Feminization Of Poverty Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The term feminization of poverty is used to explain the fact that women and their dependent children make up the bulk of the world’s poor. The term was coined in 1976 by sociologist Diana Pearce. In developing nations, poverty may be the result of a heavy dependence on the agricultural sector and the lack of government resources. In some countries, women and children eke out a scant existence by working the land while older males labor in more affluent neighboring nations to ensure the family’s survival. In developed countries, women become poor through divorce, insufficient employment opportunities, low levels of education, or exclusion from decision-making processes. Those who reject the concept of the feminization of poverty generally do so because they view women as extensions of men or because they view the problem of poverty as non–gender related.

In all societies, women’s work is devalued in relation to men’s with the result that women are paid less for doing the same work even in countries where laws promise equal pay for equal work. The inequities arise in part because women tend to cluster in lower-status female-dominated occupations. Globally, women earn one-half to three-fourths of the salaries paid to men. In some developing countries, women need their husbands’ permission to work, obtain passports, buy or sell property, secure bank loans, and open bank accounts. These are some of the same political issues that propelled the first wave of feminism in the United States and Europe during the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The problem of female poverty is so extensive that the United Nations has declared poverty “a violation of [women’s] human rights to health and well-being, food, adequate housing, a safe and healthy living environment, social security, employment and development.” The United Nations General Assembly designated 1996 the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty and subsequently established guidelines aimed at alleviating the feminization of poverty.

The United States

Despite the fact that the United States is the most heavily developed nation in the world with a per capita income of $41,000, 12 percent of the population lives in poverty. It has been estimated that 57.2 percent of all Americans living below the poverty line are female and that one in every four American children under the age of six lives in poverty. Among Americans who earn less than $4,000 annually, 70 percent are female. Minority women are more likely than white women to be poor. Current estimates place female poverty rates at 31.7 percent for black, 32.0 percent for Hispanic, and 12.6 percent for white people. In contrast, 24.7 percent of male poor are black, 26.8 percent are Hispanic, and 9.8 percent are white.

In addition to sex and race, common factors associated with poverty are single parenthood, low levels of education, and a lack of marketable skills. Women are economically vulnerable after divorce because men often fail to pay child support, and alimony is rare among lower economic levels. Mothers who have been out of the job market raising children often find it difficult after a divorce to reenter the work world where advancing technology rapidly changes skill requirements.

Women with small children have an additional disadvantage as workers because they must find safe and affordable child care. An overhaul of the welfare system under President Bill Clinton broadened the safety net for mothers on welfare through job programs and extended periods of subsidized health care for low-income working mothers. However, many low-income women never receive welfare and must depend on families, friends, and churches for support when fathers fail to shoulder their responsibilities.

Even if they do find jobs, women are faced with pay inequities. In 1960, women earned 60.7 percent of male wages. Within two decades, that number had dropped by 0.5 percent. After 1981, in response to the women’s movement and new laws, the wage gap steadily decreased. Yet even as wages for women in the general population grew, the extent of poverty among female-headed families rose to one in five as a result of social programs eliminated or slashed under the Reagan administration. By 2004, still far from equity, the wage gap narrowed to 77.0 percent.

Europe

Poor women in Europe face many of the same problems as do those in the United States. Part-time work is a major factor in the feminization of poverty, and large numbers of European women, particularly single mothers and those in Northern Europe, work part-time. In the Netherlands, 88 percent of women are so employed. The wage gap is also large among European women and has changed little during the past several decades except in Britain (68 percent), Portugal (72 percent), Denmark (85 percent), and France (81 percent). Unlike women in the United States, poor European women have access to strong safety nets that assist those in need.

Among all countries of the world, Finland and Sweden serve as role models for preventing the feminization of poverty. Parents share responsibility for children, and extensive social welfare systems keep single-parent families from falling into poverty, in part because of government-supported daycare centers and liberal paid parental leave policies.

The Middle East

Women in much of the Middle East are denied political and economic rights because of religious and cultural dictates. The most extreme example is Afghanistan, where Islamic law is enforced by the Taliban. Afghani women are barred from the workplace, and restrictions on female education result in a female literacy rate of only 21 percent. Domestic violence is prevalent; but if women leave abusive husbands, they are left without means of support.

Afghani women are frequently prevented from receiving necessary health care because they cannot be treated by male doctors. With a fertility rate of 6.69 children per woman, females suffer from a variety of pregnancy-related conditions. Lack of access to health care is particularly devastating among poor women because Afghanis face high risks of food and waterborne diseases such as hepatitis A and typhoid fever, and malaria is a constant threat from March to November.

In November 2006, Muslim women launched a campaign to end repression by holding a convention in Barcelona, Spain, to address issues that promote the feminization of poverty. The convention agenda specifically targeted polygamy, domestic violence, and Islamic laws that relegate women to inferior roles.

Hiv/Aids As A Factor In Poverty

Women in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia are the poorest in the world. They often live under appalling conditions in nations with low per capita incomes; low life expectancy; high infant, child, and maternal mortality rates; high incidences of preventable diseases; and limited access to education, health care, and social services. They may also lack access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. During the past few decades, women in these nations have been further impoverished by HIV/AIDS outbreaks that have reached epidemic proportions.

By the end of 2005, 24.5 million people in Africa were living with HIV/AIDS, with South Africa (21.5 percent) and Zambia (16.5 percent) experiencing the highest incidences. Women are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS because men are more likely to have multiple sex partners. In 2000, estimates by international organizations placed the number of children orphaned and impoverished in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean at 34.7 million and predicted that the number will reach 44 million within a decade.

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