Many women have come out in support of Hillary Clinton based on her support for women in politics and her position as a veteran female politician.
While Clinton claims she is in support of all women, her past political endeavors demonstrate that she is only in support of women who are like her: white, educated and in the upper class.
As a voter who wants a president that will not only represent women in politics, but will work to improve conditions for all women in this country, I cannot consciously vote for Clinton because she is not going to help or acknowledge women in poverty.
During Bill Clinton’s presidency, the then-First Lady supported the passage of a welfare reform bill called Temporary Aid For Needy Families in 1996.
TANF is a block grant that replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, which was a partnership program between the federal government and the states that provided cash benefits to poor mothers.
The welfare program stipulated that the federal government and states were to share the cost of cash benefits for poor mothers, which meant that the program could help more poverty-stricken women and children.
TANF replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children by having the federal government give a lump sum of money to the states regardless of demand for aid, and only provides vague instructions for the distribution of funds.
TANF beneficiaries are limited to two years with the program, forcing every woman to enter the work force, regardless of how impossible it may be, if they haven’t already.
Since the inception of TANF in 1996, cash benefits for women and children in poverty are 20 percent lower in 35 states after adjusting for inflation, as reported by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In 2014, TANF gave benefits to only 23 out of every 100 families in need, which has decreased significantly from 68 out of 100 families that received benefits in 1996.
Although TANF has saved the government plenty of money over the years, it has done nothing to help women in poverty, especially not women of color, who are disproportionately affected.
Women in all racial and ethnic groups live in poverty at higher rates than white men, with higher poverty rates among African American (25.3 percent), Hispanic (23.1 percent) and Native American women (26.8 percent).
Clinton has made no mention of reforming TANF or its negative effects on women in poverty.
She even boasted about TANF during her 2008 campaign, claiming TANF is “necessary and enormously successful” in an interview with The New York Times.
During her current campaign, Clinton spoke about her experience growing up in poverty in her first campaign speech saying, “No one deserves to grow up like that.”
Considering two-fifths of families reared by a single mother live in poverty as of 2012, if Clinton thinks no one deserves to grow up in poverty, she needs to start talking about welfare reform, starting with TANF.
Clinton cannot claim she is in favor of helping women progress in this country, not when she has failed and continues to fail poor, working class women and women of color.
It’s time to put someone in office who will actually help not hinder the progress of all women in this country.
rcm2@indiana.edu
@RachelCMiller1
