It hasn't been in the news much lately. Yet women remain among the poorest of the poor in Canada, and the percentage of women living in poverty is growing. In fact, there has been virtually no improvement in women's poverty since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada issued its report some 30 years ago. About half of all women aged 65 or older who were on their own were living in poverty when the Royal Commission issued its report. 65 or older have low incomes.
Most poor people live thousands of dollars below the poverty line.
Over the past 20 years, the depth of poverty has worsened for those for whom the poverty gap was already the worst. The National Council of Welfare says it was shocked to discover that the number of families and individuals living at less than half the poverty line has actually increased. Clearly there has been a sharp increase in the ranks of the poorest of the poor since 1989, says the Council, as governments at all levels cut back services and income supports. Many people have assumed that, as more and more women entered the paid labour force, their earnings would lift them and their families out of poverty. And it's true that the earnings of married women have done much to keep family poverty rates down.