Feminization Of Poverty Research Articles

Rethinking the ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ Thesis

Rethinking the ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ Thesis

<i>Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism Mary Jo Klinker (bio) Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism Edited by Robin L. Riley, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, and Minnie Bruce Pratt (London: Zed Books, 2008) Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism aims to "make visible the ways in which the USA has gendered, racialized, and sexualized its practice of imperialist wars—that is, wars being waged through military and economic policy to advance and consolidate the profit-driven system of capitalism" (3). The collection of essays, engendered by the 2006 Feminism and War Conference in New York, is broken into four sections: Feminist Geopolitics of War, Feminist Mobilizing Critiques of War, Women's Struggles and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Feminists Organizing Against Imperialism and War. Through poetry, story, and essay, the text makes clear that "this is the time for feminist revolutions" (McFadden 66). The book is most powerful when examining systemic oppression in U.S. society and its connection to the larger geopolitical context of U.S. imperialism. Angela Davis argues that we must "place state violence, war, prison violence, torture, [and] capital punishment on a spectrum of violence" (25) in order to understand the complexity of U.S. militarism. Nellie Hester Bailey connects the systemic inequality of gentrification and the feminization of poverty as unrecognized forms of war. She explains that "gentrification is class warfare waged against poor and working-class people of color. This catastrophe is directly linked to U.S. imperialist war, and is happening not only in Harlem but throughout the country" (236). While much of the text specifically analyzes the brute force of militarism utilized to uphold U.S. hegemony, Breta Joubert-Ceci theorizes that neoliberalist policies of privatization and deregulation are also a war front. She argues that the U.S. dominated institutions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have proliferated capitalism to violently exploit Latin America's resources and labor, as well as the global South. The authors attempt to reclaim the importance of feminism to anti-war movements after the Bush administration co-opted feminist rhetoric to excuse the imperialist endeavor in Afghanistan. Jennifer Fluri argues that the Afghanistan war had nothing to do with confronting Islamic patriarchy. In reality these efforts entail the imposition of U.S. governmental discourses on human rights, proliferated through the systemic destruction of people in order to ensure military superiority and impose a "free" market structure (Fluri 155). Similarly, Elizabeth Philipose states "Muslims and Muslim states are held as the example par excellence of misogyny in the Western imagination, an imagination that provokes the colonialist narrative that white men, in their enlightened masculinity, have the duty to save brown women from brown men" (113). The third section analyzes the continued neocolonialism that results from U.S. [End Page 59] imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan. An integral component of analysis is the critique of what Shahnaz Khan terms "colonial feminism." She argues that "Western" values, like democracy and freedom, have been used in the rhetoric of the "war on terror." This process has been fueled by the idea of saving women. Reiterating Chandra Mohanty's important theories of the monolithic construction of Third World women as victims and First World women as liberated or liberators, she analyzes the conditions of women's lives in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war on terror. Despite claims in the United States that the war has been won, Khan argues that there is a misunderstanding of the history and geopolitics of the Middle East. Upon further analysis, it becomes apparent that these women have not reached equality; rather they have been pushed further into economic exploitation through sex work and poverty. Isis Nusair furthers this argument through the lens of Edward Said's Orientalism to discuss the sexual violences at Abu Ghraib, which were masculinized violence constructed to systemically dominate through continued assumptions of orientalist logic (182). The final section speaks to the radical potentialities of feminists organizing against war. As Leslie Cagan points out, war is the antithesis of feminist principles because, "all of the values of feminism are contradicted—if not rendered impossible to achieve—by the realities of war and the...

The ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ in Costa Rica: To What Extent a Conundrum?

Quantitative data from Costa Rica suggest that poverty is ‘feminising’, especially in respect of female‐headed households, who, since the early 1990s, have constituted a progressively greater share of the population classified as poor. This presents something of a conundrum given significant attempts on the part of the state to promote gender equality and to direct public expenditure to low‐income women. Some light on this apparent paradox is shed by qualitative fieldwork undertaken in Guanacaste province where female headship seems to have become a more viable, and sometimes, preferred, option among women on account of its role in enhancing well‐being. This is largely on account of social and legal changes that have contributed to making women less inclined to tolerate gender inequalities at the domestic level. The findings underline the importance of embracing gendered subjectivities in analyses of the ‘feminisation of poverty’ and invite caution about the latter being a unilaterally negative phenomenon.

