Feminization of Poverty
Women Constitute the Majority of the World's Poor
70 per cent of the world's poor are women. The majority of the 1.5 billion people living on $1 a day or less are women.
The gap between men and women caught in the cycle of poverty has continued to widen in recent years. This alarming trend is referred to as ‘the feminization of poverty’.
According to the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, women living in poverty are often denied access to critical resources such as credit, land and inheritance. Their labour goes unrewarded and unrecognized. Their health care and nutritional needs are not given priority, they lack sufficient access to education and support services, and their participation in decision-making at home and in the community are minimal. Caught in the cycle of poverty, women lack access to resources and services to change their situation.
What Causes the Feminization of Poverty?
A UNESCO report on the feminization of poverty found that some of the contributing factors are:
The growth of female-headed households
According to Mayra Buvinic, author of the paper "Women in Poverty: A New Global Underclass", a main reason for the greater poverty of these families is the lower earnings of the women heading them. Worldwide, women on average earn just over 50 per cent of what men are earning. Often, women obtain low-wage work because of persistent sexual discrimination in terms of employment and wages.
Intra-household inequalities and bias against women and girls
The vast majority of Pakistani women, especially rural women, suffer intra-household inequalities (a patriarchal family situation), a discriminatory legal system, and extreme poverty.
What Can Be Done - The Beijing Platform for Action
The Beijing Platform for Action resulted from the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. It was negotiated and adopted by over 180 countries that attended the conference.
The Beijing Platform for Action blueprint highlighted twelve critical areas of concern, one of which was ‘women and poverty’. It urged the international community, governments and civil society to act in a number of ways:
- Review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic policies and development strategies that address the needs and effort of women in poverty.
- Revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women’s equal rights and access to economic resources.
- Provide women with access to savings and credit mechanisms and institutions.
- Develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the feminization of poverty.
The Beijing Platform for Action reported that the number of women living in poverty had increased disproportionately to the number of men, particularly in developing countries. In addition to economic factors, the rigidity of socially ascribed gender roles and women’s limited access to power, education, training and productive resources was also responsible.
Women Looking to the Future
The United Nations review and appraisal of the Beijing Platform for Action found that significant advances have been made. Many governments now recognise that there is a gender dimension to poverty, with policies specifically addressing the needs of women. Many countries have offered micro-credit to rural and poor women and it has proven to be popular and successful. Some governments have introduced programmes to help counter the increases in female-headed households.
Women need to be able to actively participate in economic and political life. Empowering women is a critical factor in stopping the cycle of poverty.
Other important issues linked to the advancement of women’s rights are education, health, work, the environment, violence against women, media and the girl child.
For more information, the United Nations Women Watch website is a good place to start.
