It is a known fact that in the U.S., women earn far less than men. A new study conducted by researchers and social scientists at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, based in Oakland, Calif., concluded that women bring home less income and own fewer assets. More startling was that single black women, even in their prime working years, maintain a median wealth of just $5.
Based on data from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances — a report the Federal Reserve Board issues every three years on household finances — scientists observed that 46 percent of households headed by single women between the ages of 18 to 64 had a computed zero or negative net worth.
A measure of one’s total assets, wealth or net worth, includes cash in the bank, stocks, bonds and real estate; minus debts — home mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student loans. These findings were before the current economic crisis, which means the actual numbers mostly like are worse.
The study also reports that black women were more likely to have participated in the subprime loan crisis with upper-income black women being five times more likely to have received a high-cost mortgage than upper-income white men. Add to this the practice of spending above one’s means and being too reliant on credit if unemployed, and the problem is compounded. The total median household wealth for all black women was estimated to be $100 compared to $120 for all Hispanic women in the same age group. Black women described as married or cohabitating have a median net worth of $31,500. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
