What Michelle Obama's example says to women

Michelle Obama is about to become one of the most powerful women in the world, with more influence than Oprah and more scrutiny than Hillary. She has an education and a husband, and that is the key to unlock the poverty door for women with children, and not a single additional nanny state program is needed for that. There are hundreds of grants, loans and scholarships for college; and for marriage, just hold out for the right guy and start the family after you tie the knot. I know it's not Hollywood's way, and all the Hip-Hoppers flashing bling will tell them otherwise, but all the studies show it to be true. The more we try to offer women Uncle Sam as a step-father and sugar daddy, the more we keep them in poverty.

An education : In 2006, the working poor rate for Black women workers with less than a high school diploma was 28.9 percent, compared with 15.4 percent for Black men.

Among high school graduates (no college), the working-poor rate of Black women (15.3 percent) was higher than that for Black men—9.0 percent.

Among both White and Black college graduates, differences in the working poor rates of men and women essentially disappear.

A husband : Married-couple families, regardless of whether the husband or wife was the family member in the labor force, were those least likely to fall below the poverty level (7.5 percent).

By comparison, 12.0 percent of families maintained by men and 22.4 percent of families maintained by women were below the poverty level.

2007 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS).