Final answer:
The overrepresentation of women in poverty in the US is largely due to factors such as the gender wage gap, workplace discrimination, and challenges faced by single mothers. These issues are compounded by systemic disparities in education and housing, which can lead to earning gaps and limited economic mobility.
Step-by-step explanation:
The factors that might help explain why women continue to be overrepresented in poverty in the United States include wage gap and gender pay disparity, workplace discrimination, and the disproportionate impact of being a single head of household, especially for single mothers. Women experience a feminization of poverty, with approximately 56 percent of Americans living in poverty being women. Single mothers face significant struggles providing for their children with one in four living in poverty. Moreover, the wage gap significantly contributes to gender disparity in poverty levels, influenced by disparities in educational attainment and ongoing employment discrimination.
Economic disparities, such as inequitable education or housing segregation, can lead to earning gaps and limitations on economic mobility, and these issues frequently affect women and minorities. While discrimination in earnings is not always overt, economists suggest it often occurs in covert and subtle forms. Consequently, factors like having children, lower education levels, and gender or racial discrimination in job opportunities and pay contribute to ongoing poverty among women.