what are the challanges to feminization of poverty?

Answer 1

1. Shortage of Good Ethical Men. I'm old school, and believe that men should take the lead and if the men in poverish neighborhoods are unethical, then the women will be too.

2. Pre-marital sex (STD's, Objectification of women, Self-Esteem)

3. Un-wed mothers. Families (Mom's, Dad's, Siblings, Aunts/Uncles) shunning these un-wed mothers. The families of the man who got the woman pregnant thinking that he has no responsibility in the situation; this includes his family (Mom, Dad, & Siblings).

4. Crimes within marriage - WIfe beating (emotional & physical), adultry, and divorce.

I'd say starting with the men is a huge step in curing the poverty --- then work your way down the list.

Answer 2

While co-founding a single parent center in the late 1980's the numbers then were pretty clear. At that time, divorce meant a substantial increase in the standard of living for the father and the gateway to poverty for the mom and kids. Thank God for tougher enforcement of child support laws.
To some extent I am astounded by some of the responses to this question. Feminists 'caused' poverty? Last time I checked, women carry the reproductive organs. They get pregnant and, yes, many choose to keep their babies. In my case, an unplanned pregnancy gave my staunch, pro-life parents license to disown me. I never spoke to them again. Today that pregnancy is my 21 year old son and they're both dead........I have no regrets
But one thing's for sure.......no matter how some people look at this issue........it's women's fault. One way or another......it's somehow really just about that woman or feminist women. LOL Good luck with that level of judgement. I honestly used to feel the same way...until I was the one that got pregnant.

Answer 3

Yes, what Alexandra has said, is true, to a point. However, there is much more than that.

Traditional roles have also played into the feminization of poverty. Women are expected to take care of the house and family, therefore often using more sick days for a sick child. A woman who decides to have a family must take maternity leave, and while there are federal laws madnating that you cannot fire someone for maternity leave, someone has to cover the responsiblities.

They are also encouraged to go into professions such as nursing or teaching. I want to go for my law degree and I had several men tell me, "Be a paralegal instead. You are too soft to be a lawyer." Paralegals, nurses, and teahcers all make significantly less.

There is also the cost of day care for children. With the rising numbers of divorce and single mothers, childcare is expensive. One lady I work with was talking about her daughter only working nights for a while, because if she went back to work during the day, 3/4 of her pay check would go to cover day care.

Finally there is the glass celieng and practices of hiring. I've researched this a while ago. More women are entering into law schools. However, if the top 3 students are Female, Female, Male, the Male will be hired to a firm first, because of pre-cvoncieved notion of women in law.

Answer 4

"Feminization of poverty" is a myth.

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/newsletters/WorkingPaper20.pdf

"There is no evidence of systematic over-representation of women among the poor around the world."

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=227084

"The popular view that there was a large increase in the percent of adult poor who are women and that this trend has accelerated in recent years is not supported by the data. There was considerable feminization of poverty in the 1960s, but in the 1970s, the sex mix of poverty was relatively constant, and between 1979 and 1984 women's share DECREASED."

The principal reason for women's increase in poverty may offer us some indication as to challenges involved in eliminating it, although it is not surprising:

"Statistical decomposition of the changes shows that an increase in the proportion of women in households without men was the principal source of feminization of poverty."

So we're talking about single mothers. Single mothers are poor?

Of course they are, there is no husband to support them.

So how do we reduce the "feminization of poverty that is actually equal to the masculinization of poverty"?

ELIMINATE SINGLE MOTHERS.

And this doesn't mean giving them payouts so that they have some sort of incentive to drag themselves and their children into poverty if they are too lazy to support the family on their own, this means making it HARDER for women to become single mothers by eliminating no fault divorce and sole maternal custody, moving children of single mothers who refuse to work into adoptive care and things like that.

Additionally one wonders that if women dislike poverty so much, why are 4 in 10 children still born out of wedlock despite freely available abortion, and why are 2/3 of divorces initiated by women and why is the reason given for divorce in 80% of cases "irreconcilable differences", rather than some actual case of abuse or something that would legitimately justify a divorce?

( Well actually we know, because they'd rather get child support and do nothing than be part of a healthy family environment. )

The biggest challenge to feminization of poverty is feminists insisting we underwrite the behaviour of irresponsible women.

Answer 5

Alexandra gives a very interesting perspective. It is true that sinlge mothers a far more likely to live in poverty than married women (not my idea - research says so). It is possible that the radical feminists have added to the problem they set out to fix by bashing men.

I think that ex-husbands who bail on their wives and children (dead beat dads), religions that do not promote equality such as Islam, teenage pregnancy (i.e., girl feels obligated to keep a child while the horny and irresponsible teenage boy takes off), and the current Hollywood fad of having a child out-of-wedlock, add to the feminization of poverty.

We have to deal with these issues if we hope to deal with poverty among females

Answer 6

Contrary to what feminists would have you believe, men and women pretty much get equal pay for EQUAL work. When someone throws around the "women get 75 cents for every dollar men make," it's pretty deceitful. They don't bother to take into account number of years worked, what kind of job, how many hours, etc. Take a man who's worked for 4 years at a job, and a woman who's worked for 3 years at the exact same job. The man makes a total of $100,000 for 4 years; the woman $75,000. The feminists will tell you, "See, the man made more" but they conveniently leave out that the man has been there longer, see what I'm saying?

