Unit B Blog # 8

"Urban poverty" can create tons of problems for poor working mothers, and examples of this can be seen in cities all across the United States. In poor areas there are many things that are involved in the every day struggle of life that many people in middle class and upper class neighborhoods know nothing about. A large problem in lower class areas is the percentage of men in poverty that are doing time in jail. Without the ability to support for their families and pay the bills, men in these areas often take the easy way out, which is to sell drugs or take part in prostitution rings in the most urban areas. Many of the men who make the decision to dabble in acts such as these end up in prison, often time leaving their families alone, and their female counterparts to be the sole provider of support for the entire family. Also, drugs in areas like this are a huge problem for women too. When there seems like no escape is to be found, many women turn to drugs like cocaine and crack cocaine, especially in areas where these drugs are manufactured from stove tops. The money which should be going toward to the children and the living situations is often blown on the streets for hard drugs. Another problem for these mothers is the level of violence in the poorest areas across the country. Kill to win is all too often the case for these types of places, and murder rates soar through the roof in the most urban and poverty stricken places. It seems almost like survival of the fittest, but within our own country, and that is perhaps the most disappointing thing of all.

A poor women living in a mixed income type of environment will obviously have an advantage over the previously mentioned. In cases like this it might be easier to keep children away from the temptations of life on the street, and also it is easier to find people who live in a decent environment to provide things like child care or babysitting while the mother is working. When the overall atmosphere outside is better, for example less guns, drugs, violence, the better off the family is at attempting to maintain a stable life and helps with the ability to provide for their families. I believe that a poor, working women in a mixed income neighborhood has an extreme advantage over a poor, working woman from a more urban and poverty stricken area.