As a result, two families in two neighborhoods of the same city, classified as having the same income, may in fact require very different income levels to avoid poverty. Simplistic definitions of poverty also ignore the deprivations in quality of life when families respond to falling incomes and rising prices by, for example, taking children out of school to earn money for the family or having one parent move to where job possibilities are better. Quality of life decreases when a family must move in search of cheaper housing. These effects are being highlighted in the current economic crises in some DMCs. Poverty reduction programs have to be widened to accommodate such diversity.
Households headed by women, more common in cities, are particularly vulnerable to poverty.
Women generally have more limited access to education, and suffer disparities in employment opportunities and wage levels compared to their male counterparts. Women have the additional burdens of culture and tradition that can manifest in legal and social obstacles to access to land. Faced with limited opportunities and the necessity to meet basic needs, many poor women are forced into highly vulnerable and dangerous jobs in the commercial sex industry and other degrading means of employment. Additionally, domestic violence poses a serious, and largely unacknowledged, threat to women. Urban poverty has many causes.