Written by MOTHERS volunteer Kelly Coyle DiNorcia
Many of us who read this blog are aware of the statistics. Women make less money than men for equal work. Their lifetime earnings are significantly lower than that of men, on average. They are at significantly higher risk for falling into poverty than men.

Blah, blah, blah.

These are important issues, to be sure. Those of us who are fighting against the inequities are fighting for Women. But the actual women who are affected in this way rarely have the time, energy or resources to fight on their own behalf, so their actual stories are often absent from the dialogue.
I’d like to tell the story of a woman I know very well. Let’s call her M.

Like many women of her generation, coming of age in the 70’s, she got married young, to a soldier. She went to nursing school while he was in Asia fighting, and when he came home they had two children. Unfortunately, also like many women of her generation, her marriage didn’t last. Her husband left her with two young children, and though he fulfilled his financial responsibility through child support and faithfully participated in his children’s lives through weekly visitations, M. bore the vast majority of the childcare responsibilities, both actual and financial. She did have family nearby to help, but life was difficult for M.
Click here to read the whole post from Your (Wo)man in Washington.