It’s Blog Action Day

It took me a while to decide what to write today. Poverty is one of those things that comfortable people try not to think about. I was in San Francisco last month, and I caught myself averting my eyes when a homeless person stretched his hand out to me. And everyone else walking down the street did the same thing. In Dallas, I, along with the rest of the drivers at a stoplight, clutch my steering wheel and stare ahead when the person panhandling on the corner approaches my window.

I don’t do enough to help other people, particularly people living in poverty.

In my home state, Texas, the poverty rate is 16.3%, higher than the national rate of 13% (source). The majority of impoverished families in Texas are headed by a worker. Depressingly (though perhaps not startlingly), women are much more likely to be impoverished than men. In people with less than a high school education, the poverty rate for women is 31.3% as opposed to 21.6% for men (source).

So what can we do to help impoverished women both here in the United States and worldwide?

• Donate to Care.Org’s Empower Women Around the World, a charity that empowers women to create lasting solutions to poverty by improving education, preventing the spread of HIV, increasing access to clean water and sanitation, expanding economic opportunity and protecting natural resources.
• Get involved with Women Thrive Worldwide, an organization that shapes U.S. policies that can help women lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
• Donate to or volunteer to work at a local women’s shelter. Do a Google search to find shelters in your area. If you’re in Dallas, you can help out at Genesis Women’s Shelter.