Summary of Mink, Hakim-Dyce, and Rangel

Mink: Gwendolyn Mink worked on welfare issues. During the mid-nineties, she was on a feminist organization that was against punitive welfare reform. They stated, “a war against poor women is a war against all women”, believing that if it affected a small group of women, it reflected upon women as a whole (56). She expresses disappointment that other feminists did not support their efforts. She claims that the Personal Responsibility Act (the welfare reform act) places single mothers on another level compared to others. She says, “Poor single mothers are the only people in America forced by law to work outside the home” (58). She says that because being a stay at home mother is unpaid; if the woman is not married, she must work outside the home in order to make a living. She views welfare not as a means of dependence but as “insurance for the rights that compromise independence” (59).

Hakim-Dyce: In this piece, the author starts by explaining where she was: the living room of a woman by the name of Miss Sweet. She then tells the reader the circumstances that brought her to this place. She was an outspoken woman who had a history of activism. As an African American woman, she saw that sexism and racism overlapped and used this in her time of exploring her identity. She transferred from her original university and went back to New York City. She struggle with paying for rent and other bills. She sent out numerous resumes and applications to jobs, but was often faced with jobs that she was not experienced for, had too low of pay to survive, or whose hours conflicted with her school schedule. She became depressed from her situation. After some conversations with friends about alternative jobs for women, she came to the decision to try to become a go-go dancer for a while. She was at the apartment of Miss Sweet and was about ready to have a formal audition. She started feeling guilty, put off the audition, and avoided Miss Sweet’s phone calls. She felt that it would be too dehumanizing and had mixed feelings, which lead to her not pursuing go-go dancing. However, she also had the benefit of getting a job offer right before she was going to audition. Hakim-Dyce explains that through her experience she know understands how women turn to these types of jobs. Jobs that are often referred to in jest about being a last resort. Unfortunately, to some women, it becomes the only option.

Rangel:  Maria Cristina Rangel is a woman who was receiving welfare during her college years and the years following. She explains that she started at Smith College with one child and another on the way. She faced the obstacles of trying to go to school and trying to work and trying to raise two children. She explains that recipients of the aid that she was receiving had to enroll in training of some kind, but that going to school as an undergraduate did not count if they also wanted to receive childcare subsidies. In many of the cases that Rangel describes, it is an either or situation to receive funding and many times the requirements would without the recipients’ knowledge. She states that many of the women who do get off (or no longer qualify for) welfare still live in poverty.