February 29, 2004

IWPR’s Research News Reporter is distributed monthly to highlight inventive, informative, innovative, and sometimes controversial research relating to women and their families. Each selection includes a short description of the research and either a link to the report itself or a citation. We sometimes include short pieces in their entirety.

In this edition:
1.       The Impact of Disabilities on Mothers’ Work Participation: Examining Differences Between Single and Married Mothers
2.       Indigenous Women’s Health Book, Within the Sacred Circle
3.       Economic Status in Later Life Among Women Who Raised Children Outside of Marriage
4.       The Status of Women in Minnesota Counties
5.       The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined Women
6.       FY2005 Budget Briefing Paper and related research on the budget

1. The Impact of Disabilities on Mothers’ Work Participation: Examining Differences Between Single and Married Mothers
February 2004
Sunhwa Lee, Gi-Taik Oh, Heidi Hartmann, and Barbara Gault
Institute for Women’s Policy Research

This report looks at the prevalence of disabilities in single and married mothers, and examines the effect on mothers’ work participation. In their study, disabilities are found to be more prevalent in low-income families, and in single-mother families. Also, single and married mothers with a disability are more likely to have a child with a disability. In terms of work participation, they find that a mother’s own disability status has a strong effect on her work participation, and that child’s disability has a smaller, but still significant effect. Although the presence of other adults in the household doesn’t appear to be linked increased work participation for single or married mothers, their analysis shows that education is highly correlated with mother’s work activity regardless of disability status.

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/DisabilityMothersWork.pdf

2. Indigenous Women’s Health Book, Within the Sacred Circle
February 2004
Charon Asetoyer, Katharine Cronk, and Samanthi Hewakapuge, editors
The Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center  

In the tradition of Our Bodies, Ourselves, this new Native American women’s health resource book is written by, and for, Native American women. The 322-page anthology encourages self-advocacy and addresses a range of issues including traditional herbal remedies, historical abuses, reproductive rights, and domestic violence. The authors are activists, health experts, and health care providers who successfully navigate the tensions between indigenous and Western approaches to promoting Native American women’s health, safety, and wellness.

http://www.nativeshop.org/press.html

3. Economic Status in Later Life Among Women Who Raised Children Outside of Marriage
February 2004
Richard Johnson and Melissa Favreault
The Urban Institute

This research report compares the economic situations of older women who were single mothers with older women who were not single mothers. While it is known that single mothers face economic hardships while raising their children, this report begins to fill the gap in research on how single mothers fare later in life. This report finds that women ages 65 to 75 who spend 10 or more years raising dependent children outside of marriage are 55 percent more likely to live in poverty than comparable women who are married when raising their children. The study also shows that the typical single mother accumulates less than one-half as much wealth by her mid-60s and 70s as the typical mother who is always married when raising her children. The authors recommend that policymakers expand Social Security protections for low-income women, by raising minimum benefit amounts or introducing childcare credits for women who left the labor force to care for children.

http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410933_single_moms_retirement.pdf

4. The Status of Women in Minnesota Counties
Women’s Foundation of Minnesota

Following IWPR’s research methods used in the Status of Women in the States project, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota released a research report and an interactive web-based comparison of Minnesota counties on four indicators (political participation, employment and economic status, reproductive rights, and health and well-being). This report is an excellent model of a research tool to examine women’s status at the local community level. Such community level data can be extremely useful in informing policies and programs to improve women’s status.

Research Overview:
http://www.wfmn.org/vertical/Sites/%7BC3B5D7F0-F0A4-4C2A-A0DD-7E5D02536591%7D/uploads/%7B538BA758-A552-4774-8DB8-81E166AFB6DF%7D.PDF

Interactive Map:
http://www.wfmn.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={C541E281-88DB-4034-8EEE-A30A7D6CBC8B}&DE={3A345775-4747-42DF-962D-E732EF9EE7BD}

5. The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How it has Undermined Women
February 2004
Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels
Free Press

This new book, by Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels, denounces the ‘new momism’ standard that romanticizes and sets unreasonable standards of the perfect mother. The book asserts that there is a new media trend that creates an impossible ideal of a mother who doesn’t match with the reality of motherhood and leaves women with feelings of maternal anxiety and inadequacy. Douglas and Michaels also suggest that there is inherent racism in a contrast between the white ‘new mom’ and the African-American ‘anti-new mom,’ the stereotyped welfare mother. 

6. FY 2005 Budget Briefing Paper
February 5, 2004
Women’s Policy, Inc.

This briefing paper summarizes the impact of President Bush’s budget proposal on various programs related to women and families. The report goes program-by-program and explains all proposed changes. Some of the cuts that would likely affect the well being of women and families include cuts in funding for the Food Stamp Program, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Adult Education, Education Technology State Grants, Refugee and Entrant Assistance, Family Planning, the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, Violence Against Women Act Programs, and Women’s Business Centers.

http://www.womenspolicy.org/thesource/FY2005%20budget.pdf

Other Resources on the President’s Budget:

The President’s Budget: Impact on the States
National Priorities Project
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/impact04/index.html?em

Deep, Widespread Cuts in Domestic Programs Over Next Five Years Under Administration Budget
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
http://www.cbpp.org/2-27-04bud-pr.htm