Groups combat poverty ‘gender gap

Jewish groups are pushing a list of 10 legislative priorities toward closing the gender gap in poverty.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a public policy umbrella, co-hosted a March 26 briefing at the U.S. Capitol with the National Council of Jewish Women and the National Women’s Law Center.

A panel discussed how poverty had become “feminized” through single-parent families headed by women, and because women are more likely to be poorer than men and to need elder care more than men.

Among the legislative priorities the three groups listed were fighting proposed Bush administration cuts for programs combating violence against women; increasing funding for family planning services; child care and Head Start; fighting proposed cuts to child support enforcement; and restoring legal avenues to fight pay discrimination that were struck down last year in a Supreme Court ruling.