Providing Women With Education and Training

A key component of improving economic security for all workers, but especially low-income women, is providing education and training that leads to family-sustaining jobs and careers. Research indicates that the average income of workers subsisting on poverty-level wages nearly doubles when they obtain an associate’s degree.

This year, efforts in Congress to strengthen both the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) provide an ideal opportunity to create policy and programs that will help low-income women enter the workforce and obtain better jobs.

We need to strengthen TANF and WIA so that the emphasis is on helping women improve their skills and education rather than being pushed into any available job – no matter how low-paying or lacking in career potential. Additionally, federal efforts should support programs that combine on-the-job work experience with services that help low-income women overcome barriers to employment, including child care, transportation and tenuous housing.

At this critical moment in our nation’s history, we must work to ensure that low-income mothers are not left out of the economic recovery. The programs and policies of the past have not worked well for these families. We are in danger of repeating the mistakes if the current national focus on job creation, training and education does not include a discussion about how to develop new and different opportunities that allow women to aim higher and create a promising future for themselves and their families. If we fail to directly confront the unique struggles they face, low-income mothers and their children will remain mired in poverty for decades to come.

Download Aiming Higher: Removing Barriers to Education, Training and Jobs for Low-Income Women by the Women’s Economic Security Campaign. Download the presentation from the May 5 Webinar launching the policy report. Watch the video from the Webinar.

Access our Removing Barriers for Low-Income Women Toolkit.