Putting a face on the problems of welfare reform

Barbara Ehrenreich has lots of opinions, on everything from the current U.S. presidential race to the war on drugs. But last Thursday afternoon, Ehrenreich, a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Time and Newsweek magazines, stuck mostly to her concerns about the hardships of life as a single mother on welfare during her guest lecture, titled "Down and Out in Post-Welfare America." Her talk, given before a predominantly female crowd of approximately 50 students and local residents, was the inaugural talk in the Alice Paul Center for Research on Women and Gender -- an initiative that sponsors seminars, guest lectures and research fellowships on gender-related topics. Introduced as a "leading spokeswoman on labor and social justice issues," Ehrenreich has spent much of her life writing on causes like poverty and social equality. Her lecture in College Hall revolved around the 1996 welfare reform bill, which set limits on how long an individual may remain on welfare. Specifically, she criticized the welfare reform programs enacted during the Clinton administration aimed at decreasing dependency of welfare recipients. As a longtime social and political activist, Ehrenreich argued that there are many stereotypes that underlie the welfare reform legislations written by state and federal politicians. Legislators, she said, make racist assumptions that welfare recipients are "black, obese women with six children." She further stated that statistics show how poverty, especially among single minority mothers -- including those who are immigrants -- is still an immensely pervasive problem in America, even though the economy is currently booming. Although some politicians have touted the welfare reform for decreasing dependency of recipients by encouraging more recipients to find full-time jobs on the job market, Ehrenreich described the difficulties that single mothers have when working multiple jobs. Using herself as an example, Ehrenreich said she had gone from waitressing to working in a hotel and a nursing home, and she was still not able to support herself while living in a motel. She reasoned that if she -- a white, English-speaking woman -- had problems, then it must be doubly difficult for less-educated and poorer women with children. College freshmen Michelle Mergenthal and Lauren Rogal said they were both encouraged by their Women's Studies professors to come to the lecture. "I've read a lot of essays by Ehrenreich and so I was inspired to come listen to her talk," Rogal said. Added Mergenthal: "It made me realize that welfare issues have a lot to do with feminist issues as well."