Although recent decades, women have made historic progress in almost all areas of American public life, an impressive number of women across the country is still teeters on the brink of poverty and economic disaster, a new report released Sunday shows.
Brandon Thibodeaux / for NBC News
Eveline Sunshine Cottage resident Sheneka Collins helps his daughter, Tamiya, 7, with his duties at their home in Amarillo, Texas, Wednesday. Mothers with low income or homeless are offered a financial support and accommodation through the program.
The report, written jointly by NBC special presenter Maria Shriver and the Center for American progress takes a snapshot wide angle of a national economic crisis - through the eyes of women. The major findings paint a portrait of approximately 42 million women - and 28 million dependent children, faced with financial difficulties.
"These are not women who are asking if they can 'own everything,'" Shriver wrote in his introduction to the report. "These are women who are already all - working hard, providing parenting and care delivery." "They do it all, and yet they and their families can thrive and which is weighing down the U.S. economy".
In the middle of a beam apparent in women's empowerment and participation - a time where women earn the majority of post-secondary graduates and represent more than half of voters in the country, the report says that millions of women are still struggling on the margins of American society, bruised by the recent recession and the daily trials of family finances.
Women account for almost two-thirds of workers to the minimum wage in the country - and more than 70 per cent of these low-income workers receive no vacation whatsoever, according to the report.
During all this time, approximately 40 percent of all households American with children under 18 years are mothers who are either the only or principal source of income - with remuneration average women who work full time that 77% of the average earnings of their male colleagues, can be read in the report.
The authors also presented the results of a survey of 3,500 adults throughout America that gives an overview of the realities on the ground of contemporary femininity. Republican and democratic pollsters have worked together to "write a story of statistics" of women who "are an essential part of the fabric and the economy of our country," the report said.
Among the Chief of respondents to the survey findings, which are low-income women:
75 percent wish they had devoted more time and energy to education and career - compared to 58% of the General percent population.73 wish they had done better financial lifetime decisions - and has thus 65% of the survey group total.Low-income women are more likely that men to regret tie the knot when they have done - 52 per cent compared to 33 per cent.And almost a third of the women on low income with children wish they had postponed having children - or had fewer of them.And yet, despite the discouraging signs of economic inequalities, "the Shriver report: Nation a woman repels the brink" has a wide range of potential remedies - potential policy in Community programmes initiatives. The authors of the report argue that divert turned and historical injustices towards a fairer future, will stimulate the American economy.
"Leave aside women, and you do not have a robust and comprehensive economy. Lead with women, and you do, "Shriver wrote in the report. "It's as simple as that, and the Americans know."
Shriver will appear on NBC and MSNBC platforms this week to discuss the report.
The report - which interweaves the personal stories of women who work with 'recommendations public, private and personal that can help revive the American dream for women and their families', is the third document published by the eponymous non-profit media initiative in the past five years. The first focused on the growth of female labour; the second on Alzheimer's disease is epidemic.
Dozens of luminaries in the Government, enterprises, universities and the arts - former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the pop star Beyonce Knowles-Carter - helped document, reflections.
"I have always believed that women are not victims," wrote Clinton. "We are agents of change, we are drivers of progress and we are responsible for peace. All we need is a chance. »
In a short essay, Knowles decried inequality between the sexes and pay disparities between men and women.
"We must teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that the measure they grow, equality between the sexes become a natural way of life," wrote. "And we must teach our daughters that they can reach as high as humanly possible. ''
Later in the report, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and "Lean in" author Sheryl Sandberg argues for maternity leave pay throughout the country and policy of reductions to the exorbitant cost of child care, among other policy proposals.
And Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D - NY) calls for "more women in the office at all levels of the Government".
"We must do better," Gillibrand says. "This requires demanding better of our elected leaders and for me, it means change the face of these leaders to ensure that their agendas reflects the needs of women. ''
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