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I was a little nervous when I first started reading Elizabeth Warren’s post: Feminomics: Women and Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy exposes the economic vulnerability and insecurity of middle class women. The women in bankruptcy, like the men who file for bankruptcy, are a fairly representative cross-section of the American middle class. Their education levels are slightly higher than the population generally, with women in bankruptcy more likely to have attended college than their counterparts. Most are employed when they file. They work in a representative cross-section of industries and occupations. More than half are homeowners. By the most overt criteria, the women who file for bankruptcy are, as a group, solidly middle-class. But at the time they file for bankruptcy, their incomes tend to hover only slightly above the poverty level, and they are deeply mired in debt. The women who file for bankruptcy played by all the rules, but they are still in economic freefall.

Ruh Roh! As a college educated, employed, home-owning, middle-class woman I am at greater risk for bankruptcy?! But then I read this part of the post:

Women with children are particularly vulnerable, both because of the economic challenges faced by single-parent households and because bankruptcy now gives credit card companies greater capacity to compete with women in collecting past-due debts.

Phew! It is only the college educated, employed, home-owning, middle-class women who got married, had children, and then divorced who are most at risk…

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