Crossing the Line: Vagrancy, Homelessness and Social Displacement in Russia by Svetlana Stephenson (review)

77^ SEER, 86, 4, OCTOBER 2008 provided by the state and employer; and partly as a struggle against sexual inequality. As Sperling noted, there is no Russian term for 'gender', and indeed even feminists inRussia tend to accept that there are 'essential' differ ences between women and men. They nevertheless recognized that the post Communist political structures were (still)male-dominated and developed networks and lobbying strategies to try to influence politicians at both local and national level, despite their suspicions of political parties and of hierarchical structures generally. It proved extremely difficult to organize a mass movement; indeed, Sperling observed that feministsdid not tryto do so. The post-Communist media was not only generally unsympathetic but often downright hostile. Activists recognized thatwomen's organizations were seen as hangovers from the Soviet period, while feminism was stillperceived as a Western concept. Because women's groups lacked resources they often looked abroad forhelp, including to theUnited Nations, NGOs andWestern feminist movements. Whereas Sperling noted that globalization enabled women's organizations tofind new sources of support, sheworried that this might skew the focus of the Russian movement towards Western concerns and in favour of theminority of activists. The author warned that by the late 1990s the women's movement was concentrating on maintaining existing organizations and networking, and was retreating to academic and professional circles. Another consequence of linkswith the West has been a growing suspicion of foreign involvement, notably on the part of El'tsin's successor as President in 1999,Vladimir Putin. Sperling pointed to the importance ofNGOs fordevel oping civil society; however, like Western feminists, they too have been seen as a form of foreign interference. For the women's movement itself, foreign aid meant not only external influence but also internal competition so that, notably inMoscow, themovement fragmented.While keenly aware of the difficulties,Sperling viewed the situationwith some optimism, and concluded by encouraging Russian feminists to turn tomass mobilization and to focus less on central authorities and more on local issues. Putin, however, has since greatly increased the power of the centre. There is now more economic and political stability (and authoritarianism), but women still face discrimination and are still saddled with the double burden within a context of not only the feminization of poverty but also the escalation of violence against women. What Sperling has clearly revealed is the profoundly gendered nature of the transition from Communism in Russia. School of Humanities Jane MgDermid UniversityofSouthampton Stephenson, Svetlana. Crossing the Line: Vagrancy, Homelessness and SocialDisplace ment inRussia. Ashgate, Aldershot and Burlington, VT, 2006. x + 193pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. ?50.00. It has been more than fifteenyears since the beginning of post-Soviet transi tion, butWestern social policy literature on Russia and other former Soviet countries still remains limited. There are few contextually grounded studies reviews 779 that expose the dynamics and causes of poverty and marginality. This is ironic considering the sheer magnitude of social problems in the region. Svetlana Stephenson's book is a major contribution to this field.The book advances our understanding of homelessness and marginalization in Russia. This is especially important as homeless people (bomzhi)have been 'invisible' to the mainstream society and policy-makers in Russia. On one level, the book pre sents the face of homelessness in Russia. It tells us how homeless men and women live their lives and cope with everyday challenges, how they relate to people around them and how they feel about themselves and their situations. On another level, it exposes social and political practices and institutional arrangements that exclude and displace individuals and drive them into extreme poverty. The author achieves thisgoal by depicting processes through which individuals become homeless as well as by analysing legal documents and policy arrangements in both Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The book is based on the author's extensive research in Russia over a period of twelve years. It is informed through 113 in-depth conversational interviews with homeless and marginalized people inMoscow. The research employed an ethnographic method of inquiry,which allowed detailed explo ration of processes of deprivation and solicited rich contextual data. The book skilfullycombines thework ofRussian scholars published inRussian academic journals, which would otherwise have...

It is all about livelihoods: A study of women working in stone chip production in Cape Coast Municipality, Ghana

Outcrops of granite in several localities in the urban and peri-urban fringes of Cape Coast Municipality in Ghana have led to stone chip production becoming a major livelihood strategy for vulnerable and poor women. Previously, this work was primarily carried out by men, but today female workers dominate the workforce, and increasingly it is seen as a way for women to seek a viable living in conditions which are otherwise marginalized and poor in economic terms. The demand for stone chips has increased with the high demand for construction materials for housing in the town of Cape Coast. However, the women's choice of livelihoods strategy (stone cutting) prevents them from gaining other experiences from more lucrative processes. Hence, as stone cutters, they are disadvantaged within the increasingly commercialized economy. Against this background it can be argued that a feminization of poverty is taking place. The data for the study were derived through structured and unstructured interviews, focus group discussions and direct observation, and analysed according to a livelihoods framework.

