Since nearly fourteen percent of all Americans live in poverty, the subject of welfare has become a political hot potato. Politicians anxious to win points by cutting welfare rolls are increasingly favoring "workfare", which mandates programs requiring those on welfare to get job training and jobs. Workfare can be defined as a government administered policy whereby those in need and without regular employment are obligated to perform a work-related activity in return for state income. The word, a catchall phrase for making welfare recipients do something in exchange for their assistance checks, is central to President Clinton's promise to "end welfare as we know it." However, it is a word that has as many definitions as there are experimental workfare programs across the United States. .

             Single parents suffer. As an increasing number of children in the United States are raised in single parent households, the economic position of these children worsens significantly. On average, single parent families are, much worse off than two parent families. In 1990, the United States defined as poor any family of four whose income fell below $13,359 ($10,419 for a family of three). Among the children in two parent families the poverty rate was ten percent. For children in single parent homes, the poverty rate was fifty-five percent. It is very clear that single parent families are in a much more difficult position economically. Parents whether married or single face a difficult task of nurturing and providing for their children. Single parents have only two choices: they can either work in the marketplace or they can go on welfare. If single parents choose full-time work, they must concurrently meet the demands of work, the need for childcare, and the many daily crises involving raising children. Women from highly advantaged backgrounds (married with good or dual incomes) find these demands very heavy.