A note on poverty and gender in Spain

Abstract

This article focuses on the gender distribution of poverty in Spain. Our basic objective is determining if poverty is equally shared between men and women. The source of the data is the Encuesta Básica de Presupuestos Familiares 1990–1991. Having analyzed three poverty rates—the head count ratio, the income gap ratio and the normalized income gap ratio, with three poverty lines (25%, 40%, and 50% of the mean) and two income variables (OECD equivalent household income and per capita household income)—it cannot be said that the women are “over-represented” amongst the poor in Spain in 1991.