Gender, generation and poverty: exploring the 'feminisation of poverty' in Africa, Asia and Latin America

Preface 1. Introduction 2. Analysing Poverty from a Gender Perspective 3. The Feminisation of Poverty in the Global South: Assertions, Agendas and Evidence 4. Gender, Generation and Poverty in The Gambia 5. Gender, Generation and Poverty in the Philippines 6. Gender, Generation and Poverty in Costa Rica 7. Conclusion Bibliography Index.

Gender, Generation and Poverty: Exploring the ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ in Africa, Asia and Latin America– by Sylvia Chant

<i>Gender, Generation and Poverty: Exploring the ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ in Africa, Asia and Latin America</i>– by Sylvia Chant

Civil Wars in Africa: A Gender Perspective of the Cost on Women

KEYWORDS Civil wars; Africa; media; gender ABSTRACT This paper analyses civil wars as the greatest threat to peace in Africa. It specifically looks at these wars/ conflicts from a gender perspective so as to examine its impact on women in relation to experiences such as sexual assaults (rape), plight as displaced/refugees, feminization of poverty e.t.c. Finally, the paper recommends that women and girls must become central to national security policies or deliberations to ensure an end to impunity for crimes committed against them in these civil wars and as a key to lasting peace.

Towards Greater Participation of Nigerian Women in Democratic Governance and Development: Challenges and Prospects.

Nigeria is a patriarchal society characterized by acute discrimination, exclusion, inequality and impunity. These features are also reflected in its politics, especially as they relate to the issue of gender imbalance. This asymmetrical relationship between the sexes in the process of authoritative allocation of public resources has stunted the process of sustainable human development in the country. It is the contention of this paper that the continued marginalisation of women in politics is a reflection of the deceit inherent in governmental programmes aimed at empowering women, which has made it difficult to achieve development through such programmes. In addition, the paper argues that challenges such as political violence, ‘monetisation' of politics, harmful traditional practices, division in the ranks and files of women and lack of participatory political culture have weakened the capacity of women to participate more actively in politics. The resultant effects on development, it was discovered, include unrepresentative policies, feminization of poverty, lack of ownership and acceptability of policies. The paper therefore suggests strategies for ensuring greater women participation in Nigerian politics in future in order to bring about a more rapid development for Nigeria. Gender and Behaviour Vol. 5 (2) 2007: pp. 1406-1420

The ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ and the ‘Feminisation’ of Anti-Poverty Programmes: Room for Revision?

The construct of the ‘feminisation of poverty’ has helped to give gender an increasingly prominent place within international discourses on poverty and poverty reduction. Yet the way in which gender has been incorporated pragmatically – predominantly through the ‘feminisation’ of anti-poverty programmes – has rarely relieved women of the onus of coping with poverty in their households, and has sometimes exacerbated their burdens. In order to explore how and why this is the case, as well as to sharpen the methodological and conceptual parameters of the ‘feminisation of poverty’ thesis, this paper examines four main questions. First, what are the common understandings of the ‘feminisation of poverty’? Second, what purposes have been served by the popularisation and adoption of this term? Third, what problems are there with the ‘feminisation of poverty’ analytically, and in respect of how the construct has been taken up and responded to in policy circles? Fourth, how do we make the ‘feminisation of poverty’ more relevant to women's lives – and empowerment – at the grassroots? Foremost among my conclusions is that since the main indications of feminisation relate to women's mounting responsibilities and obligations in household survival we need to re-orient the ‘feminisation of poverty’ thesis so that it better reflects inputs as well as incomes, and emphasises not only women's level or share of poverty but the burden of dealing with it. Another, related, conclusion is that just as much as women are often recruited into rank-and-file labour in anti-poverty programmes, ‘co-responsibility’ should not be a one-way process. This requires, inter alia, the more active support of men, employers and public institutions in domestic labour and unpaid care work.

Trade liberalisation and the feminisation of poverty: The Mauritian scenario

abstract This article looks at the effects of trade liberalisation on women's employment in the Mauritius Export Processing Zone. Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are well known for being primary employers of women, but with poor working conditions and low salaries. EPZs are also highly vulnerable to changes in world economic conditions and trade liberalisation has a major impact on industries in these zones. Since women form the majority of EPZ employees, they are directly affected by such changes. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Mauritian EPZ thrived because of protectionism and its status as a former colony. The Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) had given Mauritian textile and garment exports duty free access to the European market. However the MFA was phased out in 2005 and Mauritian industries, especially in the textile and garment sector, have been unable to compete with exporters from Bangladesh and China, who have much lower costs of production. Hence, large numbers of older women are being retrenched as a consequence of trade liberalisation, leading to growing unemployment among this group of women and contributing to the feminisation of poverty in the country. These women are also facing major difficulties in finding alternative employment because of their low educational qualifications, age and very basic skills. The article thus argues that there is an urgent need for the gender implications of trade liberalisation to be considered by the major trade making bodies.

