Appell, Annette

Benfer, Emily A.

Finger, Davida

English

Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law

Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the LawVolume 20 | Issue 4 Article 12012Symposium: Theory and Praxis in ReducingWomen's PovertyEmily A. BenferDavida FingerAnnette AppellFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/jgsplPart of the Women CommonsThis Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law by an authorizedadministrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contactfbrown@wcl.american.edu.Recommended CitationBenfer, Emily A., Davida Finger, and Appell, Annette. "Symposium: Theory and Praxis in Reducing Women's Poverty." AmericanUniversity Journal of Gender Social Policy and Law 20, no. 4 (2012): 763-765.FOREWORDSYMPOSIUM:THEORY AND PRAXIS IN REDUCINGWOMEN'S POVERTYEMILY A. BENFERDAVIDA FINGERANNETTE APPELLThe statistics alone substantiate the urgent need for a reduction inwomen's poverty. In 2010, 46.2 million Americans were living below theofficial poverty line, the highest number in the fifty-two years in which theCensus Bureau has gathered figures.' Additionally, the poverty rate amongwomen rose to 14.5%, the highest rate in seventeen years.2 This means thatmore than 17 million women were living in poverty, compared with 12.6million men.3 The "extreme poverty rate's among women was the highestever recorded at 6.3%, and women are poorer than men in all racial andethnic groups.s Black and Latina women face particularly high rates ofpoverty: over 25% of black women and 25% of Latina women are poor.6Emily A. Benfer, Clinical Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago School ofLaw; Davida Finger, Assistant Clinical Professor, Loyola University New OrleansCollege of Law; and Annette Appell, Professor of Law, Washington University LawSchool, were instrumental in the development of, and selection of papers for, theAmerican Association of Law Schools Sections on Clinical Education and Poverty Lawjoint session, "Theory and Praxis in Reducing Women's Poverty."1. See CARMEN DENAVAS-WALT ET AL., U.S. DEP'T COMM., INCOME, POVERTY,AND HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE IN THE UNITED STATES: 2010 (2011), available athttp://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p60-239.pdf; see also Sabrina Tavernise,Poverty Rate Soars to Highest Level Since 1993, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 14, 2011, at Al.2. NAT'L WOMEN's LAW CTR., POVERTY AMONG WOMEN AND FAMILIES, 2000-2010: EXTREME POVERTY REACHES RECORD LEVELS AS CONGRESS FACES CRITICALCHOICES 1 (2011), available at http://www.nwic.org/sites/default/files/povertyamongwomenandfamilies20lOfinal.pdf.3. Id. at 14.4. Extreme poverty indicates an income below half of the federal poverty line.5. NAT'L WOMEN'S LAW CTR., supra note 2, at 1.6. Id. at 2.7631Benfer et al.: Symposium: Theory and Praxis in Reducing Women's PovertyPublished by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law, 2012JOURNAL OF GENDER, SOCIAL POLICY & THE LAW [Vol. 20:4Every one of these women, and the families and communities to which theyare connected, interact with legal systems on a daily basis, often to theirown detriment. As this symposium demonstrates, women's povertyintersects with multiple diverse areas of law, including employment,immigration, criminal, government benefits, family, education, and judicialsystems. The focus on reducing women's poverty allows for a dissectionand examination of these systems and the conditions that perpetuate thelow socioeconomic status of women, particularly minority women.In recognition of this problem and the complexity of issues thatcontribute to the gender and race of poverty and the urgent need forinnovative solutions to ending poverty among women, the AmericanAssociation of Law Schools Sections on Clinical Education and PovertyLaw sponsored a joint session at the 2012 Annual Meeting: "Theory andPraxis in Reducing Women's Poverty."7 During that session, presentersand participants assessed the barriers poverty creates for poor women andtheir families, proposed explanations for women's poverty and exploredremedies to help ameliorate, or at least mediate, women's lowsocioeconomic status. The session served as a foundation for furtherthoughtful and penetrating discourse on the intersection of poverty andgender, as well as the role of lawyers and law schools in developinginsights and methods regarding law reform and advocacy for impoverishedcommunities.The legal academy has a unique opportunity to create and disseminateideas and information about the legal systems and processes. Thissymposium confronts the role of the family, the community, and the nationfrom domestic and international perspectives. It suggests critical andcreative changes necessary to bring to bear the complex and intersectionalchallenges for, and experiences of, impoverished individuals and the dividebetween advocates focused on discrete areas of women's poverty.Collectively, the symposium articles shed new light on the multifacetedissue of women's poverty and make creative, original contributions to thecritical discourse on this subject. They argue for an interdisciplinary andcollaborative approach, the reform of policies and judicial systems thatdeprive basic sustenance and parental rights, proceedings that give theindividual greater control over the outcomes, scrutiny of economicenvironments, and community based support of individual women andfamilies facing hardship.As the title of the symposium suggests, reducing women's povertyrequires both the theoretical and contextual evaluation of systems creating7. Poverty Law & Clinical Legal Educ. Secs., AALS, Theory and Praxis inReducing Women's Poverty, Joint Session at the 2012 AALS Annual Meeting inWashington, D.C. (Jan. 7, 2012).7642Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, Vol. 20, Iss. 4 [2012], Art. 1http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/jgspl/vol20/iss4/1and responding to poverty, as well as a practical approach to address thesechallenges through the work of law school clinics and the practice of law.The legal academy is well situated to address these issues through ourteaching, especially in the clinical setting. The symposium examines theroot causes and consequences of poverty for women and people of colorand, just as importantly, the role of the academy in exposing future lawyersto these issues and methods to remedy these disparities. Perhaps even moreimportantly, the authors provide their reflections on how the legal academycan prepare students to respond to this urgent and dire issue. The authors'approaches allow law students and lawyers to craft sophisticated solutionsthat empower individuals and communities to overcome women's poverty.This symposium offers new insights and voices regarding theconnections among poverty, gender, and the law, as well as the role of thelegal academy in teaching students about justice and law reform. Thesecross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and interdoctrinal approaches providemodels for teaching and learning, as well as methods for improvements inthe structure and delivery of justice for impoverished women and children.We anticipate that the papers in this symposium will advance thediscussion and analysis of women's poverty, the role of law schools indisseminating knowledge and understanding of the many intersectionsbetween law and poverty, and the role of lawyers in working with and onbehalf of impoverished communities.2012] FOREWORD 7653Benfer et al.: Symposium: Theory and Praxis in Reducing Women's PovertyPublished by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law, 2012

Symposium: Theory and Praxis in Reducing Women\u27s Poverty

https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1560&amp;context=jgspl

Symposium: Theory and Praxis in Reducing Women\u27s Poverty

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law