This special issue of the Journal is devoted to describing the plight of women receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the potentially adverse impact of the new welfare reform legislation. When Congress passed and the President signed the welfare law in August 1996, they committed themselves to putting low-income women to work. Overlooking the needs of very young children, they based their legislation on the American ethic of self-reliance, autonomy, and independence (not interdependence). As the articles in this issue describe, lawmakers have ignored the ways in which these women's multiple roles as parents, homemakers, and breadwinners interplay in a labor market where entry-level jobs do not pay livable wages. (Author)