Is There a Feminization of Poverty in Latin America?

We propose two different concepts of the 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.

Nearly universal, but somewhat distinct: The feminization of poverty in affluent Western democracies, 1969–2000

Our study extends research on the feminization of poverty by analyzing the variation in women’s, men’s, and feminized poverty across affluent democracies from 1969 to 2000. Specifically, we address three issues. First, we provide more recent estimates of adult women’s and men’s poverty and the ratio of women’s to men’s poverty with two different poverty measures. We suggest that by incorporating the elderly, the feminization of poverty may be greater than previously estimated. The feminization of poverty is nearly universal across affluent Western democracies 1969–2000. Second, we show that women’s, men’s and overall poverty are highly correlated, but the feminization of poverty diverges as a distinct social problem. Third, we find that women’s, men’s and overall poverty share several correlates, particularly the welfare state, though some differences exist. At the same time, several of our findings differ with past research. The feminization of poverty is only influenced by social security transfers, single motherhood and the sex ratios of the elderly and labor force participation. While power resources theory probably best explains women’s, men’s and overall poverty, structural theory may best explain the feminization of poverty. We conclude by discussing how analyses of the feminization of poverty contribute to debates on poverty and gender inequality.

A Global Civil Society in a World Polity, or Angels and Nomads Against Empire?

Clifford Bob, The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media and International Activism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 254 pp. Richard J. F. Day, Gramsci Is Dead: Anarchist Currents in Newest Social Movements (London: Pluto, 2005), 262 pp. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Multitude: War and Democracy in Age of Empire (New York: Penguin Press, 2004), 427 pp. Lisa Jordan and Peter van Tuijl, eds., NGO Accountability: Politics, Principles and Innovations (London: Earthscan, 2006), 288 pp. Over past quarter-century, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and activist networks have increasingly gone global. Between 1973 and 1993, transnational social movement organizations concerned with human rights, environment, peace, and development more than tripled in number, rising to over 600 organizations. (1) Formerly local and national NGOs and community organizations now regularly operate transnationally: swapping information, networking, coordinating campaigns, framing claims, and locating shared targets. This is a change not only in frequency of interactions across borders, but also in networks' density, adaptability, complexity, and reach. Sidney Tarrow and Donatella Della Porta have called this trend the most dramatic change we see in world of contentious politics. (2) Transnational social movements are dynamic networks of multiple organizations and issues, forged in parallel and autonomous international summits, protest events, and via Internet. (3) They have even created their own space, World Social Forum (WSF), as well as a web of regional, national, local, and thematic forums modeled on WSF's horizontal, open space format. Here, movements deepen and broaden their solidarity ties and joint analyses under strategically ambiguous slogan that Another World Is Possible. While diverse, networks are united in conviction that this alternative should be forms of governance than neoliberal globalization. Activists decry this current global (dis)order as being characterized by mounting poverty and inequality within and among societies, corporate encroachment of the commons, environmental devastation, feminization of poverty, exacerbation of conflicts, and erosion of democracy. They identify and denounce World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Trade Organization (WTO) as main institutional promoters of neoliberalism. Beyond this shared oppositional orientation, these actors have diverse--and often conflicting--demands, organizational cultures, tactics, and ultimate goals. At most recent WSF in Nairobi, Immanuel Wallerstein spoke of a family of movements, replete with all affinities, identifications, and squabbles that constitute such relationships. Broadly, movements divide between reformist NGOs and more radical direct action social movements and networks. At bottom, feuds between these two tendencies stem from fundamentally different conceptions of existing global governance and order (as well as their place within it) and from degree and methods of change that each pursues. Contemporary activist forums like WSF have brought these different circles into contact with one another and thus have helped to attenuate polemic between them. Yet tensions remain, and there is evidence that other superpower is both demobilizing and fracturing along traditional leftist fault lines. But who are these new global actors? What are their points of convergence, contradiction, and outright conflict? And how do they engage with, legitimize, or challenge both state and international governance regimes that states have constructed? Finally, what can we learn about nature of global governance from movements' relatively marginal vantage points? These questions orient this essay. Each of four books examined here offers a unique standpoint and insight into this upstart clan of nonstate (and sometimes antistate) actors that challenge patrician families comprising global governance: those of states, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and transnational corporations (TNCs). …

