This book, through a review of the status of working women on bottom and on the top, refutes a set of myths about women, work, and poverty that have shaped welfare reform. Chapter 1 highlights the big changes affecting women in the U.S. economy. Chapter 2 describes who is poor in the United States and examines how poverty has come to be defined. Chapter 3 puts wealth and poverty back in a family context, describing the different types of families and tracing their economic fortunes. Chapter 4 examines why women do so much worse, in terms of access and earnings, than men in the work force. Chapter 5 zeros in on the forces that trap so many single mothers in poverty. Chapter 6 highlights the ineffectiveness of U.S. policies in eliminating poverty by surveying a long history of misguided theories and unsuccessful programs up through the late 1980s. Chapter 7 picks up the story of the current wave of punitive welfare reforms into the late 1990s, explaining why these reforms cannot and will not reduce poverty but increase hardship. Chapter 8 proposes positive reforms in welfare; chapter 9 lays out a broader agenda for economic justice for women and low-income families. Chapter 10 suggests the elements of a political strategy to make this policy a reality. Appendixes include the following: definitions of family types and income categories; a chart contrasting popular conceptions with facts about women and welfare; annotated list of organizations, Internet, and print resources; and index. The book contains 22 figures and 22 tables. (YLB)