Even more to the point: the overwhelming majority of the poor in ANY racial demographic are WOMEN. People think that women are only poor because of PAY discrimination, they don’t even acknowledge that most women are poor because of JOB discrimination where we’re not getting hired in the first place. And for OLDER poor women with NO INCOMES and NO JOBS who’ve been unemployed for so long that we’re not even counted among the jobless statistics, the situation is even more horrible.

People also like to say that the new “gig” or “freelancer” economy somehow provides a level playing field and circumvents employers who discriminate against women and don’t hire us (either directly or through their lackeys and gatekeepers) , but it doesn’t.

Who gets software development or other IT contracts to earn incomes on freelancer sites? Those who look like the people with the money who are paying for a software developer: upper-middle class/rich MEN.

And since men (who have all the money due to decades and even centuries of systemic discrimination) only want to do business with or hire people who look like them (i.e. MALES), guess who gets left out economically even in the “gig” economy? That’s right. WOMEN.

And it is POOR women who are suffering the brunt and paying for everybody else’s comforts, luxuries, and privileges with our LIVES. Which is why over 90% of ALL human sex trafficking victims here and abroad in every corner of the world are POOR women and girls. And the few who’ve managed to escape that hell and survive have the lowest life expectancy rates on the planet – an average age of 34 years old – because of being left to die from unrelieved abject poverty that is ultimately due to systemic economic/job discrimination that is only made worse by a shrinking jobs pie.

When it comes to politics, Democrats do stand with low wage workers, but no politician or party today represents the poor. Of the two power parties, Democrats took the lead in ending actual welfare and taking the first steps to similarly “reform” Social Security, targeting the disabled. We just have the misfortune of living in an era when the majority believe our deregulated capitalism is so successful that everyone is able to work, there are jobs for all, therefore no need for poverty relief.

Democrats kicked off 2015 with a definitive statement of their priorities, agreeing to virtually end food stamps to the elderly poor and the disabled (cut benefits from roughly $115 to $10). Sen. Sanders use to speak out powerfully about the need for legitimate poverty relief programs, but has (pragmatically) dropped the issue with this campaign. Liberals maintain the implicit message that the worst off anyone in America can be is a minimum wage worker. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to hear that voting enthusiasm among the poor has been significantly deflated over the past seven years.