Report: Women are especially hard hit by state budget cuts

In a report titled “An Unstable Ladder,’’ the independent Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center says cuts in state funding to programs that provide adult education, employment training, and child care subsidies are having a detrimental effect on women, who make up the majority of those receiving such services.

“We have a long way to go when women still earn 78 cents on every dollar earned by men and when almost two-thirds of the poor families in the state are headed by single women,’’ said Ruthie Liberman, vice president of the Crittenton Women’s Union in Brighton, which provides services and support to low-income women. “It clearly indicates why these services are so essential.’’

The report details several services that have faced cuts. For example, state funding for child care for 57,000 children while their parents are at work has been cut 18 percent since 2001, and 20,000 children are on a waiting list for the support. Also, women make up more than 90 percent of the state’s Employment Services Program beneficiaries, but state funding for the program has been cut 27 percent since 2001, the report details.

Responding to the report, state officials said the timespan covers two recessions and includes actions taken by previous administrations.

“We have made every effort to protect education and training funding during these difficult economic times and have utilized federal recovery money to help stabilize the education budgets,’’ said Jonathan Palumbo, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Education. “We used over $162 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to help maintain funding for higher-education campuses in fiscal year 2009. We have also increased funding for child care programs from $368,539,000 in fiscal year 2007 to $467,641,000 in fiscal year 2010.’’

Liberman said that since 2001, her organization has had to grow from 30 shelter beds to 140 that are filled nightly by children and their mothers who cannot afford rent.

“The most devastating human impact from these cuts is the number of families that have had to resort to shelters,’’ Liberman said.

“They don’t have education or training to have the jobs to pay for the cost of living, transportation, and their child care.’’

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, known as MassBudget, analyzes how state budgets and tax policies affect low- and middle-income people.

-From: “Women are especially hard hit by state budget cuts, report says”, by John M. Guilfoil, The Boston Globe, January 12, 2010, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/12/women_are_especially_hard_hit_by_mass_budget_cuts_report_says/, retrieved 1/12/10.

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