This study examined battering and traumatic stress in the lives of 122 enrollees in a short-term job readiness program. Nearly half had experienced violence or serious injury in their current or most recent intimate relationship and one-third reported traumatic stress symptoms. Study findings help assess the relative importance of potential barriers to welfare-to-work transition, including character and human capital deficits, gendered caring responsibilities and battering and its consequences. Prevalence and effects of different potential obstacles to welfare-to-work program participation suggest four points: (1) Employment options for these women are slim; (2) Pressures for program completion are strong and operate without regard to recipients’ personal circumstances; (3) Battering definitely makes a difference; and (4) The fact that possible outcomes include finding a job as well as completing or dropping out of the program adds considerable complexity to the assessment of feminist assumptions about gendered caring, battering, and its consequences. However, the study concludes that feminist accounts that include battering explain program participation outcomes better than accounts that focus only on deficits. Tables, notes, references