If anything, feminism has LED to poverty. Feminism in addition to the sexual revolution (and the Roe travesty) has led to women living in poverty. Women don't bother getting married before having children and they're told that they don't need men (except for child support--and that's if he isn't BROKE), and it's a FACT that married women are better off financially!

Answer 7

Breaking through the glass ceiling in education and employment opportunities, with benefits and stock options! When women begin to make the same money for the same work that is what will end the poverty for women. If the script wer flipped andshoe were on the other foot with men were left to take care of their offsring the system would change, quickly! You would begin to see the cost of child care decrease. Men would not stand to be able to enjoy their lives after a break up.

Answer 8

The challenge is that feminists are transferring poverty to men.

Answer 9

The answer seems pretty obvious. I wonder why you cant figure this out on your own...laziness? I don't believe you're not intelligent enough, so laziness is the only excuse I can come up with.

Answer 10

HappyB's UNDP deliberately misleading "example" concerns female poverty rates in 8 Latin American countries (developing world) and therefore the data is of no value; as Americans. Canadians, Australians, etc, we live in the DEVELOPED world. Some problems are similar, others entirely different:

POVERTY AMONG WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA:
FEMINIZATION OR OVER-REPRESENTATION?*
Marcelo Medeiros and Joana Costa**

ABSTRACT
We propose two different concepts of feminization of poverty and analyze household survey data to verify if there is an ongoing feminization of poverty in eight Latin American countries, according to each of these concepts. We also verify if our results respond to changes in values of poverty lines and to different scenarios of intra-household inequalities, concluding that poverty may be higher among women, but there is no clear evidence of a recent and widespread feminization of poverty in the countries studied. "

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/newsletters/WorkingPaper20.pdf
*********************************************************
Here is data from a DEVELOPED country with Canada used as an example:

Who is likely to be poor?
A newborn child, just because she happens to be born female, is more likely to grow up to be poor as an adult. Women form the majority of the poor in Canada. One in seven[2] (2.4 million[3]) Canadian women is living in poverty today.

0.Women raising families by themselves: 51.6% of lone parent families headed by women are poor[4]. With many of these families, financial support agreements with the non-custodial parent (usually the father) are either not in place or in arrears.[5]

0.Senior women: Almost half (41.5%) of single, widowed or divorced (“unattached”) women over 65 are poor[6]. While the poverty rates for all seniors have improved overall, there is still a large gap between men and women. The poverty rate for all senior women is 19.3%, while that for senior men is 9.5%[7].

0.Women on their own: 35% of women on their own under 65, live in poverty.[8]

0.Women with disabilities: More women than men live with disabilities in Canada. Aboriginal people have twice the national disability rate[9]. Of all women with disabilities living in a household rather than an institution, and who had any income at all, those aged 35-54 had the highest incomes: an average of $17,000, which is 55% of men with disabilities in that age range. Women with disabilities under 35 had an average income of $13,000, and women with disabilities over 55 had an average income of under $14,000. The more severe a woman’s disability, the lower her income.[10]

0.Aboriginal women: The average annual income of Aboriginal women is $13,300, compared to $18,200 for Aboriginal men, and $19,350 for non-Aboriginal women.[11] 44% of the Aboriginal population living off reserve lives in poverty, but things are worse on reserve: Almost half (47%) of Aboriginal persons on reserve have an income of less than $10,000.[12] Aboriginal women are also more likely than Aboriginal men to be trapped in low-paying jobs[13], and because of the continuing effects of the Indian Act, they face insecurities related to housing, access to services and abuse both on and off reserve[14].

0.Women of colour: 37% of women of colour are low income, compared with 19% of all women. The average annual income for a woman of colour in Canada is $16,621, almost $3000 less than the average for other women ($19,495) and almost $7,000 less than that of men of colour ($23,635).[15] Women of colour are also overrepresented in precarious (part-time and temporary) work and often have to live in substandard, segregated housing. They are also more vulnerable to violence and other health risks[16].

0.Immigrant women: Education does not reduce the income gap between immigrant women and Canadian-born women. New immigrant women between the ages of 25-44 who have a university degree and who worked full-year, full-time earn $14,000 less than Canadian-born women.[17] This is partly because of overt racism, but also the structural racism of lack of recognition of foreign credentials and experience. New immigrant women, suffering from abuse, may have few options to escape this, if they are financially dependent on their male relative sponsors in Canada.

0.Lesbians: There is little information about the economic status of lesbians. We only have isolated bits and pieces to go by, such as a Winnipeg study that found that 14% of gay men over 65 reported incomes below the poverty line, compared with 42% of lesbian seniors.[18]

0.Migrant Women: Migrant women who are often refugees or foreign domestic workers are also particularly at risk of poverty and exploitation, as they are often forced to work in unregulated or hidden employment. Women make up the majority of migrant workers from Asia and many work here to sustain their families back home. They are paid low wages, and despite the fact that they contribute significantly to the Canadian economy, they are not entitled to many benefits such as EI[19].

0.Low wage earners: In Canada it is not enough to have a job to keep you out of poverty.[20] Most poor people do work full- or part-time.[21] Poverty level wages are a particular problem for women. Women and youth account for 83% of Canada’s minimum wage workers.[22] 37% of lone mothers with paid employment