Feminization of poverty connects with poverty
Feminization of poverty refers to a trend of increasing inequality in living standards between men and women due to the widening gender gap in poverty. This phenomenon largely links to how women and children are disproportionately represented within the lower socioeconomic status community in comparison to men within the same socioeconomic status. Causes of the feminization of poverty include the structure of family and household, employment, sexual violence, education, climate change, femonomics and health. The traditional stereotypes of women remain embedded in many cultures restricting income opportunities and community involvement for many women. Matched with a low foundation income, this can manifest to a cycle of poverty and thus an inter-generational issue.
Entrepreneurship is usually perceived as the cure-all solution for deprivation depletion. Advocates assert that it guides to job design, higher earnings, and lower deprivation prices in the towns within it happens. Others disagree that numerous entrepreneurs are generating low-capacity companies helping regional markets.This term was originated in the US, towards the end of the twentieth century and maintains prominence as a contested international phenomenon. Some researchers describe these issues as prominent in some countries of Asia, Africa and areas of Europe. Women in these countries are typically deprived of income, employment opportunities and physical and emotional help putting them at the highest risk of poverty. This phenomenon also differs between religious groups, dependent on the focus put on gender roles and how closely their respective religious texts are followed.
Feminisation of poverty is primarily measured using three international indexes. These indexes are the Gender Development Index , the Gender Empowerment Measure and the Human Poverty Index. These indexes focus on issues other than monetary or financial issues. These indexes focus on gender inequalities, standard of living and highlight the difference between human poverty and income poverty.History
The concept of the 'feminization of poverty' dates back to the 1970s and became popular in the 1990s through some United Nations documents. It became a prominent in popular society after a study focusing on gender patterns in the evolution of poverty rates in the United States was released.
The feminization of poverty is a relative concept based on a women-men comparison. For instance, feminisation of poverty is if poverty in a society is distinctly reduced among men and is only slightly reduced among women.Definitions
The feminization of poverty is a contested idea with a multitude of meanings and layers. Marcielo M. and Joana C. define feminization of poverty in two parts: feminization, and poverty. Feminization designates gendered change; something becoming more feminine, by extension more familiar or severe among women or female-headed households. Poverty is a deficit of resources or abilities. Marcielo M. and Joana C. (2008) likewise depicts the escalating role that gender discrimination has in determining poverty. For instance, an increase of wage discrimination between males and females which can also exacerbates poverty among women and men of all types of families. Medieros considers this possibility as a feminization of poverty because it denotes the relation between the biases against women and a rise in poverty. In numerous cases, Medieros claims that such alleged changes in the causes of poverty will result in one of the types of the feminization of poverty, that is, the relative changes in the poverty levels of women and female-headed households.The concept also served to illustrate the many social and economic factors contributing to women's poverty, including the significant gender pay gap between women and men.The term originates in the US and its prominence as an international phenomenon is contested. The proportion of female-headed households whose incomes fall below the "poverty line" has been broadly adopted as a measure of women's poverty. [Feminist sources]In many countries, household consumption and expenditure surveys show a high incidence of female-headed households among the "poor," defined as those whose incomes fall below the poverty line.There are two assumptions underlying income-based measures of poverty according to Bessell S (2010). First, there is that tendency to equate income with the ability to control income. While women may control earned income, the limits on poor women's financial sovereignty have been well demonstrated. [detail sources] An income-based measure may hide the extent and nature of poverty when women earn an income but have no control over those earnings, claims Bessel. While the question of who controls income is a delicate matter for women, it is also relevant to the position and well-being of men. Societies that place upon individuals a heavy communal, kinship or clan-based obligation may end in both women and men having limited control over individual income.
Second, is the assumption that income creates equal access and generates equal benefits. Access to education illustrates the point. While lack of financial resources may result in low enrollment or high drop-out rates among poor children, social values around the role of women and the importance of formal education for girls are likely to be more meaningful in demonstrating the difference between male and female enrolment rates. Bessel claims.Causes
Factors that place women at high risk of poverty include change of family structure, gender wage gaps , women's prevalence in low-paid occupations[[[Category:All articles with unsourced statements]]], a lack of work-family supports , and the challenges involved in accessing public benefits. Feminisation of poverty is a problem which may be most severe in parts of South Asia, and may also differ by social class. Although low income is the major cause, there are many interrelated facets of this problem. Lone mothers are usually at the highest risk for extreme poverty [source?] because their income is insufficient to rear children. The image of a "traditional" woman and a traditional role still influences many cultures in today's world and is still not in full realization that women are essential part of the economy. In addition, income poverty lowers their children's possibilities for good education and nourishment. Low income is a consequence of the social bias women face in trying to obtain formal employment, which in turn deepens the cycle of poverty. Beyond income, poverty manifests in other dimensions such as time poverty and capability deprivations. Poverty is multidimensional, and therefore economic, demographic, and socio-cultural factors all overlap and contribute to the establishment of poverty. It is a phenomenon with multiple root causes and manifestations.Climate change
According to MacGregor, women are more likely to be poor, and to be responsible for the care of poor children, than men. According to MacGregor, approximately 70 percent of the world's poor are women; rural women developing countries are among the most disadvantaged groups on the planet. They are therefore unlikely to have the necessary resources to cope with the changes brought by climate change, and very likely to suffer a worsening of their everyday conditions, says MacGregor. MacGregor also says that poor women are more likely to be hurt or killed by natural disasters and extreme weather events than men. 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. Since poverty and climate change are closely linked, the poorest and most disadvantaged groups often depend on climate-sensitive livelihoods like agriculture, which makes them disproportionately vulnerable to climate change. These groups lack the resources required to weather severe climatic effects like better houses and drought-resistant crops. 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. The extent to which people are impacted by climate change is partially a function of their social status, power, poverty, and access to and control over resources. Women are more vulnerable to the influences of climate change since they make up the bulk of the world's poor  and are more dependent for their livelihood on natural resources that are threatened by climate change [more dependent than men on natural resources??]. 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. There are three main arguments in association to women and climate change. Firstly, that women need special attention because they are the poorest of the poor; secondly, because they have a higher mortality rate during natural disasters caused by climate change and thirdly because women are more environmentally conscious. While the first two refer mainly to the women in the South, the last is especially apparent in the literature on gender and climate change in the North. The feminization of poverty has been used to illustrate differences between male and female poverty in a given context as well as changes in male and female poverty over time. Typically, this approach has fed the perception that female-headed households, however, defined, tend to be poorer than other households. Women are clearly more disadvantaged than men by poor household infrastructure or the lack of piped water and less-consuming energy sources, according to Gammage.India
The poverty that women experience in India is known as human poverty, or issues of inadequate food, housing, education, healthcare, sanitation, poor developmental policies, and more. Poverty has been prevalent in India for many years, but there was a noticeable increase after globalization in 1991 when the International Monetary Fund instilled a structural adjustment program (SAP) in order to give India a loan. Large amounts of capital flowed into the country but also led to the exploitation of the Indian market, particularly of women for their cheap labor. This reduced their opportunities for education and escape from the poverty trap.The Indian Constitution has proclaimed that all citizens have equal rights, but this is not always practiced by all Indians. Sex-selective abortion is a wide phenomenon in India in which males are preferentially selected. In order to get married, it is normal to see the girl's family paying dowry to the male's family. This leads to more sex-selective abortion as females are more costly for the family, and less focus on female development.