2. A phenomenon in which women
represent a disproportionate
percentage of the world’s poor.
3. What is feminisation???
Biology
hormonally induced development of female
sexual characteristics
Activity
a sexual or lifestyle practice where a person
assumes a female role
Sociology
a perceived societal shift of gender roles
towards the characteristically female
4. Contd…
• Feminisation of agriculture
• Feminisation of face
• Feminisation of language
• Feminisation of migration
• Feminisation of poverty
• Feminisation of voice
• Feminisation of workspace
5. “ The burden of poverty borne by women,
especially in developing countries”.
- United Nations
Development fund for Women (UNIFEM)
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and
the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN)
6. Causes of Feminisation of Poverty
• Lack of income
• Deprivation of capabilities
• Gender biases present in both societies and
Govts.
• Poverty in choices and opportunities such as
ability to lead a healthy, long and creative life
• Poverty in basic rights like freedom, respect and
dignity.
• Etc…..
7. Diana Pearce (1978)
The term Feminisation of Poverty first coined
by Diana Pearce in 1978.
according to Pearce’s research, two third of
the poor who were over age 16 were women
8.
9. 1) Disparate Income
• Principle reason - lack of income
• Prevents women from attaining resources and
converting their monetary resources into socio
economic status
• Deprives women of their basic needs &
capabilities
• Since women disproportionately earn less than
men, they are deprived of basic education and
health care – eventually leads to a cycle to
debilitate women's ability to earn higher income.
10. Contd….
• Deprivation passes from one generation to
other – leads to a perpetual feminisation of
poverty
• Main reason of the cycle of poverty among
women- lower income- due to care for their
offspring
• Persistent gender discrimination among
labour- never allow the majority of women
quality work
11. 2) Single mother households
• Households with female headships
-due to men may be 1) migrant workers
2) illness
3) death
• At highest risk of poverty due to lack of income and resources
• Single mothers are poorest women in the society and their children
tend to be disadvantaged in comparison to their peers
• Female headed households only have two third of the income of
male headed households
• Lack critical resources in life – worsens their poverty
• Lack of essential life needs comparing to men
12. 3) Social and Cultural exclusions
• Prevents women from attaining formal
employment
• Never allow women to have much labour
productivity, outside the home as well as an
economic bargaining position with in the
household
• Social inequality deprives women’s capabilities
particularly employment- leads to women having
poverty
• Increase in gender segregation and gender wage
gap increases women’s susceptibility to poverty
13. Measures of poverty
• An important aspect of analysing the feminization of
poverty is understanding how it is measured.
• Income is the only base to measure women’s poverty
• Have to examine this issue from a multidimensional basis-
there must be an accurate research
• Three indexes often examined are
- Gender Related Development Index
- Gender Empowerment Index
- Human poverty Index
• First two are gendered indices- gather data on women to
evaluate gender inequalities and to understand disparities
in gender opportunities and choices
14. Contd…
• HPI focuses on deprivation measures rather than income measures
• HPI is multidimensional and non income based approach.
• Consider four dimensions:
-survival
-knowledge
-decent standard of living
-social participation
• HPI fails to examine certain deprivations such as lack of property
ownership and credit – essential for bargaining position I the household
for women
• GDI adjusts the Human Development Index in three ways
- Shows longevity, or life-expectancy of females and males
-Education or knowledge
-Decent standard of living
15. Multidimensional Approach
• Capability approach: studies different aspects
of poverty that can enable people, especially
women, to become agents of their own lives.
• Address the feminisation of poverty should
focus on the opportunities and personal
choices available to the women
16. 1) Health
• Gender inequality in society prevents women
from utilizing care services and put them at a
risk of poor health
• Women in poverty are more vulnerable to
sexual violence and risk of HIV/AIDS
• Poor health – key factor in household poverty
• Govt. should increase health services to
mitigate the feminisation in poverty
17. 2)Education
• Gender discrimination and social hierarchy- social
level
• For the education of male siblings- household
level
• An important aspect of the capabilities is:
- freedom to make informed choices
- have opportunities to achieve goals
- basic requirement to actively use the resources
and
- information of basic education
18. Contd….
• Enables to:
- reduce the household poverty
- increases children’s chance to get education
- enhances maternal health
- increase the freedom of movement
• Women who achieve greater education are
more likely to worry about their children's
survival, nutrition, and school attendance
19. 3) Decision-making power
• Is central to the bargaining position of women
within the household
• About women’s health, their ability to go and visit
friends or families and household expenditure-
decision made by men
• Gender discrimination within the household
rooted in patriarchal biases against social status
of women
• Major determinants of house hold bargaining
power- control of income and assets, age and
access to and level of education
20. 4) Employment
• Gives financial independence
• Higher security to established legal position
• Real world experiences
• Deeply importance for sheltered or shy
women
• Gives better bargaining position
21. Contd…
• Formal and informal employment
• Formal - govt. regulated, insured wages and
rights
• Informal - taken place in small, unregistered
enterprises
- large source of employment for
women
22. Contd…
• Burden of care worker – women work longer
and harder than men
• Having children
23. Racialization
• Minority women in the United States,
specifically Black and Latin women are twice
as likely as white women to be living in
poverty.
• Family structure
• Education
• Access to higher paying jobs
24. Comparison of need of money for men
and women
• Shoulder the fiscal and physical responsibility for
their children
• Unique healthcare problems/access problems
related to reproduction increasing both their
healthcare costs and risks
• Tend to be charged more than men for similar
products and services
• Females tend to live five years longer; i.e. their
funds need to last five years longer than men's
funds.