By ELISE BUIK

The future of Los Angeles depends on the success of its women. Representing 44 percent of our county’s workforce, and proprietorship of more than 250,000 businesses with more than $4 billion in total county sales, women play a critical role in L.A.’s economy. What’s more, the growth in family incomes over the past few decades has been driven largely by the earnings of women in double-income households.

Sadly, this progress has not been realized by women at all economic levels in Los Angeles. While women have made great social and economic progress in recent decades, this has not put an end to the poverty, homelessness and, in many cases, the lack of access to health insurance and quality education faced by a large percentage of women in Los Angeles.

United Way of Greater Los Angeles conducted and released a study to identify specific areas of progress and peril faced by women in our county, and uncover the adverse conditions that we face as women and as Angelenos. The “2007 State of Women in Los Angeles” report examined the critical trends in education, the economy, housing and health, and provided a springboard to launch focused strategies to help low-income women get on a path to take them and their families out of poverty.

What did we learn?

The truth is, while women in Los Angeles are working hard, they continue to stay poor. We are faced with increasing rates of poverty, the challenge of high-cost child care and lack of affordable housing, health insurance and access to quality education. Furthermore, due to intense economic and demographic shifts over the past several decades, it is increasingly difficult for families to make it and succeed in Los Angeles. Single mothers are in a particularly precarious position.

Sobering statistics

It is crucial that we change the situation of women today, to ensure the future of women tomorrow. Sobering statistics include the following:

-Poverty is a serious threat for woman-headed households: 26 percent of women who live alone and 40 percent of single mother families with children are poor, compared to just 11 percent of married couple families.

-Child care is a make-or-break issue for working women half of women make less than what they need in order to afford child care. The average income for women is $34,941, however a single mother needs to make $42,936 to meet basic needs, including food, housing, child care and transportation.

-More than 40 percent of the county’s nightly homeless count of 88,000 is made up of women and children; 32 percent of homeless school-age children are not attending school.

-The number of uninsured women 18 to 64 years old in Los Angeles County is 669,000, greater than the combined populations of Sacramento, Long Beach or Fresno.

So, what can we do? What should we do?

United Way’s recent Women’s Leaders Summit brought 150 female civic and business leaders together to discuss report findings and determine solutions. The agenda included identifying best practices in Los Angeles County to apply to report findings, scaling these practices to the five million women and girls in Los Angeles and determining a public policy agenda that can impact the adverse conditions affecting the future of women and girls in Los Angeles.

Multiple solutions

The participants proposed multiple solutions to significantly impact these conditions for the better. To improve the economic status of women, we must support policies that emphasize basic literacy, skills training and placement in jobs that pay a living wage to help provide better earning opportunities. We must also facilitate broader utilization of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Centers.

In the area of education reform, we must create a formal panel of business and civic leaders to leverage cross-capabilities and resources, and build support for K-12, vocational/technical and college education infrastructure.

We must build public will around the issue of homelessness and increase access to income and asset-building opportunities for working poor women and their families. We must also increase access to health care for low-income uninsured and encourage healthy behavior at individual, family and community levels.

We cannot go at it alone. It is crucial that we derive strength from partnership, bringing leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors together to drive the prescription for change. In identifying theses conditions and determining solutions as one cohesive, collaborative force, we have taken an important first step. But it is only one step in a long march that we must undertake to change conditions for women and all Angelenos.

Elise Buik is president and chief executive of United Way of Greater Los Angeles.