Women and Poverty essays

Women and Poverty essays World poverty is a social welfare issue that has plagued nearly every society, more specifically women in poverty. The issue of women and poverty and the Feminization of Poverty is a very disturbing issue indeed. The way our society is built and a history of oppression has lead to the inequalities in the genders. This inequality and social status is among the reasons for this trend of Feminization of Poverty. The trend of the Feminization of Poverty is not new throughout the world. It is however a new trend in America. Feminization of Poverty simply means that a larger number of people in poverty are women. The gap between women and men in poverty has continued to grow in the past decade. Reasons for this increasing gap come from many different levels of our society. The majority of the 1.5 billion people living on $1 dollar a day or less are women. Through out the world women earn just above fifty cents on every mans dollar. This proves that even in a working society that women are oppressed and rewarded less for their efforts. This impact of this difference becomes stronger as income decreases. As women approach poverty they are denied critical items such as land, housing, and credit. This denial comes sooner for women than men because on average they are earning less. This creates a poverty cycle nearly impossible to escape. Governments throughout the world have recognized the gender dimension of poverty. This has lead to implementation of politics to help eradicate this problem. Unfortunately it is difficult if not impossible to change the views and actions of an entire society. Even at the level of the family, a smaller amount of reward is given to women than to men. This seems to radiate out into society and creates gender inequality. Factors that have lead to the increasing gender dimension in poverty stem from the changes to the institution of the family. In America the current divorce rate ...