In the News!!!

Here is me in the Norwalk Hour!


Status of Women panel hears complaints



Natalie Samuels works about 80 hours a week, and she also takes college classes. With two young sons, she scrapes by on roughly $45,000 per year, which is too much to qualify her for government aid.
"Basically, all I'm looking for here is some assistance," she told a panel of city and state lawmakers during a public hearing organized by the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. The commission, formed in 1973 by state legislature, tackles issues of sex discrimination, and the hearing was held at Norwalk Community College.

For almost two hours, women from the area detailed their personal lives to the panel, asking for policy changes that would make it easier to survive in Fairfield County.

State Reps. Toni Boucher, R-143, and Christopher Perone, D-137, state Sen. Bob Duff, D-25, majority whip, and six Norwalk Common councilmen joined members of the commission on the panel.

It was one of three public hearings the commission plans to transcribe and send to state policymakers. A previous hearing was held in Enfield, and another one is scheduled at the University of Connecticut in February.





"We're responsible for being a liaison between community and government," said Teresa Younger, executive director of the commission, "and we wanted to gather their stories so we can communicate effectively with the government."
Marie Wendorff, who lives in Wilton, described her escape from an abusive relationship. She had to walk away from a career during the ordeal, and has since moved her three children to a one-bedroom apartment.

"So I was one of the haves with the white house and the picket fence, and I have become a have-not," Wendorff said. It took her a year and a half to get help from the government, and she told the panel the process should be easier.

"There are, no question, some heavy bureaucratic steps that really hamper a critical situation," Boucher said.

After two abusive marriages, Nadira Pankey found it more practical to leave her job and focus on a college education. She's a straight-A student at Norwalk Community College, and she supports her two children with food stamps and welfare checks.

"The only way I was able to survive, and the only way I'm sitting before you now, and why I'm able to give my kids food to eat, is because I quit my job and got on welfare," Pankey told the panel.

Two recent studies of income paint a bleak picture for women on the state and county level. One by the Fairfield County Community Foundation's Fund for Women and Girls found that for each dollar men earned, women earned 70 cents.

Regardless of whether they have children, a woman's income is twice as likely not to be as sufficient as a man's income, according to a study by the commission from last year. The study uses different standards for poverty than the federal government, and is more flexible than a flat salary line.

Even one of the commission's own subcommittee members, Kristen Pavlik, admitted she struggled to earn a living wage. She works full time at the Domestic Violence Crisis Center in Norwalk, part time at the Stamford Shelter for the Homeless and does some freelance clerical work. She loves her job, but it barely supports her.

"The negotiation between doing something I love and being financially secure is a difficult one," Pavlik said.

After the hearing, Perone said it's important to increase awareness of services that nonprofit organizations offer.

"I got the feeling in that room tonight that as successful as Connecticut has been in offering services, the message isn't getting out in a big way, so that's an important part of this," Perone said.


Staff writer Jared Newman may be reached at (203) 354-1045 or jnewman@thehour. com.