Gender, Generation and Poverty


Book Description

The 'feminisation of poverty' is viewed as a global trend, and of particular concern in developing regions. Yet although popularisation of the term may have raised women's visibility in development discourses and gone some way to 'en-gender' policies for poverty reduction, the construct is only weakly substantiated. This work covers this topic.




The International Handbook of Gender and Poverty


Book Description

. . . possibly the most comprehensive contribution to a detailed and thorough analysis of gendered dimensions of international poverty contexts, causes, and consequences ever brought together into one volume. Gender and Development I recommend this book to be a staple of reference libraries. British Politics and Policy With international attention focused on halving poverty by 2015, the appearance of The International Handbook of Gender and Poverty is both timely and essential. Sylvia Chant is to be congratulated for producing a state-of-the-art compendium of everything you need to know about the often hidden, gendered, dimensions of poverty. Edited and written by leading scholars and policy advisers, the Handbook comprehensively covers the key themes that are vital to understanding poverty as a gendered process, combining policy lessons with theoretical insight. Richly illustrated with examples from across the world, this book will not only be welcomed by all those dedicated to the study of poverty, but, by casting new light on its causes, will also help to develop appropriate measures to tackle it. Professor Maxine Molyneux, Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London, UK While each of the articles in this impressive collection makes an original contribution to the conceptual, empirical and policy analysis of gender and poverty, together they provide a comprehensive overview of the field and an essential resource for all sections of the development community. Professor Sylvia Chant is to be congratulated for bringing together some of the leading thinkers in the field from across the world. This is not only an unprecedented feat of international co-operation but feminist collaboration at its best. Professor Naila Kabeer, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK These diverse, thoughtful essays go far beyond a mere summary of international scholarship. They outline a fascinating and provocative agenda for future policy-relevant research. This book will help redefine and revitalise the field of gender and development. Professor Nancy Folbre, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA In the interests of contextualising (and nuancing) the multiple interrelations between gender and poverty, Sylvia Chant has gathered writings on diverse aspects of the subject from a range of disciplinary and professional perspectives, achieving extensive thematic as well as geographical coverage. This benchmark volume presents women s and men s experiences of gendered poverty with respect to a vast spectrum of intersecting issues including local to global economic transformations, family, age, race , migration, assets, paid and unpaid work, health, sexuality, human rights, and conflict and violence. The Handbook also provides up-to-the-minute reflections on how to theorise, measure and represent the connections between gender and poverty, and to contemplate how gendered poverty is affected and potentially redressed by policy and grassroots interventions. An unprecedented and ambitious blend of conceptual, methodological, empirical and practical offerings from a host of established as well as upcoming scholars and professionals from across the globe lends the volume a distinctive and critical edge. Notwithstanding the broad scope of The International Handbook of Gender and Poverty, one theme in common to most of its 100-plus chapters is the need to en-gender analysis and initiatives to combat poverty and inequality at local, national and international levels. As such, the volume will inspire its readers not only to reflect deeply on poverty and gender injustice, but also to consider what to do about it. This book will be essential reading for all with academic, professional or personal interests in gender, poverty, inequality, development, and social, political and economic change in the contemporary world.




Gender Aspects of the Trade and Poverty Nexus


Book Description

Trade liberalization can create economic opportunities for poor people. But are these opportunities available to men and women equally? Do the gender disparities in access to education, health, credit, and other resources limit the gains from trade and the potential benefits to poor women? This volume introduces the gender dimension into empirical analyses of the links between trade and poverty, which can improve policy making. The collection of chapters in this book is close to an ideal macro-micro evaluation technique that explicitly assesses the importance of gender in determining the poverty effects of trade shocks. Part I, relying on ex ante simulation approaches, focuses on the macroeconomic links between trade and gender, where labor market structure and its functioning play a key role. Part II concentrates on micro models of households and attempts to identify the ex post effects of trade shocks on household income levels and consumption choices. It also addresses questions about possible changes in inequality within households due to improved economic opportunities for women. 'Gender Aspects of the Trade and Poverty Nexus' will be invaluable to policy makers, development practitioners and researchers, journalists, and students.




Gender Equality, Poverty and Economic Growth


Book Description

Abstract: This paper reviews empirical findings from economic analyses of the role of gender equality and women's empowerment in reducing poverty and stimulating growth. Going beyond the large literature documenting the impact of female education on a range of development outcomes, the paper presents evidence on the impact of women's access to markets (labor, land, and credit) and women's decision-making power within households on poverty reduction and productivity at the individual and household level. The paper also summarizes evidence from studies examining the relationship between gender equality and poverty reduction and growth at the macro level. Although micro level effects of gender equality on individual productivity and human development outcomes have been well documented and have important ramifications for aggregate economic performance, establishing an empirical relationship between gender equality and poverty reduction and growth at the macro level has proven to be more challenging. The paper concludes by identifying priority areas for future research.




Education, Poverty and Global Goals for Gender Equality


Book Description

Drawing on case-study research that examined initiatives which engaged with global aspirations to advance gender equality in schooling in Kenya and South Africa, this book looks at how global frameworks on gender, education and poverty are interpreted in local settings and the politics of implementation. It discusses the forms of global agreements in particular contexts, and allows for an appraisal of how they have been understood by the people who implement them. By using an innovative approach to comparative cross country research, the book illuminates how ideas and actions connect and disconnect around particular meanings of poverty, education and gender in large systems and different settings. Its conclusions will allow assessments of the approach to the post-2015 agenda to be made, taking account of how policy and practice relating to global social justice are negotiated, sometimes negated, the forms in which they are affirmed and the actions that might help enhance them. This book will be valuable for students, researchers, academics, senior teachers, senior government and inter-government officials and senior staff in NGOs working in the field of education and international development, gender, poverty reduction, and social development.




