Why More Women Are Poor Than Men

Poverty and Women

• For over 30 years, there has been a trend for increasing numbers of single women, and women with children, to be poor, or to have been poor at some point in their lives.

• Why?

Causes of Female Poverty

• Past Discrimination

• Culture and Attitudes

• Women’s Work

• Divorce/Separation/Abandonment

• Lack of Social Supports

Past Discrimination

• It was widely viewed that women didn’t need to work, since they were only working to earn money to spend on pins. Therefore they didn’t need to be well paid.

• Past discrimination against women resulted in lower levels of education & training. **

Culture & Attitudes

• Our society has greatly changed in its attitude towards working women.

• Women’s access to education & training has dramatically improved.

• We accept women working in many fields. **

Culture & Attitudes Cont’

• Yet many men (and some women) still are opposed to women professionals.

• Women as teachers or waitresses are accepted; women as engineers or managers are still not as widely accepted. **

Women’s Work

• Women have traditionally done certain jobs. These jobs, “Women’s Work” is still under respected, and relatively low paying.

• Examples include secretaries, waitresses, teachers, and nurses. **

Unskilled Women

• Unskilled women tend to crowd into a smaller number of jobs than unskilled men.

• This leads to an excess supply of labor in that field, which leads to lower wages. **

Divorce & Children

• In most cases of divorce, separation and abandonment, women are left with all or nearly all the child rearing.

• Alimony is rarely granted to women today.

• Men cease paying child support after a year, on average. **

Divorce & Children Cont’

• Therefore women are left with the children, and their bills.

• For many, divorce means going from two incomes to one, and the lower income at that. **

Social Supports

• Our society, the richest in the world, doesn’t want to provide cheap, high quality child care for all children.

• Our society, the richest in the world, doesn’t want to provide health care for everyone. **

Social Supports Cont’

• For many women with children, the lack of affordable child care and health care means that they are trapped in poorly paying part time jobs, in order to take care of children or other family members. **

Summary

• For all of these reasons,– Many women earn less than men, on average,– Women are more likely to be working in very

low paying jobs– More women and children are likely to be poor

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