Job Flexibility Could Help Single Parents Stay Out of Poverty

I'm someone who has had my share of "involuntary departures" from places of employment. Sometimes it was a surprise, and sometimes not, like during my youthful camp counselor days when we rang the bell at midnight sending groggy campers scurrying about in a panic. It got me a long bus ride home, and an up-close feeling of shame. In honor of International Women's Day earlier this week, let's take a look at the link between single motherhood and unemployment.

Nowadays, with jobs crumbling like sandcastles on the beach when the tide comes in, it's really hard to hear about people, especially single parents, losing their jobs because of less than serious causes. A woman I know just had her job of two years yanked from under her because she struggled, as the sole provider, with an incredible bout of unavoidable family crises, keeping her from being available for the fulltime workload her boss needed from her. Saying her farewell she wrote, "With a heavy heart and many tears, I must regretfully inform you my reality clashes with your need for a full-time advocate ...."

What makes it worse, and lots of things are stacked up in this pile: 1) She and her family used to be homeless and relied on welfare, but she earned a college degree and has worked amazingly hard despite tremendous challenges, to get her life "back in check." 2) She worked passionately and effectively to do her job, outreach development for homeless families and individuals in her area. 3) Jobs are in short supply, with Florida's unemployment rate heading to 12 percent and the state struggling to cover the unemployment benefits fund. 4) Other safety net essentials -- food stamps, medical coverage, etc. -- are also being depleted by heavy demand.

This puts her family very close to the edge of homelessness, ironically by an organization that advocates to help people who are homeless. A single parent struggling to do right by her kids, to keep them out of the overtaxed system, should get all the help possible, including some flexibility when feasible from the employer. It looks like this mom is heading back to welfare.

Every woman I know who's been homeless and recovered talks about the fear of losing her home and stability again. We're all vulnerable, some more than others.

Seems to me we need a national therapy session that helps us see that "first do no harm" would be a good mode of operation. With the Ds and Rs brawling on the Hill, and banks, insurance companies and health industry lobbyists scheming on how to profit by our chaos, who's looking out for the women trying to raise families? Maybe we should shift that potent lobbyist power to this issue.

Photo credit: Diane Nilan