U.S. most families are without electricity, bathrooms, or fresh running water. Education is not available to all of our children on an equal basis. Poor women do not have access to decent, safe and adequate housing.

Inflation is a problem for the lowest-income groups because the prices of necessities has risen faster than the prices of luxuries. Women and minorities are more likely to be poor than any other group; poor people spend a larger portion of income on necessities and therefore feel the impact of the crisis especially keenly.

Food prices have risen faster than the average rate of inflation, but even they have risen deferentially. The price of sirloin steak has risen 50% since 1967 but the price of rice has more than doubled and the price of dried beans has more than tripled, The staples of poor people's diets have increased much more rapidly than have luxury foods. And these are not the only increases which especially affect poor people; fuel, oil, and coal rose 130'o since 1967 but residential telephone rates rose only 22%

Women and minorities trying to obtain income increases in line with inflation are in a poor bargaining position. Working women do not usually earn wages that include cost-of-living adjustments, and outside the workforce, a high percentage of women and minorities are on fixed incomes.

About Welfare

Welfare is a dirty word and a badge of inferiority in the United States. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) is the program which most single women and children are victims. The sexism of the welfare system is a reflection of the economic oppression experience in the U.S. at large. The basic eligibility requirements of the program reflect the attitudes of men towards women who, due to choice or circumstances, must survive without reliance of the financial support of a husband.

In order to receive AFDC benefits for herself and her children a woman must be needy. Each state sets a standard of need to measure the poorness of the women. If she is below this poorline she may be considered needy. In addition, the father of the children must be deceased, physically or mentally incapacitated, or gone from the home. She must certify this under the threat of imprisonment for perjury as often as monthly in order to be eligible. In addition, she must register for work, furnish the welfare department with Social Security Numbers for all members of her family including a newborn baby, must subject her child/children to numerous blood tests to establish the identity of the father (if it is questioned) sign a criminal complaint against him and sign away all the current and/or future rights to support for herself and her children

This is just a basic overview of the requirements. Since time is short, I will only briefly discuss the above requirements.

About myself,

Being Black, living in a low-income neighborhood, limited my ability to he mobile in my choice of education and environment, it was easy for me to make the wrong choice in a husband, at the age of 15. I immediately began my family. With the lack of educational opportunities afforded to my husband, he also had little choice and consequently, a low paying job. His income would have been sufficient, but because of his need to prove himself a man, he had to spend "his money" on his "Car" and his "Clothing" and his family went without. That went on until I decided not to take it any more.

I had nothing to work with, I tried to get child support, but that proved impossible because the "County" district attorney could not find him, although he worked for them. I did have one small child and another on the way. I had to get married again, only this time it was to the Welfare Department. At least I didn't have to sleep with the department although I always felt that I was being screwed.

After my daughter was born, I decided that this was not the life for me. I contacted my husband, gave him our son, which was so very hard to do, and gave my daughter to my mother. I went back to school, got a job, went through a number of changes to get myself together.

I was lucky, I had the motivation to try to beat the system. I haven't yet, because as long as the economic status of WOMEN in the United States and the world is based on the benevolence of MEN, we will never beat the system. I am here today, to join hands with my sisters to continue to struggle against the crimes and oppression faced by the women of the world

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