Think Progress' Incredibly Sexist Solution to Prevent Poverty
by Jerome Hudson 15 Jan 2014, 3:58
PM PDT
Refuting Florida Senator Marco
Rubio's argument that marriage is the, "greatest tool to lift people, to
lift children and families from poverty," Think Progress writer Bryce Covert claimed that widening access to
early sex education, contraception, and family planning methods are all tools
that can help, "women achieve a higher economic status."
And for those women who do get
pregnant Covert says, siting associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University, Kristi Williams,
"better policies" like "universal preschool, raising the minimum
wage, welfare, and guaranteed paid sick days," would go a long way to
"help single mothers survive financially."
If you're keeping score, Bryce
Covert thinks that women can use abortions and cheap birth control as rocket
fuel to catapult them into economic dynamism. And the women for whom these
remedies don't reach, they're economic security can still be achieved as long
as they sign up for the various welfare programs available to them.
In short, Bryce Covert believes
that single mothers shouldn't really concern themselves with marrying the
father of their children and should instead either practice safe sex, have an
abortion if an unwanted pregnancy occurs, or simply lean on the government if
they chose to have the child.
But how is women having abortions
and being dependent on welfare programs a win for feminism?
Whether out of ignorance or
indifference, Bryce Covert ignores the profound impoverishmen in so many of America's inner
cities. These are neighborhoods where shattered families and unwed (regularly
teenage) mothers produce cohorts of unruly youngsters, who are often housed by
HUD, taught by Head Start and fed by food stamps. Covert doesn't talk about the
countless times when family planning doesn't go as planned. What she ignores is
an existing culture that perpetuates the same self-defeating behavior:
lawlessness, dropping out and drug abuse. And in many cases, these behaviors
are fueled by the absence of a father in the home.
Writing in the Washington Post,
Kathleen Parker posits that, "In the absence of marriage, single parents
(usually mothers) are left holding the baby and all the commensurate challenges
and financial burdens." There are certainly scores of data that suggest
that single mothers are far more likely to fall into poverty.
Marriage is not for everybody. And
for those who are married, that union is often times not a cure all. But
promoting marriage doesn't make me a misogynist pig. And promoting marriage is
certainly a better option than telling women that having abortions, staying
single and raising children while hooked on government assistance is a way out
of poverty.
Think Progress
Think Progress
is a project for the Center for American
Progress Action Fund.
Note: Center
for American Progress Action Fund is a fund, affiliated advocacy group for
the Center for American Progress.
John
D. Podesta is the chairman for the Center
for American Progress Action Fund, the chair & counselor for the Center for American Progress, and a counselor
for the Barack Obama administration.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress.
George
Soros was a supporter for the Center
for American Progress, is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and the chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Committee for Economic Development, and the Aspen Institute (think tank).
William E. Kirwan
is a trustee at the Committee for
Economic Development, and was the president for the Ohio State University.
Leslie
H. Wexner was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a trustee at the Ohio State University.
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