At Community Dialogues on Welfare "Reform" Reauthorization and Valuing Caring Work held across the country in July, a new grassroots women’s welfare movement announced itself when women spoke out demanding "Mothering is real work, we want real wages!" and "We want the choice to raise our own children" against the ravages of welfare "reform". Welfare mothers, grandmothers and other caregivers, former recipients, women not on welfare and even a few welfare workers were in a fight-back mode, expressing excitement and relief that welfare "reform" was finally being challenged on the basis that mothers are already working. Younger and older, mainly but not only women of color, many with disabilities or whose children have disabilities, women from many different situations, including lesbian women and immigrant women opposed being forced to leave their children for any low-waged work or for dependence on a man. The Community Dialogues held in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco were called by the Every Mother is a Working Mother Network, a multi-racial grassroots network campaigning for the work of raising children and other caring work to be recognized as work, and for the quantity of work that mothers do and its economic value to be reflected in mothers’ right to welfare and other benefits. An all-volunteer activist network that began in Los Angeles in 1997 – where it succeeding in getting LA County to spend $74 million for an after-school program to meet the childcare needs of mothers forced out to work – EMWM has grown to a national network. The focus of the Dialogues was the 1996 law that replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with a "work first" program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), and destroyed welfare as a right and entitlement. "Hundreds of thousands of mothers have been forced to leave children as young as six weeks for 20-32 hours of work each week, almost always at low wages with few benefits" according to Margaret Prescod of EMWM in LA, who is also with International Black Women for Wages for Housework. "And as the majority of women now on welfare are Black and Latina, welfare ‘reform’ is a racist attack and promotes a racist tradition." Asian and Hispanic women at the Dialogues underscored how immigrants are denied benefits. While politicians brag of success by pointing to lower welfare rolls, more money is spent on welfare reform than on welfare. But now it goes to profit-making companies administering programs instead of to women raising children. Many women have simply dropped off the economic radar and are homeless, or living with relatives or friends, or have been driven to crimes of poverty to survive. For those who have found paid work, the average post-welfare wage is $6.75/hour, their "health destroyed by overwork and lack of benefits," according to one participant. The 60-month lifetime limit on benefits will leave mothers and children with nothing when their clock stops, which for those on welfare in 1996 will happen very soon. Congress has until September 30, 2002 to review TANF. EMWM and supporters are taking the occasion to press for fundamental changes. Congressional hearings once again are excluding testimony on the caring work of mothers. The Dialogues heard heartrending stories from over 100 mothers angry and frustrated at being ignored, and pointing to the urgency to take action against overwork, exhaustion and poverty. The many tears that were shed didn’t hide the women’s determination to be heard, and to confront politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, as well as non-profit groups that refuse to challenge them. "We are tired of those so-called ‘advocates’ who are supposed to represent us instead selling us down the river because basically they agree with the government that mothers need to go out and get a ‘real’ job," according to Pat Albright, a former welfare recipient and single mother of EMWM in Philadelphia. The Dialogues distinguished themselves from other forums on welfare by moms speaking for themselves about how they have been affected. EMWM will submit women’s testimony against the brutality of welfare "reform" to Congress. Women said they were treated like they had committed a crime during home visits by welfare workers. A Latina mother related the shock of being wrongfully terminated with little notice. A Black grandmother lost payment for the care of four grandchildren but is fighting on. Rousing victories were also shared about winning benefits wrongfully denied. Older women said that after a lifetime of caring for children, they are now counted on to take care of grandchildren and great-grandchildren so that their daughters can take on waged employment. One mother said she had to risk leaving her children at home alone, because she could not afford childcare and had no grandmother to help. Teenage mothers spoke about being put down and deprived of resources. Lesbian mothers spoke about being forced to name the father and sue him for child support – and the welfare department keeps most of the money. A woman from Wages Due Lesbians and a woman who works in a domestic violence shelter both said welfare reform is pushing marriage and financial dependence on men as the solution for women's poverty, putting women at risk of violence. A childcare worker saw children becoming more attached to her than to their own mothers. "There's more to being a mother than paying the bills and saying I got a check today," she said. Welfare "reform" treats caregivers like "interchangeable parts", with no recognition of the unique relationship between each caregiver and each child, beginning with mothers themselves, said a woman from WinVisible, women with visible and invisible disabilities. Mothers of children with disabilities or serious illnesses are made to work 30 hours outside the home, although they are supposed to be exempt under the law. A former breastfeeding advocate now on welfare spoke of the pain of separation from infants and how welfare reform flies in the face of the American Pediatrics Association recommendation for one year minimum of breastfeeding. A Black mother described her degrading treatment at the welfare office, adding that the race of the workers didn’t matter: they all treated welfare moms badly. A welfare worker revealed that many workers deny information to recipients and say they don’t want to be near "them". A Black woman called the government "baby snatchers", paying agencies to take children away. She lost her child by asking too many questions. Former prisoners said you were denied welfare if you have a felony drug conviction, and said imprisoned mothers risked permanently losing their children. "Prisons are a big business, you can bet there is a plan in place to fill them. Nobody in my neighborhood has planes bringing in drugs from overseas," one mom said. Women of color, most of them mothers, are the fastest-growing prison population, growth fueled by welfare reform. Young people described the pain of watching their mothers struggle. A Black woman spoke in tears of trying to feed her family on $20 a week, and said women will do anything to make sure there is food on the table. A nurse spoke about the price your children pay because you don’t have the time, energy, or patience to meet their needs, or your own. The New York Times reported on July 31 that welfare reform has had a consistently negative impact on adolescent children, in all studies that have been done. Men, including young Latino, Black and Asian men, helped with the event and spoke out in support of caring work being valued – women’s and their own. A national labor organizer said welfare reform has brought down everyone’s wages, especially women’s. Some participants said while money is taken from women and children, billions are being spent for the military including "Star Wars" and military intervention in countries of the Global South to protect US-based multinationals. The grassroots movement to value caring work is continuing to gain momentum. Pressed by the International Women Count Network, the UN agreed in 1995 that governments should measure and value unwaged work in national economic accounts. The Wall Street Journal reported that a mother’s "multi-tasking" is worth $500,000 a year. In many countries women get a "family allowance". But the US – the richest country – has no allowance or paid maternity leave. Women’s unwaged caring work is valued at $11 trillion worldwide, according to the UN. Next steps by EMWM to impact welfare reform reauthorization include "teach-ins" in the fall, as well as plans to be part of the 3rd Global Women’s Strike, March 8, 2002 whose first demand is "Payment for all caring work." Please contact: Every Mother is a Working Mother Network: Ruth Todasco 255 9th St #3 |
