mpact of Clinton's welfare reform on women, it is important to have an overall perspective of women on welfareùtheir characteristics and the factors that determine their need to stay on welfare.
In general, women that depend on welfare are single parents who are confronted with the overwhelming challenges of making a living and taking care of their children. Furthermore, these women are further handicapped by their low education level, the lack of job skills and a limited support network that may offer free childcare. Therefore, they are only able to work in low-wage and no-benefits jobs that do not provide them with adequate resources for survival. Thus, in the past, many of them turned to AFDC for financial support (Bassuk et al., 1996, p. 640).
In a study using a cross-sectional sample of 220 sheltered homeless and 216 low-income housed (not homeless) mothers on welfare, researchers attempted to compare and study the "social, economic and health characteristics" of these women on welfare (Bassuk et al
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