The burden of welfare reform falls overwhelmingly on poor women of color, yet discussions in Washington, state capitals and in the media scrupulously avoid mentioning gender, race and class. The public is told that support for the needy is dangerous and corrupting and furthermore there is no money for such programs. The new welfare law ends a 61-year federal government commitment to help the poor. What will be the consequences?

Mimi Abramovitz
Mimi Abramovitz is a professor at the Hunter College School of Social Work. She has written extensively on the issues of women, poverty and social policy, including Under Attack, Fighting Back: Women and Welfare in the U.S. She is a highly informed and lively speaker on a topic of great social and political importance.