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Mink’s article discussed the challenges that single mothers who depend on welfare face in our society.  She discusses how her and others joined together not to speak for the poor, single mothers but with them—“to speak for ourselves as feminists frustrated by the absence of women’s voices and by the lack of gender equality concerns in the welfare debate” (56).  Mink next goes on to describe the Personality Responsibility Act and the repercussions it has.  She sees the Act as not only taking away a single mom’s right to help from the government in the form of cash, but also getting frighteningly close to taking away their basic civil rights also. Furthermore, she believes unwaged mothers are at a serious disadvantage as well.  Without the financial freedom they are sometimes unfairly forced to stay in marriages due to finances, even when they do not want to.  Mink touches on the idea that our society often views welfare recipients as “reckless breeders who bear children to avoid work” (59).  This is not the case.  She argues that part of the problem is that people do not see welfare mothers who choose to raise their kids as making a choice.  They believe they are lazy.  When, as Mink argues, they are actually agents of their own lives who are very capable of making their own decisions on what kind of work they want to do.  Women should not be forced by the feminist movement to work outside the house; they should be able to make choices for themselves.  Because women are very capable of making these decisions, Mink argues that they should be provided with an income for the work they do in the house (because it is work) so they have more freedom from men if they want it.

Rosanna Eand’s article titled “Leading by Example: My Mother’s Resilience and Power in the Fight against Poverty” was very interesting.  It is an autobiography of sorts that details her mother’s journey and how that has impacted her.  She begins by telling us how her family fled Cambodia in a time of civil war to live in the United States.  Her and her younger sister were fortunate enough to be “American” (meaning she was born in the United States).  She describes the difficulties of the language barrier, how her mother learned very little English since she was expected to always be in the house (due to Cambodian culture), and the manual labor they were asked to do on the farm where their parents worked starting at a very young age.  After a few racial attacks against them while living in Philadelphia, her family moved to Camden City, NJ.  There she started going to school and became very invested in her education.  She, just like Mink, touches on the Personal Responsibility Act and how that impacted her family.  Her next section is about her transition to college and how she soon began to identify herself as a feminist.  This is when she began to analyze her experiences in a wider context and begin to realize she can help and make a difference.  After briefly discussing what she did in college to help out, she reflects on the differences between the life her mother led and the life she is leading.  Despite going against Cambodian culture, she knows that her mother fully supports (and encourages) her move away from the traditional role of women.  By refusing to conform to the traditional gender roles, Eang believes and knows she is throwing all gender roles out the window.