Gender and Poverty


Book Description

Lokshin and Mroz study complex interactions between gender and poverty in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina. The goal of their analysis is to uncover how a spectrum of gender differentials at different parts of the life cycle varies across income groups. Using the data from the 2001 Bosnia and Herzegovina Living Standards Measurement Study, the authors find strong gender-poverty interaction in the patterns of labor force participation, gender gap in earnings, individuals' school finances, and school attendance. The main source of gender inequality seems to come from differences in investments in girls' and boys' educations that increase with declines in income levels. Short-term income shocks could lead to long-term increases in gender inequality in households with school age children, unless there is ready access to credit markets. The authors also find that the magnitude of the impact of economic development on gender differences in Bosnia will depend on where the growth is concentrated. If the poor capture at least some benefits of economic growth, the gender differences in household investment in human capital of their children will decline. If, on the other hand, growth is concentrated among the richest, then important gender disparities could remain pervasive.This paper - a product of the Poverty Team, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to understand interactions between gender and poverty.




Gender Inequity And Poverty


Book Description

Around the world at least one woman in every three has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her life time. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family. Increasingly, gender based violence is recognised as a major public, health concern and a violation of human rights. Contents: Sex and Gender, Gender-based Violence, Do Men Matter? New Horizons in Gender and Development, One Battle after Another, For a Fair Sharing of Time, Safe Motherhood is a Human Rights Issue, Action for Safe Motherhood, What is Known About Reducing Maternal Mortality? Women in Politics, Fighting for Equality on All Fronts, Equal Opportunities for Women in the Community, Lightening the Load for Women, Women and Poverty, Women in Authority, Promotion of Women, Empowerment for Women, Population Growth and Women s Role in India, No Progress without a Secular Society, On the Way to Commercial Microcredits, Measuring Population s Impact, All Human Rights for All, The Coming Water Crisis, Using Economics to Advantage, Law and Social Justice, AIDS and the Responsibility of the Media, Pollution for Export, Human Rights The Road to Progress and Peace, Energy, Food for the Billions, Food Production, Taking Poverty to Heart, Land Tenure.




Market Friendly or Family Friendly?


Book Description

Poverty among the elderly is sharply gendered—women over sixty-five are twice as likely as men to live below the poverty line. Older women receive smaller Social Security payments and are less likely to have private pensions. They are twice as likely as men to need a caregiver and twice as likely as men to be a caregiver. Recent efforts of some in Washington to reduce and privatize social welfare programs threaten to exacerbate existing gender disparities among older Americans. They also threaten to exacerbate inequality among women by race, class, and marital status. Madonna Harrington Meyer and Pamela Herd explain these disparities and assess how proposed policy reforms would affect inequality among the aged. Market Friendly or Family Friendly? documents the cumulative disadvantages that make it so difficult for women to achieve economic and health security when they retire. Wage discrimination and occupational segregation reduce women's lifetime earnings, depressing their savings and Social Security benefits. While more women are employed today than a generation ago, they continue to shoulder a greater share of the care burden for children, the disabled, and the elderly. Moreover, as marriage rates have declined, more working mothers are raising children single-handedly. Women face higher rates of health problems due to their lower earnings and the high demands associated with unpaid care work. There are also financial consequences to these family and work patterns. Harrington Meyer and Herd contrast the impact of market friendly programs that maximize individual choice, risk, and responsibility with family friendly programs aimed at redistributing risks and resources. They evaluate popular policies on the current agenda, considering the implications for inequality. But they also evaluate less discussed policy proposals. In particular, minimum benefits for Social Security, as well as credits for raising children, would improve economic security for all, regardless of marital status. National health insurance would also reduce inequality, as would reforms to Medicare, particularly increased coverage of long term care. Just as important are policies such as universal preschool and paid family leave aimed at reducing the disadvantages women face during their working years. The gender gaps that women experience during their work and family lives culminate in income and health disparities between men and women during retirement, but the problem has received scant attention. Market Friendly or Family Friendly? is a comprehensive introduction to this issue, and a significant contribution to the debate over the future of America's entitlement programs. A Volume in the American Sociological Association's Rose Series in Sociology




Gendered Poverty and Well-Being


Book Description

The interlinkages between gender and poverty have, until recently, escaped careful analytical scrutiny. The contributors to this edited volume critically reflect on some of the key methodological and analytical issues that a gendered analysis of poverty needs to address. The conclusion emerging from this collection is that it is impossible to integrate gender into an understanding of poverty unless the reading of evidence and the analysis are grounded on the relational processes of accumulation and impoverishment. These are foundational issues, and have serious implications for public action to reduce/eradicate the different kinds of poverty that men and women experience.




Gender Equality, Poverty and Economic Growth


Book Description

This paper reviews empirical findings from economic analyses of the role of gender equality and women's empowerment in reducing poverty and stimulating growth. Going beyond the large literature documenting the impact of female education on a range of development outcomes, the paper presents evidence on the impact of women's access to markets (labor, land, and credit) and women's decision-making power within households on poverty reduction and productivity at the individual and household level. The paper also summarizes evidence from studies examining the relationship between gender equality and poverty reduction and growth at the macro level. Although micro level effects of gender equality on individual productivity and human development outcomes have been well documented and have important ramifications for aggregate economic performance, establishing an empirical relationship between gender equality and poverty reduction and growth at the macro level has proven to be more challenging. The paper concludes by identifying priority areas for future research.