What`s Killing Poor White Women?
What’sKilling Poor White Women?
MonicaPotts in her article, which was published on September 3rd, 2013,tackled one of the rising issues ‘What’s killing poor whitewoman?’ in the U.S. Life expectancies for white women havedrastically declines by five years since 1990, on the other hand,life expectancies for black women and Hispanics have increased since1990 (Alcorn par. 1). In an article, it is mentioned that blackwomen are more optimistic and that they have a better attitudetowards life. Black women are now teaching their daughters about theimportance family planning and teen pregnancies: they also tend tohelp each other out more compared to the women in other races (Pottspar. 30).
Inher article, Monica Potts writes about Crystal and her mysteriousdeath. Crystal, a high school dropout, dies at the age of 47. Shebelongs to a family of 8 and had six siblings, of which two died atthe ages of 47 and 45 respectively who were all high school dropout.The medical officers concluded that Crystal died of natural causes.Crystal weighed 200 pounds and was diabetic. It could be argued thather poor education was the main cause of her death. If Crystal wouldhave taken care of herself better, regarding weight management andregular body checkups, perhaps she would have detected her diabetesearlier, and she could have a better chance at controlling it andliving a longer healthier life.
Educationis vital to social development and, as people say, the greatestwealth is health. In her article, Monica mentions AdrianaLleras-Muney who did a study, which showed that education has a linkto life expectancy. Education has its benefits with actuallycontribute to a longer and healthy life. For one, obtaining a degreeleads to better job prospects, which leads to a better lifestyle. Astudy was done, that showed that low levels of education lead topeople having low self-reported health (van der Heide et al. 175).
Towardsthe end of her article, Monica mentioned Julie Johnson who was thetechnology co-coordinator at school. Julie expressed some seriousissues on girl child not being treated equally as the boy child. It’svital for parents to educate their children, motivate them to build abetter future for themselves, at the same time parents should treattheir children equally, regardless of the gender. Women areconsidered to be the inferior sex, but yet she is responsible for allthe hard work needed to keep the family up and to go and not toforget the emotional burden she has to endure. Crystal worked veryhard to take care of her husband and child, at the same time shewould work and earn a few bucks. In low-income areas in the Southwomen earn more than men, but still, they aren’t appreciatedenough. The interview Julie gives an insight on some of the beliefsof the poor income families. This mentality needs to change.
Thearticle also mentions the study done by Jennifer Karas Montez ofHarvard University where she states that having job matters to women(Potts 22). This example brings how why it’s necessary for women tohave their careers. Single incomes put incredible amounts of stresson the sole breadwinners, if women start working their family will bemore financially stable and socially too. The author has cited manyexamples throughout her article to put across some of the factorsthat are killing white women early. These examples fully support theargument she puts across.
WorksCited
Alcorn,Stan. "What’S Killing Poor White Women: Smoking And A Mystery| Fast Company". FastCompany.N.p., 2013. Web. 4 Apr. 2017.
Potts,Monica. "" TheAmerican Prospect.N.p., 2013. Web. 4 Apr. 2017.
vander Heide, Iris et al. "The Relationship Between Health,Education, And Health Literacy: Results From The Dutch Adult LiteracyAnd Life Skills Survey". Journalof Health Communication 18.sup1(2013): 172-184. Web.
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