The strong element of social conservatism that continues to exist in our citizenry resists public policies and programs that adequately fund daycare in support of working mothers in general, and single working mothers in particular.   Social conservatives view such programs as promoting women in the work force as opposed to women staying home to raise children. Social conservatism does not have the means in which to acknowledge or accept the reality of the past 20+ years that most mothers, single or not, have to work outside of the home because economic conditions require it. (Social conservatives have never acknowledged the economic realities of minority families, where the vast majority of mothers have always had to work outside the home in order for the family to make ends meet.)

Earlier today, when I was looking for census data on poverty, I stumbled across a figure that surprised me. In 1959, the poverty rate was a whopping 22%. My first reaction was that the poverty programs of the 60's and 70's were really more effective than I thought. Perhaps they were. But now it occurs to me to wonder what was the effect on poverty rates of large numbers of women entering the work force.

Janie