Poverty is a topic that worries all nations and governments around the globe. Every year, governmental and non-governmental actors come together in efforts to help reduce the number of people in poverty. However, a very important factor is often overlooked when implementing policies aimed at reducing poverty levels: the gender dimension. In 2020, 70% of people living in extreme poverty worldwide were women. Likewise, it was estimated that the vast majority of the 1.5 billion people living on 1 dollar a day, or less, are women. Thereupon, until this factor is taken into consideration, solutions implemented will only have a superficial or minimal effect.
The feminization of poverty not only means that women have a superior level of incidence of poverty than men, but also that their poverty is more severe and is in constant increase due to their living conditions. Poverty is a multi-dimensional social phenomenon, thus, gender inequality, gender disparity, the gender division of labor and the gender wage gap come all into play. According to the Global Gender Gap Report made in 2022 it will take 132 more years to obtain full parity and 155 years to close the economic participation and opportunity gender gap. Along with, in 2022, women still earned 17% less than men for doing the same jobs. The access to resources that women enjoy are not the same as men, payments and job options are not the same neither, and while the gender gap continues to widen, they will never be the same.
Moreover, it is imperative to recognize that the institutional inequalities women face are rooted in the capitalist economic system, which at the same time, it supports itself with the patriarchal system. Capitalismfoundation relies in the establishment of gender roles; feeds the belief of men being considered as the strong work force that endures long hours of labor and women the ones in charge of the household. In addition, unmarried mothers have higher rates of poverty than married women, with or without children, and unmarried women without children. In 2019, it was reported that almost 30% of single parents live in poverty, whilst couples only encompass the 6%, and single mothers are much more likely to be poor in comparison to single fathers. There is no system in place that actually supports the advancement of single mothers which means those women will very likely forever be trapped in the poverty cycle.
In like manner, it is true that the sexual division of labor has to do with the physical capabilities of each gender, nonetheless, this has been taken as an excuse to formalize the separation between production places and reproduction places. Production places can be seen as enterprises, spaces where mainly men participate, are a fundamental part of the economy, whilst reproduction places are considered as part of the domestic and private aspect of life. Consequently, this task division institutionalizes the inferiority of women and separates their work at home from any possible market value. Capitalism depends on the depreciation of domestic work, mostly done by women, to generate huge savings. For example, in the United States of America 50% of the workers are women, but they contribute to less than the 50% of the Gross Domestic Product of the country due to the devaluation of their work, which means women do most of the free work.
Girls and women today still lack accurate healthcare, education access and support from their communities to play an active role within them; all circumstances which add up to generate the poverty cycle that enables itself. In some parts of the world women still cannot own properties and have to endure sexist norms. So much as, in 2021, 32% of women globally suffer food insecurity in comparison to 28% of men. Therefore, women’s limited possibilities to defend their interests and resources will always be tied to economic, social, and cultural factors that place men in advantage. Girls and women need to be granted autonomy, so decisions can be made in name of their best interests and not as a product of unjust conditions. That is why, governments’ bet should be aimed at gender parity if they really want to diminish poverty in the long run. Meaning each gender should be represented equally while guaranteeing the same access to opportunities and resources, working under the same conditions and with the same rights.
