Gender Analysis and Poverty

It is important to note that within any of the above conceptual frameworks, gender remains a key determinant.

In the past three decades there has been a lot of progress in understanding that analysis of the dynamics of poverty and that the design of effective strategies for poverty eradication cannot be based on the "household" as the basic unit.
Different members of the household, especially men and women, are differently affected by various processes and they respond to these changes in various ways. Women, in fact, face cumulative disadvantages related to the socioeconomic states of their class, community, ethnic group and to their sex.

In their struggle for economic security, women who live in poverty share common barriers with men. They might live in a society where, for example, the right to quality education is not guaranteed. They might experience isolation and hence the inability to rely on support networks for access to credit. They might suffer, as do men, from processes of exclusion from the labour market.

However, they also face specific disadvantages related to gender-related sociocultural norms in a particular society. Some common factors which channel women into low-income, low-productivity employment, limit their access to resources and thus contribute to the feminization of poverty are highlighted.

Click on the animation in the right-hand column in order to see which processes contribute to the feminisation of poverty:

It is important to note that perceptions play an important role in explaining socio-cultural norms and false perceptions can perpetuate and reinforce discriminatory situations, creating a vicious circle:

• Women's reproductive and domestic responsibilities are generally perceived to be their primary function. This perception reinforces structural barriers to women's access to education, training, land and productive assets; restricts women's time and mobility for productive work; and limits their choice of income-earning activities.
• Women are still perceived as secondary income-earners. Men are considered as primary income-earners, and thus have priority over women in the allocation of opportunities for productive work and remunerated employment. However, in many societies, women are responsible for part of household food provisioning and tend to be the major income-earners among poorer households.
• Women face unequal access to productive resources and services although they are largely dependent on self-employment for which land, capital, technology and labour are critical. In conditions of impoverishment, women's entitlements to household resources are usually the first to go.
• Women's work tends to be undervalued. Work in occupations and sectors that become dominated by women workers ("feminized") tends to be perceived as work that is of low importance, low skill and, hence, low economic value.