# Only Women Get "Welfare" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2019, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077 "2019-04-26T10:19:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/21 "2019-04-26T17:44:10Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > As for Social Security, it is certainly the biggest welfare program. But we Americans refuse to consider it welfare. We loudly tell everyone “That is the money I paid in.” But of course that is not true. It _is_ money you paid in. You qualify and the amounts of benefits are dependant on how much you contributed. Yes, just like any other insurance program, many people die before collecting a dime, and many others collect more than they put in- that’s how insurance works. But it is a 100% funded by contributions old age retirement insurance program. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/22 "2019-04-26T17:55:56Z")
I am on Disability. A few notes: 1 - SSDI - I = “insurance”. Some people will get paid early. 2 - I paid into it. I had ~140 quarters into SSI, most of those to the max. I definitely made my contributions. Yes, I know, not my money out. I paid for this insurance policy though, and I’m using it. 3 - The amount of payment is low. Anyone trying to live on the amount would be fucked, outside of a rural area. Said rural area may not have the medical attention that you need. 4 - I also paid for a private disability policy. I had no idea what was coming but I was raised in a family of “prepare for the worst”. I’m living off of this policy. Odd, no one says it’s welfare. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/23 "2019-04-26T18:04:54Z")
This applies to SNAP “food stamps”. [This document from the USDA](https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/ops/Characteristics2015.pdf) gives lots of breakdowns of usage from 2015. There might be newer ones, but this is what came up first in my search, so it’s what I’m reporting on. > [@](#): > > Sixty two percent of non-elderly adults and 64 percent of elderly individuals were female (Table A.23). So, certainly more women than men receive this benefit, but a 60/40 split is pretty far from “no men”. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/24 "2019-04-26T18:09:23Z")
In [2016](https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ofa/fy16_characteristics.pdf) there were 637,472 adult recipients of TANF. Of those 85% were women and 15% men. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/25 "2019-04-26T18:10:18Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I am on Disability. A few notes: > > 1 - SSDI - I = “insurance”. Some people will get paid early. > 2 - I paid into it. I had ~140 quarters into SSI, most of those to the max. … Happy to hear your input. Just a suggestion - you might wish to be a little more careful w/ your acronyms (or your typing). SSDI generally refers to Social Security Disability Insurance. Actually not an acronym I’ve encountered much in my past 30+ years working w/ SS disab law. There are 2 categories of SS disability benefits. The first, DIB - Disability Insurance Benefits (or Title 2) - definitely has an earnings/insurance element. Generally 20 out of the past 40 qtrs. The second, SSI - Supplemental Security Income (Title 16) does not. Sorry if I sound pedantic, but if confuses an already complex discussion for you to refer to having paid “quarters into SSI.” I assume I know what you mean, but as written, it is nonsense. On a tangent, my personal objection is with the very term “disability.” It means ENTIRELY different things under SS, the ADA, VA and I’m sure elsewhere. Many people (even ones who are currently working) refer to their health conditions as their “disability.” People/agencies using the same word with EXTREMELY different definitions results in considerable confusion. My personal preference (colored, I’m sure, by my work experience), is to equate disability with SIGNIFICANT limitations - essentially an inability to perform ANY work. In my opinion, when people talk about having a “disability”, they generally are describing what I would consider an “impairment.” In MY preferred usage (and SSA’s), an impairment might preclude someone from performing certain types of work; a disability precludes all (or most) work. Just throwing that out there. No expectation that any word usage will change. But we can each strive to get our acronyms correct! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/26 "2019-04-26T18:44:29Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Amazon paid no federal tax in 2018 because of carry forward of past year losses, the research investment tax credit, the investment in property and equipment tax credit and because the increasing stock price makes paying people in stock more expensive. > > Those programs are in no way welfare in any way the term is used. So regular people who don’t have earnings in a certain year get to shelter more of their wages from taxation the next year, right? I mean, shouldn’t they be allowed to carry forward their earnings losses? What? They can’t? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/27 "2019-04-26T18:44:48Z")
to answer the OP actually yes there is a cash benefit with ebt for adults it’s called “general relief” it’s pretty much for down and out people …although there are conditions attached like job classes workshops the recipients are mostly male with about 25 percent single women It’s the modern day version of the "relief "program started by FDR back in the 30s under the new deal… here’s the CA version of it …[http://dpss.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpss/main/programs-and-services/general-relief/](http://dpss.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpss/main/programs-and-services/general-relief/) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/28 "2019-04-26T19:29:34Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > to answer the OP actually yes there is a cash benefit with ebt for adults it’s called “general relief” it’s pretty much for down and out people …although there are conditions attached like job classes workshops the recipients are mostly male with about 25 percent single women > > It’s the modern day version of the "relief "program started by FDR back in the 30s under the new deal… > here’s the CA version of it …[http://dpss.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpss/main/programs-and-services/general-relief/](http://dpss.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpss/main/programs-and-services/general-relief/) That may well only be a program that’s specific to California, or Los Angeles County. As others have noted, what sorts of government assistance is available (and to whom) varies by state, and “welfare,” as it was commonly known, largely changed (or went away) 20+ years ago. Looking at the [Illinois site on government benefits](https://abe.illinois.gov/abe/access/), under “cash assistance,” it only lists: - TANF (for pregnant women and families with dependent children) - AABD (for blind and disabled seniors) - Refugee Resettlement Program (only for refugees and asylum-seekers) AFAIK, there is nothing like “general relief” here in Illinois. It doesn’t look like there’s much available (and no direct cash payments) if you’re under 65, not a parent of a dependent child, and not getting payments from Social Security (as Dinsdale and Sunny Daze described). ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/29 "2019-04-26T19:55:40Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > > > As for Social Security, it is certainly the biggest welfare program. But we Americans refuse to consider it welfare. We loudly tell everyone “That is the money I paid in.” But of course that is not true. > > It _is_ money you paid in. You qualify and the amounts of benefits are dependant on how much you contributed. Yes, just like any other insurance program, many people die before collecting a dime, and many others collect more than they put in- that’s how insurance works. But it is a 100% funded by contributions old age retirement insurance program. Yep. There is nothing correct about calling Social Security an “Entitlement” or “Welfare”. As noted, it is an insurance program to protect families and children against loss of a wage earner, individuals from disabilities and from poverty in old age. Did you ever wonder what that FICA note on your paycheck means? (Hint : The “I” is for insurance) > [@](#): > > FICA, the Federal Insurance Contributions Act is a United States federal payroll contribution directed towards both employees and employers to fund Social Security and Medicare—federal programs that provide benefits for retirees, people with disabilities, and children of deceased workers. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/30 "2019-04-26T20:56:02Z")
