About Us

Who Are Displaced Homemakers?

• Most Displaced Homemakers are women.
  
• They have been working at home caring for family members and relying on others for financial support.
  
• A woman becomes “Displaced” when she loses financial support through death, separation, divorce, or disability of a spouse.
  
• There are over half a million Displaced Homemakers between the ages of 30 and 66 in New Jersey. Most are not eligible for public assistance, worker’s compensation, or unemployment benefits.
  
• In 1979 the New Jersey Displaced Homemakers Act was signed into law to establish displaced homemakers centers.

Displaced Homemakers often face economic hardship and emotional turmoil during this transition. Having worked in the home for a number of years, Displaced Homemakers are skilled workers with positive work ethics who cannot earn a livable wage.

Displaced Homemakers remain the greatest untapped resource. Their skills from homemaking are technical, diverse and multi-dimensional. Displaced Homemakers must enter the work force to support their families, but they face significant barriers to economic self-sufficiency. These women often face age discrimination in the hiring process and in the work place. With the failure of one out of two marriages there is an increasing need to focus not only on services relating to job search assistance, but also to help the women through enhancement of self-esteem and self-confidence.

Everyone knows a Displaced Homemaker. Think about it… We know who these Displaced Homemakers are, because they are our mothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, and neighbors who struggle to meet life’s challenges.

WOC Services Available to Displaced Homemakers

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