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Why Women?

I am not a particularly religious person and was raised with the notion that one does not bring up religion with strangers. This was probably because my family, as non-churchgoers, didn’t have much to talk about on that front. But I bring it up here because as I read over this current issue, I fall back on a religious idiom that I have said to myself many times: There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Now, I don’t use this expression because I think I have in any way achieved a state of grace, whatever that may mean. I turn to it as a way to acknowledge that I am not guaranteed immunity to the adversities of life. I, too, could face a life-threatening disease or financial ruin. I, too, might have ended up in an abusive relationship or with a destructive addiction, maybe even homeless or as a single parent unable to make ends meet. I am blessed instead with a strong marriage, supportive family and good health. But things could be different; not all of the decisions in my life have been good ones.

Lisa Albers’ story on Jubilee Women’s Center shows us that women very much like you and me can end up, after several unkind twists of fate or circumstance, without a home and without resources. Recognizing how much I have in common with women in need helps motivate me to do what I can on their behalf.

There are, of course, many organizations and churches in our region that are stepping in to give a hand to people who are facing hard times, and this year they are being asked to help greater numbers than ever. Some provide direct aid or temporary shelter; others offer job training or work on legislative issues. Women’s Funding Alliance, which Karen West profiles in this issue, works on all these fronts by providing funding to dozens of organizations dedicated to helping women and girls. Jubilee Women’s Center, which provides transitional housing and job training, is just one of the local nonprofits receiving support from WFA.

Why women and girls? Statistics tell part of the answer. In the United States, more women than men live in poverty, and this gap in poverty rates is wider in America than anywhere else in the Western world. In the Puget Sound region, families headed by single women are six times more likely to live below the poverty line than families headed by married couples, or two and a half times as likely as families with single fathers. Race adds an extra whammy, with the national poverty rate for black and Latina women twice as high as it is for white women.

In other parts of the world, studies have shown that when the quality of life improves for women, things get better for everyone. So ensuring that women are safe and healthy, and making sure that they have fair access to education, financial opportunities and positions of leadership really can change the world. And that is what Women’s Funding Alliance is working on here at home: helping make sure that all women and girls in our area thrive. As a result, the whole region benefits.

The focus of this November/December issue is community and giving, and it is an honor to highlight Women’s Funding Alliance and Jubilee Women’s Center in our last issue in 2009. They exemplify both themes and remind us of what the upcoming holiday season is truly all about.

Marianne Scholl
Publisher and Editor

©November-December 2009, Caliope Publishing Company