Abstracts for Volume 2

Volume 2 Issue 3 - 1998

"Children's Economic Place in America"

Martha N. Ozawa

Washington University

Abstract: The enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and the Taxpayers Relief Act of 1997 signals the U. S. commitment to developing human capital among children. However, any such initiative must be pursued within the context of the rapidly changing demographics and the current economic standing off each racial/ethnic group of children, as well as the entire population of children. This paper presents the projections of future changes in the racial/ethnic composition of children and the results of a study on the quintile distribution of children in the U. S. population, ranked by income statuses. The findings indicate that over three-quarters of Hispanic children and nearly three-quarters of black children are in the bottom two quintiles. Given the rapidly changing demographics and the lower economic standing of minority children, the public policy intervention of investing in children needs to be targeted to minority children.

"Trading for a Place: Poor Women and Prostitution"

Marcia Hood-Brown

Brandeis University

Abstract: On the basis of participant observation at an organization dedicated to helping poor and marginalized women escape prostitution, I argue that prostitution cannot be adequately understood without considering the conditions under which poor women live. Conversely, I also argue that women's poverty cannot be adequately understood without analysis of the role of prostitution in it. In much scholarship, public opinion, and according to the state, however, prostitute women are defined primarily as "criminal" or "deviant," rather than as impoverished citizens legitimately in need of assistance. Further, scholarship on women's poverty generally treats "poor women" and "prostitutes" as mutually exclusive categories. To counter what I believe to be faulty assumptions in existing scholarship, I offer and expand upon three basic assertions: (a) poor women do not generally enter prostitution by choice, (b) prostitution is not analogous to legitimate employment for poor women, and (c) prostitution is not a way out of poverty for poor women.

"Hunger and Food Commodities on Montana's Seven Indian Reservations"

Paul Miller

University of Montana

Abstract: The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) is an alternative to the Food Stamp program on Montana's seven Indian reservations. FDPIR is the main anti-hunger program on these reservations which have poverty rates, on average, that are three times higher than the State average. Of the 1,356 FDPIR households studied on the seven reservations, 56% have experienced hunger, as measured on a five-item index. Six out of 10 households rely on FDPIR as their main or only source of food. Any reductions in FDPIR that might result from federal welfare reform initiatives will cause increases in hunger on all reservations, especially among families with young children.

"Mexican American Mothers and the Welfare Debate: a History of Exclusion"

Sylvia B. Weinberg

Eastern Michigan University

Abstract: Mexican American women are a substantial portion of those receiving public assistance in San Antonio, Texas. As such, they will be among the first recipients to be cut from the welfare rolls. Although this is a trail blazing social experiment, a review of the past 30 years of welfare reforms reveals that Mexican American women's experience with welfare-work choices, which are at the heart of the welfare debate, have received little attention. While issues of race and racism in the experience of African American women are evident in this history, this article shows that the experiences of Mexican American women, including the effects of discrimination against them, have not yet been adequately portrayed in the literature.