Black and on Welfare: What You Don’t Know About Single-Parent Women by Sandra Golden

            In “Black and on Welfare: What You Don’t Know About Single-Parent Women”, Sarah Golden makes the argument that "women on welfare [are] affected by discriminatory practices." I agree with this statement because in some ways I feel that this is true. For instance, Golden states that, "Dominating system such as welfare do not recognize Black women's social literacy skills." I believe that this is a form of discrimination, because a system that ignores part of its population's abilities is cheating itself. Black women on welfare have a lot to offer the economy and society, but as long as the government continues to discriminate against Black women's "social literacy skills" then the good that they have to offer will go unheard.

While I agree with Golden's argument that "women on welfare [are] affected by discriminatory practices within the welfare system" (28), I also disagree with this statement. This is because I feel that her argument is to general. How does she know that every "women on welfare [is] affected by discriminatory practices within the welfare system" (28)? For instance, she holds a focus group of twelve women who are on welfare. A focus group made up of only twelve women out of the total amount of women on welfare, is one that in my opinion is to general and not a good representation of the whole group. Also, I feel that Golden's argument is a little bias, because she used to be on welfare. "Even today, over 20 years after my encounter with the welfare system, many young Black females carry the assumed burdened of being uneducated or undereducated, unskilled, and unmotivated because they receive public assistance" (28).