Appearantly, two thirds of the people in extreme poverty are women; however, there are more homeless men. I have no idea why this is. Extreme poverty is defined as, in a family of four (with two parents and two children), with a combined yearly income of less than $20,000. About 11% of the people in my state live in extreme poverty, again, 2/3 of them are women. They are many single mothers, and this isn't supprising considering the frequency that men leave their girlfriends once they find out they are pregnant (I think its 9 out of every 10 leave). I think its sad how familes are broken apart or failing to form today. Money is a huge factor in the relationships between people.
I can see where women being single mamas can lead them to poverty. However, I seriously doubt 9 out of 10 guys leave...that's pretty discouraging. Single mom or not, they choose how to live their lives. Are they gonna sit around and collect welfare, or get out there and work their butts off to make a better life for their family.
I think mamas will hang on to ANY housing for their kids longer= bad relationships, co housing, returning to live with family. I also think that women with kids duck being counted, because they fear losing their children if the state knows they are homeless.
A single-parent family with children is not "broken" or a family that "failed to form". It's one of the most prevalent family structures in this country. If anything, it's the new "nuclear family". Just because it's not the rarely-realized "ideal", doesn't mean it's undesirable.
