Why we gatta be da poorest?: Disrupting the Cycle of Poverty for Single Mothers in the Bahamas by the Assessment of their Needs and the Mapping of Community and Educational Institutions Resources

4 Introduction . 7 Literature Review . 10 Methodology . 16 Findings . 20 Discussion . 33 Conclusion . 36 References . 37 Appendix A . 40 Appendix B . 44 Appendix C . 46 Appendix D . 47 Appendix E . 48 Appendix F . 51 Running head: WHY WE GATA BE DA POOREST? 6 Why we gatta be da poorest? : Disrupting the Cycle of Poverty for Single Mothers in the Bahamas by the Assessment of their Needs and the Mapping of Community and Educational Institutions Resources Introduction Single mother-headed households are statistically shown to be the poorest group in many countries around the world (Fukuda-Parr, 1999). One in three African American single mother headed households are living in poverty (Adams, Blumenfeld, Castanda, Hackman, Peters, & Zuniga, 2013). The literature has revealed the prominent factors that have established the cycle of poverty in African American single mothers-headed households have continuously been linked to the intersectionality of racism, classism and sexism (Windsor, Benoit, & Dunlap, 2010). The weight of these oppressions has contributed greatly to the state of poverty for African American single mothers. The negative affect and impact of the relationship between poverty and African American single mothers has been researched in many different aspects. Even though there have been programs to attempt to support African American single mothers, they are still statistically shown to be the most consistently poor group in the United States of America (Adams, Blumenfeld, Castanda, Hackman, Peters, & Zuniga, 2013). Considering the number of factors that impact poverty, it is important to ask what opportunities such as education are being missed because of the barriers created by the effects of poverty for single mothers. Similar to the United States of America, the Bahamas’ poorest group of people is identified as single mothers (Turnquest, 2014). Most of the factors identified above can also be seen in the context of single mothers in the Bahamas. The Vision 2040 National Development Plan of The Bahamas research report (2016) stated that the high number of persons being Running head: WHY WE GATA BE DA POOREST? 7 affected by poverty are those who have been directly impacted by intergenerational poverty. The researchers further reveal there has been a continuous increase in the percentage of persons falling on or below the poverty line. Researchers stated the challenging human capital and negative economic growth in the Bahamas is the result of a lack of skills and low education levels. The report further revealed that the most leading factor that has contributed to poverty in Bahamian households is the lack of education qualifications among Bahamians. The researched stated that more than 65% of Bahamians has the education level of a high school diploma or lower. Without adequate education intervention, the report stated the cycle of poverty will continue to widen and the country’s economic conditions will only continue to worsen. Other researchers have also revealed a direct link between the social issue of poverty in single motherheaded household to other societal issues such as crime, domestic violence, drug abuse, and violence in the Bahamas (Minnis, Symonette, Stevenson, Pintard-Newry, and Gibson, 2011). The strong relationship between societal issues and poverty reveal that not only single motherheaded households are affected but communities in general are being negatively impacted. The theoretical framework that sheds light on why poverty exists so dominantly in the life of most single mothers is called the Feminization of Poverty. Simply put, this theory can be defined as the overrepresentation of single mothers who are poor because of gender inequality (Ezeala-Harrison, 2010). Society’s expectation and demands of women are much higher than for men in regards to childbearing, child rearing and childcare. Gender inequality has hindered the progress of women from venturing into opportunities, such as education, which could increase their chances of acquiring higher incomes (Mishra, 2018). Research has shown that attaining of higher education can improve a person’s socioeconomic status. However, even though single mothers may have a desire to improve Running head: WHY WE GATA BE DA POOREST? 8 themselves through education, the barriers of attaining education are challenging to overcome. In the United States of America, the five main barriers that prevent or hinder the educational progress of impoverished single mothers are limited financial resources, limited child care, limited transportation, limited access to resources, and limited social support (Bryant-Davis, Ullman, Tsong, Tillman, & Smith 2010). Without these barriers being addressed, many mothers find it an extremely difficult task to even consider education as an attainable goal. It can be assumed that for the Bahamas, similar barriers and needs exist for single mothers that desire to obtain higher education. Nevertheless, because of the limited research about impoverished single mothers in the Bahamas, it cannot be identified if these similar barriers, needs or resources to assist with the challenges mentioned exist in a Bahamian context. Therefore, the purpose of this research study is to explore the barriers and needs of Bahamian single mothers to obtaining higher education. This study will also seek to map and understand the landscape of educational institutions and human service agency resources currently available for single mothers in the Bahamas in a process of obtaining higher education. Running head: WHY WE GATA BE DA POOREST? 9 Literature Review Poverty in the Bahamas among Single Bahamian Mothers The Bahamas Department of Statistics reported the absolute poverty line per person is $11.64 per day, which is less than $5,000 per year. This figure is significantly low when compared to the annual expenditure of an average middle class Bahamian household, which is $53,124.00 per year. The report goes further to show more Bahamian families are falling in or below the poverty line. In 2001, 5.3% of Bahamian households was estimated to be living in poverty, nevertheless in more recent times, statistics have shown that in 2014 that number increase to 12.8% in Bahamian households experiencing poverty (Bahamas Department of Statistics, 2016 & Turnquest, 2014). More than 52% of women headed household in the Bahamas are living in poverty. The statistics also show that when compared to men-headed households, women-headed households are lower on the poverty line than men. The research has also shown that 3 out of 4 households living in poverty has children. Turnquest (2014) stated that the poverty level in households in the Bahamas, can be directly link to the level of education in of the head of the household because they are identified as the main breadwinner. In the Bahamas, 65% of persons heading a household have an education level of a high school diploma or less. From the representation of the 65% that have basic to no educational background, 93.3% of these households are living in poverty (Bahamas Department of Statistics, 2016 & Turnquest, 2014). The barrier of low education level is that there are not many highincome employment opportunities available to these individuals. Also, in the Bahamas minimum wage can only barely meet the need of one person, not an entire family. Running head: WHY WE GATA BE DA POOREST? 10 According to Turnquest (2014), one of the main factors that contributes greatly to the increasing poverty rates, especially for single mothers, is the employment climate in the Bahamas. The national minimum wage in the Bahamas is $5.25 an hour, which calculates to $210 a week for 40 hours. However, the private sector, which accounts for almost half of the country’s employment opportunities, is not adhering to this minimum wage because this law is not being enforced. The average minimum wage in the private sector is $150.00 a week or lower for 40 hours, which calculates to $7,800.00 or less. The Bahamas unemployment rate in 2017 was reported at 14.4%. Nevertheless, research has shown that one of the main factors contributing this high percentage of unemployment is low education levels, unskilled labor workforce,