Poverty Rates Among Different Demographics of U.S. Women An alternative representation using fractals by Ali Alrabeah
The Data
Poverty among American women is itself an endemic social issue and additionally has large ripple effects on many other demographics of people. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this issue, with many women having to completely leave the workforce (Gonzales, 2022). The dataset collection used in this project was the National Snapshot: Poverty among Women & Families, 2020 (Fins, 2020). This data reflects poverty rates for the year of 2019. While there is a more up to date dataset collection National Snapshot: Poverty among Women & Families, 2020, that showcases poverty rates for the year of 2020, this dataset did not include Native American women due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing significant interruptions and high non-response rates in 2020 American Community Survey (Fins, 2020). Data for white, non-Hispanic men are used as a baseline with a poverty rate of 6%.
As a result of job layoffs and national economic instability all of the above groups that we have data for, experienced increases in their respective poverty rates. Updates in the 2020 poverty rate survey reports (excluding changes for Native American women) are as follows (Javaid & Tucker, 2021):
- Women with Disabilities increased from 25% to 27.5%
- Black women increased from 18% to 19%
- Latina(x) women increased from 15% to 16.8%
- Born outside of the U.S. women increased from 13% to 14.3%
- Asian women increased from 8% to 8.3%
- White, non-Hispanic women increased from 8% to 8.9%
- White, non-Hispanic men increased from 6% to 6.8%
The Process
The intention behind this project, was to physicalize the above bar graph in a more immersive and interactive manner. My affection for fractals prompted me to considered separating each entry in the bar graph as a fractalized representation of the poverty rates of the respective demographics of women. Each circle contains an inner fractal that represents the general population within that demographic that is not reported to be in poverty. The outer fractal of each circle represents the percentage of women in poverty within each demographic. As can be seen in the first photo presented below, I experimented with applying a gradient to the entire outside circle so that one may glide their finder along the entire outer circle to feel the percentage of women in poverty in each demographic. My original intention was for this to be emphasized enough so that one could feel the poverty rates become smaller or larger in different movements along the fractal graph. However, the estimated time for just one of these circles with a gradient was about 40 minutes, so I had to revert back to simpler vectors. While there is still the effect of "feeling" the percentage of poverty within a demographic, it is less dramatic that my original aiming.
Additionally, design constraints had to be changed as the process continued. I picked up a scrap piece of wood from BEAM@UNC that was closer to a square than the original rectangle of the design. So the graph had to be readjusted to fit those constraints. Additionally, with the print time of three circles being about 45 minutes, I had to print in phases. The first print was rushed, due to other students waiting on the laser cutter the need to adjust the design to the new canvas, hence, the slightly cut off circle in the second image below.
References
Fins, A. (2020, December). National Snapshot: Poverty among Women & Families, 2020. National Women's Law Center. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PovertySnapshot2020.pdf
Gonzales, M. (2022, July 7). Nearly 2 million fewer women in Labor Force. SHRM. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/over-1-million-fewer-women-in-labor-force.aspx
Javaid, S. & Tucker, J. (2021, September). National Snapshot: Poverty Among Women & Families, 2021. National Women's Law Center. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NationalSnapshotFS-1.pdf