The Feminization of Poverty: Causes and Solutions

What Is the Feminization of Poverty?

While poverty is a terrible condition for all who suffer it, more often than not, poverty wears a woman's face. Quite simply, women are more likely to be poor than men — almost universally, regardless of the nation in which they reside. Women make less money than men, are more likely to bear sole responsibility for caring for children, and single mothers face the dual burden of being the primary income earner for their families. Women are also more likely to have been denied adequate resources to gain an education that would secure a stable wage, and they are more likely to work in lower-paying, low-status occupations.

The term "feminization of poverty" was first used by sociologists in the 1970s to describe "a steep significant rise in the percent of all families in poverty headed by women between 1959 and 1979, followed by a leveling off after 1987 at approximately 50%" (Mykyta & Renwick, 2013, p. 6). Approximately 60% of all families living in poverty are headed by women, a figure that has remained constant since 1979, despite the advancements of the women's rights movement (Mykyta & Renwick, 2013, p. 6).

The greater risk of poverty for women holds true across all races and age groups: "26.5% of African-American women are poor compared to 22.3% of African-American men; 23.6% of Hispanic women are poor compared to 19.6% of Hispanic men; 10.7% of Asian women are poor compared to 9.7% of Asian men; and 11.6% of white women are poor compared to 9.4% of white men" (Cawthorne, 2008). Although non-white women from historically marginalized groups suffer from poverty to a greater degree, the contributing factors of female poverty clearly impact all racial groups to some extent.

The Economic Impact of Divorce on Women

One disturbing trend in relation to the feminization of poverty is that while most men who divorce either maintain their economic status or improve it, women experience a decline in economic security after divorce. "In 2009, during the recession, women who divorced in the previous year were more likely to receive public assistance than men, and they reported lower household income. They were also more likely to be poor than recently divorced men" (Weiss, 2011). Despite the common cultural stereotype that women receive abundant child support and alimony from their former husbands, women often find themselves bearing the greater burden of childcare and are forced to work less in order to adequately care for their children.

Women may also have forestalled their careers to have children during the marriage, further limiting their skills and marketability. Combined with the wage gap between men and women, divorce is often an economic catastrophe for women and female-headed households. Women may feel as if they are forced to choose between an unfulfilling marriage and economic uncertainty.

It should be noted that the fact that women earn less than men is not necessarily linked to the claim that women choose less lucrative professions, as is sometimes alleged. According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, "in 2015, female full-time workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 21%. Women, on average, earn less than men in virtually every single occupation" ("About pay inequality and discrimination," 2016). Lower incomes mean that women are less able to support themselves and their children in the event of single motherhood or divorce. It also means that even single women have less money to save for retirement, less money to invest throughout their lives, and this has a compounding effect over the lifetime of the earner.

Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap

Although the wage gap is true regardless of occupation, it is also important to recognize that women are often socially pressured — or perceive themselves to be socially pressured — into lower-paying occupations. Women are less likely to major in lucrative subjects such as STEM fields and are often encouraged to work in "teaching, child care, nursing, cleaning, and waitressing, which typically pay less than jobs in industries that are male-dominated. In 2007, nearly half — 43% — of the 29.6 million employed women in the United States were clustered in just 20 occupational categories, of which the average annual median earnings were $27,383" (Cawthorne, 2008). Even when women pursue college degrees — as they are doing in ever greater numbers — they do not necessarily leverage those degrees in ways that achieve greater economic stability.

References

About pay inequality and discrimination. (2016). Institute for Women's Policy Research. Retrieved from

Cawthorne, A. (2008). The straight facts about women in poverty. The Center for American Progress. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/report/2008/10/08/5103/the-straight-facts-on-women-in-poverty/

Imbery, L. (2014). The intersection of poverty and domestic violence. Coalition on Human Needs. Retrieved from

Mykyta, L., & Renwick, T. (2013). Changes in poverty measurement: An examination of the research SPM and its effects by gender. U.S. Census Bureau Working Paper. Retrieved from

Weiss, C. (2011). Divorce is costly for women. UConn Today. Retrieved from http://today.uconn.edu/2011/09/divorce-is-costly-for-women/