When lawmakers cut back on state spending, the effects are not evenly distributed among Illinois residents. Already this session, we've seen the General Assembly rush through a pension reform bill that slashes pension benefits for future employees, even though current level of benefits are modest and state workers earn less than comparable workers in the public sector. If cuts to education and human services outlined in Gov. Pat Quinn's FY 2011 budget proposal are enacted, it's women and children who will bear much of the brunt.

Yesterday in Springfield, members of the Grassroots Collaborative unveiled a new report, "Gendered Cuts," that attempts to analyze the state's financial woes through the lens of gender and age. The impact on children is pretty obvious: Cuts to state education aid will lead to teacher layoffs, scaled-back programs, and larger classes, all of which make learning more difficult. Moreover, because of the state's education funding formula, low-income schools will be hit much harder than wealthier ones.

Equally depressing is the disproportionate effect spending cuts have on women. The problem is twofold. First, women are highly represented in the industries targeted for the largest cuts, such as educational services, health care, and social assistance industries.

Consider the Grow Your Own project, which provides financial aid to residents of low-income neighborhoods working to obtain a teaching degree in Illinois. While over 70 percent of teachers in the state are women, people of color are poorly represented in teacher colleges statewide. Grow Your Own fills a crucial void, offering assistance to high-quality talent that want to work in hard-to-staff schools, many in minority neighborhoods.

But the state cut 10 percent of the program's funding last year. This year, unless a specifically-targeted appropriations bill (HB 391) passes the State Senate, Grow Your Own may be forced to fold entirely. Joined by State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), Action Now's Tanya Gross emphasized the program's importance at the press conference yesterday. Watch:

Equally embattled are Illinois' long-term home care providers, 97 percent of whom are women. As we highlighted earlier this month, the state’s proposed FY11 budget includes a $140 million reduction in funding for the Community Care Program, which covers home care for over 50,000 Illinois seniors. These would strip vulnerable elderly patients of the treatment they need and send many towards more expensive nursing home options -- all while eliminating jobs for working women.

The second piece of the puzzle is that the social services  low-income women and children depend on are in serious danger of losing additional funding. The report focuses on a few issues we've covered in the past: homeless prevention programs, domestic violence protection services (85 percent of victims are female), and hunger programs (56 percent of food stamp users are female). From their conclusion:

The stories in this study beg the question not what will be cut, but who? The low-income mother with a year left of education towards her teaching degree? A new parent trying to get food for her baby? The senior woman holding on to her independence through in-home care? Behind every line item are thousands of women, children, and families who will have even fewer options and opportunities without state-funded support.

The General Assembly isn't any closer to a sustainable budget solution today than they were at the beginning of the session. If they leave town this spring without passing one, women and children will be the biggest losers.

Full disclosure: SEIU Healthcare IL/IN, whose Illinois State Council sponsors this website, is a member of the Grassroots Collaborative.