빈곤의 여성화(feminization of poverty):경향 및 원인

본 연구의 목적은 한국에서 빈곤의 여성화 경향이 실제로 나타나고 있는지 또한 빈곤의 여성화 경향이 실제로 있다면 그 원인은 무엇인지를 밝히는 것이다. 연구의 자료로는 1998년부터 2005년까지 8개년도의 한국노동패널 데이터를 이용하였으며, 분석대상은 18세 이상 남성과 여성 개인을 분석단위로 하였다. 본 연구의 결과에 의하면, 1998년 이래 우리나라에서 빈곤의 여성화가 나타나고 있으며 그 경향이 더욱 심화되고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 이러한 여성의 빈곤화 경향에 영향을 미치는 요인을 살펴본 결과, 횡단면 분석에서는 교육수준과 노동형태가 유의한 영향을 미쳤으나 종단면 분석에서는 가구원 수나 가구 내 취업자 수 같은 가구형태 관련 변수가 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 이를 통해 여성의 빈곤화 경향을 완화시키기 위해 여성의 노동시장내 차별을 막는 제도적 장치의 마련과 시민권적 개념에 기초한 소득보장 프로그램의 마련 등이 시급하게 필요한 것으로 나타났다.

Analysis of the Determinants of Monetary Poverty Among Female-Headed Households in Benin

This study investigates the impact of the gender of the household head on the determinants of monetary poverty in the Republic of Benin using data collected during the 1999 living standards measurement survey in the country's rural and urban areas. The results show that there has not been any feminization of poverty since 1995. In 1999, the incidence of poverty among female household heads was lower than that of their male-headed counterparts, but in some cities the poverty gap was higher. Based on these results, some suggestions are made in order to reduce the incidence of poverty in Benin.

Analysis of the Determinants of Monetary Poverty Among Female-Headed Households in Benin (Analyse Des Determinants De La Pauvrete Monetaire Des Femmes Chefs De Menage Au Benin)

This study investigates the impact of the gender of household's head on the determinants of monetary poverty in Benin Republic, using data collected during the 1999 living standard measurement survey in rural and in urban areas. The results show that there is no feminization of poverty as compared with the situation of 1995. In 1999, the incidence of poverty among female household's heads was lower than that of their male counterpart, but in some cities the poverty depth is higher. Based on these results, some suggestions are made in order to reduce the incidence of poverty in Benin.

Iconographies of Gender, Poverty, and Power in Contemporary South African Visual Culture

This article examines the iconography of the feminization of poverty in women's printed textiles produced by artists at the Philani Project in Crossroads, Cape Town. The Philani Project was initially formed as part of an ambitious, nationwide, antipoverty initiative, with the long-term goal of battling child malnutrition and poverty by training unemployed mothers to be artists. An analysis of the Philani Project suggests the artists achieved empowerment through the creation of visually powerful autobiographical narratives and the income earned from their sale.

The Feminization of Poverty in Post-Apartheid South Africa

The adoption of neoliberal economic policies by South Africa as it entered into its democratic era, resulted in thousands, if not millions, of poor South Africans plummeting deeper into poverty. The same people who found themselves poor under apartheid, found themselves caught in a cycle of poverty that seemed to be worsening in democratic South Africa. With the privatization of basic services, many South Africans have found that they have no access to water, electricity, or health care and that they are now being evicted from their homes. This article tells the story of an urban community in South Africa which is home to one of the community organizations, the Bayview Flat Residents Association, that gave rise to the first wave of community struggles against evictions in post-apartheid South Africa. This community struggle and the Bayview Flat Residents Association, have been led by poor, black, urban women who continue to bear the burdern of poverty.

Work, women employment and feminization of poverty in Nigeria

Scholars over the years have engaged in gender discourse that has often time demonstrated the continuous perpetuation of the inferiority of female gender to their male counterpart. In most of such writings, accusing fingers are pointed at men as the perpetrators and the women as the victims. Various studies have shown that while poverty affects a significant proportion of the members of the society, women have been worse hit. The continued exposure of the latter either in the traditional or modern society to deepening poverty has therefore aroused a lot of interest in the discussion of the reality of the ‘feminization of poverty'. In examining this, accusing fingers have often been pointed at men as the ones responsible for the higher incidence of poverty among the women. This paper is an attempt at contributing to the on-going debate on feminization of poverty. The paper focuses first on the assessment of the poverty profile in Nigeria. This effort is followed by the explanation of the mechanism of ensuring the perpetuation of poverty among the Nigerian women. Special attention is further directed at the formal world of work and lack of level playing ground for male and female. The paper concludes by putting forward some policy considerations that would facilitate the elimination of all gender colourations in the place of work that perpetuates feminization of poverty. Gender and Behaviour Vol. 4(1) 2006: 642-658