There’s a stereotypical image of a woman with two grade-schoolers trailing behind her while she holds a toddler’s hand and balances a baby on her hip using food stamps at a grocery store (and an even greater caricature of her buying a carton of cigarettes at the same time). Although this image may be unfair, it’s an unquestionable fact that low-income women receive the lion’s share of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits (the PC way of saying “food stamps”) … and recent decisions made by the Senate are going to hit these women very hard.
The Senate has voted to cut funding for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. Over 40 million Americans receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. In 2014, the assistance for a family of three will drop by about $50 a month. This is going to hit low-income women hard.
SNAP statistics don’t break down recipients by gender, but we can connect the dots. It’s no secret that poverty is a women’s issue. Thirteen percent of U.S. women were living in poverty in 2008, compared to 9.6 percent of men, according to the National Women’s Law Center, and a similar poverty gap exists in every state in the country. Overall, more than 15 million American women live in poverty.
I’m not a man-hater. In fact, sometimes I wish I were because it would certainly erase a lot of complications from my life. However, it’s a fact that, when “leaving” goes on, it is proportionately more likely to be men leaving women (and children) high and dry. And, yes, I do know ..
… some single fathers. I even know some single fathers that receive food stamps, so please don’t think that I’m slamming men here.
Anyway, the Washington Independent’s Annie Lowry had this to say on these “unprecedented” cuts:
American food stamps are not generous, averaging only $4.50 a day even after being bumped up in the recession-era stimulus–less than you’d need to buy two meals at McDonald’s. And since the start of the recession, the number of families depending on them has skyrocketed.
Okay, this is where I go all soapbox. I just can’t help it. There is a bitch inside me (I keep her on a pretty short leash, though), but I truly am a bleeding heart. The idea of hungry children being forced to live on $4.50 a day just makes me want to cry.
And I know I get personal here sometimes, which some of you might have a problem with. However, it’s the best way I can think of to make the reasons for my opinions as crystal clear as possible. There are things I wouldn’t dream of weighing in on because I don’t know anything on the subject and things I can’t get enthusiastic about because it seems so far removed to me.
Anyway, here’s the thing. My daughters and I are technically “homeless.” I live in my mother’s attic. It’s not ideal. Interestingly, I evidently qualify for both food stamps and free lunch for my children at school. I do not utilize these services—I have a stubborn pride streak a mile long—but I could have had to if my family and friends were less generous.
And perhaps that’s why news of SNAP reductions is hitting me so hard—it’s like, “There but for the grace go I,” you know?
And speaking of this issue connecting directly to my life, guess where the approximately $6.7 billion cut from SNAP will ultimately end up? Um … if you guessed education, specifically an increase in funding for teachers’ jobs, you’d be right. Man, I’m really shooting myself in the foot here!
But, as Ezra Klein from the Washington Post points out, SNAP is arguably the worst possible program to cut from.
“SNAP is an extraordinarily well-targeted stimulus. It goes to poor households, for something they need to buy. According to Mark Zandi’s numbers, it’s literally the most stimulative way to spend a dollar: Better than state and local aid, or unemployment insurance. You get more than $1.70 of economic activity for each buck you put in.”
Although there are people that take advantage of SNAP and buy lobster and resell goods bought with food stamps for a ridiculous mark-up (and yes, I know real live people that do those very things), in general it’s a program that is necessary … not for adults but for the children that need to know where their next meal is coming from.
Do you think this SNAP cut is a feminist issue as most of its victims will be women living in poverty?