Social Security is absolutely an entitlement. > **[Definition of ENTITLEMENT](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entitlement)** > > the state or condition of being entitled : right; a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract; belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges… See the full definition > [@](#): > > : a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group also : funds supporting or distributed by such a program ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/31 "2019-04-26T21:01:50Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Yep. There is nothing correct about calling Social Security an “Entitlement” or “Welfare”. Honestly, using the term “welfare” at all is stupid. There are specific programs with specific names, none of them are called “welfare” any more, and in my experience anyone actually using the term is trying to deceive or make a point while being able to handwave objections away by continually redefining it to cherry pick the answer they want. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/32 "2019-04-26T21:55:13Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Social Security is absolutely an entitlement. > > [Entitlement Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entitlement) and there’s a more technical definition under which it’s still an entitlement. An “[entitlement program](https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2018/11/05/yes-social-security-is-an-entitlement/#6fe095ca500d)” is one under which everyone who is eligible receives the benefit as opposed to one like Section 8 where the budget allows a certain amount of money and when the money runs out, it’s gone -even if there are more applicants who meet the eligibility criteria. That’s why Section 8 has waiting lists and Social Security doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/33 "2019-04-26T21:58:02Z")
We can thank Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the fact that men can receive TANF and Social Security benefits for their children in the event of the mother’s death. That wasn’t always the case; those benefits were created FOR WOMEN ONLY until enough men who were otherwise qualified spoke up. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/34 "2019-04-26T23:35:59Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I presume that with proper screening, it is possible to get disability SS for the second category, proven conditions that are mentally but not physically limiting (schizophrenia comes to mind). Yep, one of my cousins is on SS Disability because of schizophrenia (he is on heavy meds, and when not, he hallucinates and has some really disordered thinking). AFAIK there is nothing else physically wrong with him. (At least nothing that would prevent him from working.) I think he has tried to work part-time at some very menial jobs a couple of times since he was awarded disability benefits, but it never works out. Which is really sad, because until it cropped up seemingly out of nowhere in his 20s, he was a perfectly normal functional guy. ---
**Author:** ![Textual\_Innuendo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@Textual\_Innuendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Textual_Innuendo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/35 "2019-04-27T00:03:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > So regular people who don’t have earnings in a certain year get to shelter more of their wages from taxation the next year, right? I mean, shouldn’t they be allowed to carry forward their earnings losses? > > What? They can’t? I’m no tax-filing guy, but just in the spirit of fighting ignorance, I thought people _can_ carry forward capital losses in the same way corporations do? If you sell a chunk of stock and take a 10k loss, say, you can write down 3k this year, and 3k the next year, then 3k the next. Or such was my general understanding…now the point that most people don’t have capital gains and losses and live on regular income alone is still a very fair one, but on an apples to apples basis, I think people can carry forward capital losses to subsequent years just like corporations. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/36 "2019-04-27T00:24:13Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Honestly, using the term “welfare” at all is stupid. There are specific programs with specific names, none of them are called “welfare” any more, and in my experience anyone actually using the term is trying to deceive or make a point while being able to handwave objections away by continually redefining it to cherry pick the answer they want. Agreed - and in the modern, conservative dictionary, _entitlement_ carries a heavy connotation of “something someone is getting (from my taxes) that they don’t deserve”. Worldwide, social insurance benefits do not meet that definition. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/37 "2019-04-27T00:33:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > So regular people who don’t have earnings in a certain year get to shelter more of their wages from taxation the next year, right? I mean, shouldn’t they be allowed to carry forward their earnings losses? > > What? They can’t? On the contrary, Net Operating Loss carryforwards can be used by individuals as well as corporations. (The TCJA did eliminate carrybacks for individuals.) The IRS has a whole booklet that explains how this works. [Publication 536 (2018), Net Operating Losses (NOLs) for Individuals, Estates, and Trusts](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p536) ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/38 "2019-04-27T02:31:50Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > This applies to SNAP “food stamps”. [This document from the USDA](https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/ops/Characteristics2015.pdf) gives lots of breakdowns of usage from 2015. There might be newer ones, but this is what came up first in my search, so it’s what I’m reporting on. > So, certainly more women than men receive this benefit, but a 60/40 split is pretty far from “no men”. And more women get it because [more women are in poverty](https://www.legalmomentum.org/women-and-poverty-america) ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/39 "2019-04-27T11:27:50Z")
I think you can also say “more women get TANF because more men abandon their children”. I mean, if there was a net profit to be made by having kids for the “welfare money” (an accusation you still hear), you’d think that more men would be fighting for custody of all those children. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-women-get-welfare/833077/40 "2019-04-27T13:52:36Z")
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