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Show HUMAN RESOURCES AND SOCIAL POLICY Feminization of Poverty and Social Polic,t Poverty in the USA is increasingly a factor of gender and family -structure. In the last several years, cutbacks in funding to social programs have compounded the effects of a recent national trend toward the feminization of poverty. uutah s Children: Are Basic Needs Being Met?u was the theme of an afternoon workshop organized by the Salt Lake Junior League and held October 3 at the Jewish Community Center. 1 Keynote s.peaker Dan Marriott, ranking minority member of the House Se1ect Committee on Children, Youth and Families, cited statistics linking rising poverty among single women and their children to increased occurrence of divorce. When divorced women take on the status of single head of household, they and their dependents are often catapulted into the ranks of the needy. Many of these women have married and become parents before establishing marketable labor skills. The divorced husband in about 66% of these cases does not make his child support payments. The single mother not wishing to become an AFDC recipient must face the multiple problems of supporting her household on minimum-wage salary, while assuming costs of daycare (minimally $160 monthly per child) as well as medical and dental care. Volunteer-staffed neighborhood daycare centers were proposed to alleviate financial distress. Another fact of note: 1 child in 5 in Utah now lives at poverty level. Dennis Mcsherry, Director of Salt Lake County Mental Health, states that he has had a 17%. reduction of clinical staffing. Priorities for service have shifted to the chronically mentally ill. In the course of his closing speech, Governor Scott Matheson called for a change in future state social policy goals. Future case management of AFDC families should emphasize their attainment of economic self-sufficiency. --Anne Taverne, Human Resources and Social Pol icy Chair **&**&**&**&**&** &** &**&**&**&**&**& **&**&**&**&**&** &**&** &** &**'&** &**&** &·k-k &**& t t &** WOMEN S HEALTH CONFERENCE 1 Choices and Decisions n is the theme for the 11th Annua 1 Women's Conference at the University of Utah sponsored by the Women's Resource Center on November 18-19. The conference will feature 25 workshops covering a variety of reproductive, holistic, and mental health issues. 11 Women• s Hea 1th: tt&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&**&'**&**&.**&**&**&**&tt&**&**&**&**&** CONGRATULATIONS to Irene Fisher! She recently has received a "Women of Achievement .. award from the Business and Professional ~1omen •s Club. The Salt Lake VOTER November 1983 -8- |
