Jobless Benefits for Women in the Obama Stimulus Package

Obama's stimulus package has big benefits for jobless women. That's according to professor Mimi Abramovitz at Hunter College School of Social Work. In a commentary for Women's eNews, Abramovitz notes that "women stand to disproportionately benefit from three new rules in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" which was signed by President Obama last month:

Here's how women gain; in addition to a temporary hike in the amount of the jobless benefit for all workers and a new dependent's allowance:

• Benefits will now be provided to workers who must leave their jobs for compelling family reasons, such as caring for ill or disabled family members, relocating with a spouse whose job has moved to another area, or escaping domestic violence in which the abuser follows the woman to her workplace;
• The earning test now looks at the worker's most recent employment, instead of excluding the last three to six months, making it much easier for low-wage workers and new entrants to the work force (read: large numbers of women) to qualify for benefits.
• Benefits are now available to workers seeking part-time work which also includes many women.

These three reforms--among others that are not of special value just to women--are long overdue given that the old rules were written for a work force that lawmakers imagined had very few women.

In the past, mostly white male lawmakers crafted legislation that supported male work patterns and penalized women workers. How and why this happened - and the impact of these rules on the lives of working wome - is examined in-depth in Abramovitz's piece, "Women Need to Know Their New Jobless Benefits."

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