Feminization of poverty
[1] Causes of the feminization of poverty include the structure of family and household, employment, sexual violence, education, climate change, "femonomics" and health.
Women in these countries are typically deprived of income, employment opportunities and physical and emotional help putting them at the highest risk of poverty.
For instance, an increase of wage discrimination [citation needed] between males and females which can also exacerbates poverty among women and men of all types of families.
[24] Single mother households relate to gender inequality issues as women are more susceptible to poverty and lack essential life needs in comparison to men.
[30] The ability to materially control one's environment by gaining equal access to work that is humanizing and allows for meaningful relationships with other workers is an essential capability.
Employment establishes higher security and real world experience which elevates regard within families settings and increases bargaining positions for women.
[35] Women that are victims of these sexual violence acts have a difficult time escaping the life due to abuse of power, organised crime, and insufficient laws to protect them.
[45] MacGregor also claims that there is evidence to suggest that when households experience food shortages, women tend to go without so that their children may eat, with all the health implications this brings for them.
[48] This diminished adaptive capacity makes them even more vulnerable, pushing them to take part in unsustainable environmental practices such as deforestation in order to maintain their well-being.
Limited mobility combined with unequal access to resources and to decision-making processes places women in rural areas in a position where they are disproportionately affected by climate change.
[49] Women are clearly more disadvantaged than men [dubious – discuss] by poor household infrastructure or the lack of piped water and less-consuming energy sources, according to Gammage.
[60] In 2009 Gornick et al. found that older women (over 60) were typically much wealthier than their national average in Germany, US, UK, Sweden and Italy (data from 1999 to 2001).
[64] Other ailments such as malnutrition and parasite burden can weaken the mother and create a dangerous environment, making sex, birth, and maternal care riskier for poor women.
In order to refund their loans, women are usually required to undergo the 'disempowering' process of having to work harder as wage laborers, while also encountering a growing gendered resource divide at the domestic level.
[87] Time poverty is a serious constraint on individual well-being as it prevents having sufficient rest and sleep, enjoying leisure, and taking part in community or social life.
Also, 'social exclusion' perspectives, which highlight the marginalization of the poor; and frameworks which stress the significance of subjective dimensions of poverty such as self-esteem, dignity, choice, and power.
Poor women are more vulnerable to chronic diseases because of material deprivation and psychosocial stress, higher levels of risk behavior, unhealthy living conditions and limited access to good quality healthcare.
Stillwaggon argues that in sub-Saharan Africa poverty associated with high-risk for HIV transmission adds to the stigma and social risk for women and girls in particular.
Poverty and its correlates like malnutrition and parasite burden can weaken the host and create a dangerous environment, making sex and birth and medical care riskier for poor women.
[90] Especially in parts of Asia, North Africa, and Latin America, the cultural and social norms do not allow women to have much labor productivity outside the home as well as an economic bargaining position within the household.
Its relevance, however, continues to be integral to the understanding of the feminization of poverty, as countries with lower scores may then be then stimulated to focus on policies to assess and reduce gender disparities.
Despite its uses, however, it is important to note that HPI cannot be a true measure of poverty because it fails to examine certain deprivations, such as lack of property ownership and credit, that are essential to a stronger bargaining position in the household for women.
[99] Although China has grown tremendously in its economy over the past years, its economic growth has had minimal effect on decreasing the number of women below the poverty line.
Although women in East Asia had greater access to employment, they faced job segregation in export industries, which placed them at a high risk of poverty.
As a result, Chinese women are granted greater access to health services, employment opportunities, and general recognition for their important contributions to the economy and society.
[90] Women in Africa face considerable barriers to achieving economic equality with their male counterparts due to a general lack of property rights, access to credit, education and technical skills, health, protection against gender-based violence, and political power.
[102] The longer workdays can be attributed to the cultural expectations of women to perform forms of unpaid labor such as gathering firewood, drawing water, childcare, eldercare, and housework.
This approach quantifies the number of poor individuals and households but does not take into account how the impoverished population lacks basic needs such as housing, food, health and education.
[114] If women leave their children and work they are often left in the hands of a poor care taker (possibly the eldest daughter) and don't get enough resources for development.
Microcredit is a tool design to hopefully alleviate poverty given that women living in developing countries have very few resources and connections for survival due to not having a solid financial foundation.
