By C. Nicole Mason

If the average single black woman went to the bank and withdrew her wealth, she would only withdraw $100.00. And nearly half of single black women have zero or negative wealth—meaning if they inserted their cards into an ATM machine, it would more than likely be rejected.

A new study by the Insight Center for Economic Development finds that single black women have one penny of wealth for every dollar of wealth owned by black men and only a tiny fraction of a penny for every dollar of wealth owned by white women.

Nationally, five out of ten African-American women have had trouble paying bills on time and one-third of black women are worried about their debt-to-income ratio.

In tough economic times, this news is particularly devastating as it means without wealth and assets, black women who lose their jobs or have a financial emergency will have very few reserves to draw upon to get them through.

Over the last few decades, black women have made tremendous strides in terms of educational attainment, entering careers with high income potential and homeownership. However, these gains have met with rollbacks and have not necessarily translated to wealth or assets. In fact, in the case of homeownership, black women were 256 percent more likely than white men to receive subprime loans. And upper-income black women were nearly five times more likely than white men to be saddled with high-cost mortgages.

Low-income black women and single mothers also have a difficult time accumulating wealth and savings. Black single mothers with children under 18 have a median net wealth of zero compared to $7,970 of wealth held by white women with children under the age of 18. Among black families, 68 percent of black women have no net financial savings and live from paycheck to paycheck.

The question is what keeps black women from accumulating wealth and assets? The answer is manifold.

First, there is a prevailing myth that income equals wealth. Many people measure their economic well-being by how much money they bring in the door each month. This is a mistake. While the income gap between black women and white women is relatively small, the wealth gap between the two groups is huge—$100.00 compared to $41,500.00. Income can help lay the foundation to build wealth and accumulate assets, but without access to savings and pension plans, prime financial institutions and wealth building information and resources, the likelihood that income will translate into measurable wealth is slim.

Low-income women and single mothers have it the hardest in terms of building wealth over time because much of their income is dedicated to basic necessities and child care. It is estimated that over one-third of the income of single mothers goes to child care costs while the rest is spent on housing and food, leaving very little to sock away for an emergency. For women who receive public assistance, there is a cap on how much money they can have in a savings account.

Institutional and structural barriers also exist that impede Black women’s ability to accumulate wealth. Historically, African Americans and people of color were excluded from many of the policies that allowed whites to accumulate wealth and transfer wealth and assets from generation to generation. In addition to laws and policies that restricted blacks from owning property or prevented access to quality jobs, parallel laws prevented women from owning property or obtaining credit in their names.

Occupational segmentation has also played a role in preventing black women from accumulating wealth and assets. African Americans are more likely to be segregated in occupations that are temporary in nature or service-related. These jobs generally are less flexible, have fewer benefits and lower pay. African-American women are over-represented in service occupations at 27 percent compared to white women at 17 percent and underrepresented in management level or professional positions at just over 5 percent.

Taken collectively, all of these factors have contributed to the lack of wealth and assets among black women. When we look beyond the numbers, we see that the impact is far reaching and lasting. Lack of wealth easily translates into less money to transfer to future generations, less money to help pay for her children’s education, and less money to live on in retirement, among other things.

What can be done?

Last week, Forbes magazine released its latest list of the world’s richest people. On it, there are 38 new billionaires. The wealth gap continues to not only widen, but deepen.

The wealth gap is a systemic and structural problem that took decades to create. It is not new and it did not happen overnight. Policies to correct the gap will have to address existing and entrenched structural and institutional barriers to asset and wealth accumulation from predatory lending practices to the lack of financial institutions in communities of color to discriminatory hiring practices.

In overhauling the financial system and dedicated money to economic recovery, the Administration has an extraordinary opportunity to level the playing field and ensure that all individuals have equal access to resources to help build wealth and assets.

Dr. C. Nicole Mason is the Executive Director of the Women of Color Policy Network at the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.