ABSTRACT
Families headed by women are experiencing a steady decline in their economic status. American society can reverse the trend toward increased impoverishment of women only by building a social welfare policy that takes into account the distinct nature of women's poverty. The welfare system makes many women poor not only because its levels of payments are low, but also because it institutionalizes poverty for women. Ways must be found to dismantle the dual welfare system and the dual labor market, which together lock women into permanent secondary status. The dual labor market concept divides the labor market into two spheres, the primary and the secondary. The duality in the welfare system complements and supports the inequality in the labor market itself. Over all, the primary sector of welfare seeks to minimize the costs to the individual when the system fails, as when there is high unemployment in a geographically concentrated industry.
