GENDER ECONOMICS

DEPT OF ECONOMICSBY

JOSNA ANTONYI SEM MSW

A phenomenon in which women represent a disproportionate percentage of the world’s poor.

What is feminisation???

Biology

hormonally induced development of female sexual characteristics

Activity

a sexual or lifestyle practice where a person assumes a female role

Sociology

a perceived societal shift of gender roles towards the characteristically female

Contd…

• Feminisation of agriculture

• Feminisation of face

• Feminisation of language

• Feminisation of migration

• Feminisation of poverty

• Feminisation of voice

• Feminisation of workspace

“ The burden of poverty borne by women, especially in developing countries”.

- United Nations Development fund for Women (UNIFEM)

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN)

Causes of Feminisation of Poverty

• Lack of income

• Deprivation of capabilities

• Gender biases present in both societies and Govts.

• Poverty in choices and opportunities such as ability to lead a healthy, long and creative life

• Poverty in basic rights like freedom, respect and dignity.

• Etc…..

Diana Pearce (1978)

The term Feminisation of Poverty first coined by Diana Pearce in 1978.

according to Pearce’s research, two third of the poor who were over age 16 were women

1) Disparate Income

• Principle reason - lack of income

• Prevents women from attaining resources and converting their monetary resources into socio economic status

• Deprives women of their basic needs & capabilities

• Since women disproportionately earn less than men, they are deprived of basic education and health care – eventually leads to a cycle to debilitate women's ability to earn higher income.

Contd….

• Deprivation passes from one generation to other – leads to a perpetual feminisation of poverty

• Main reason of the cycle of poverty among women- lower income- due to care for their offspring

• Persistent gender discrimination among labour- never allow the majority of women quality work

2) Single mother households

• Households with female headships-due to men may be 1) migrant workers

2) illness3) death

• At highest risk of poverty due to lack of income and resources• Single mothers are poorest women in the society and their children

tend to be disadvantaged in comparison to their peers• Female headed households only have two third of the income of

male headed households• Lack critical resources in life – worsens their poverty• Lack of essential life needs comparing to men

3) Social and Cultural exclusions

• Prevents women from attaining formal employment

• Never allow women to have much labour productivity, outside the home as well as an economic bargaining position with in the household

• Social inequality deprives women’s capabilities particularly employment- leads to women having poverty

• Increase in gender segregation and gender wage gap increases women’s susceptibility to poverty

Measures of poverty

• An important aspect of analysing the feminization of poverty is understanding how it is measured.

• Income is the only base to measure women’s poverty• Have to examine this issue from a multidimensional basis-

there must be an accurate research• Three indexes often examined are

- Gender Related Development Index- Gender Empowerment Index- Human poverty Index

• First two are gendered indices- gather data on women to evaluate gender inequalities and to understand disparities in gender opportunities and choices

Contd…

• HPI focuses on deprivation measures rather than income measures• HPI is multidimensional and non income based approach.• Consider four dimensions:-survival-knowledge-decent standard of living-social participation• HPI fails to examine certain deprivations such as lack of property

ownership and credit – essential for bargaining position I the household for women

• GDI adjusts the Human Development Index in three ways- Shows longevity, or life-expectancy of females and males-Education or knowledge-Decent standard of living

Multidimensional Approach

• Capability approach: studies different aspects of poverty that can enable people, especially women, to become agents of their own lives.

• Address the feminisation of poverty should focus on the opportunities and personal choices available to the women

1) Health

• Gender inequality in society prevents women from utilizing care services and put them at a risk of poor health

• Women in poverty are more vulnerable to sexual violence and risk of HIV/AIDS

• Poor health – key factor in household poverty

• Govt. should increase health services to mitigate the feminisation in poverty

2)Education

• Gender discrimination and social hierarchy- social level

• For the education of male siblings- household level

• An important aspect of the capabilities is:- freedom to make informed choices- have opportunities to achieve goals- basic requirement to actively use the resources

and- information of basic education

Contd….

• Enables to:

- reduce the household poverty

- increases children’s chance to get education

- enhances maternal health

- increase the freedom of movement

• Women who achieve greater education are more likely to worry about their children's survival, nutrition, and school attendance

3) Decision-making power

• Is central to the bargaining position of women within the household

• About women’s health, their ability to go and visit friends or families and household expenditure-decision made by men

• Gender discrimination within the household rooted in patriarchal biases against social status of women

• Major determinants of house hold bargaining power- control of income and assets, age and access to and level of education

4) Employment

• Gives financial independence

• Higher security to established legal position

• Real world experiences

• Deeply importance for sheltered or shy women

• Gives better bargaining position

Contd…

• Formal and informal employment

• Formal - govt. regulated, insured wages and

rights

• Informal - taken place in small, unregistered

enterprises

- large source of employment for

women

Contd…

• Burden of care worker – women work longer and harder than men

• Having children

Racialization

• Minority women in the United States, specifically Black and Latin women are twice as likely as white women to be living in poverty.

• Family structure

• Education

• Access to higher paying jobs

Comparison of need of money for men and women

• Shoulder the fiscal and physical responsibility for their children

• Unique healthcare problems/access problems related to reproduction increasing both their healthcare costs and risks

• Tend to be charged more than men for similar products and services

• Females tend to live five years longer; i.e. their funds need to last five years longer than men's funds.