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Perception Of Poverty By Women And Men And Their Coping Strategies
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CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.0 INTRODUCTION
It
is evident based on the previous research carried out on gender and
poverty that there is no definition but definitions of gender and
poverty. It can also be deduced that a lot of research has been carried
out on gender and poverty but little has been done on gender and
perception of poverty especially from gender perspective.
The
interest in analysing the phenomenon of poverty from a gender
perspective is rooted in the international women’s movement and it is
based on the need to recognize that poverty affects men and women in a
different way. It is possible to identify the gender factors that
increase or decrease the probability of individuals experiencing
poverty, and how the characteristics of poverty are different for men
and women.
Moreover, a gender perspective enhances the
conceptualization of poverty because it goes beyond a descriptive
analysis to look at the causes of poverty. It approaches poverty as a
process, thereby giving it a more dynamic perspective. In addition, a
gender perspective contributes to the design of policies allowing
measures to be directed at the severest poverty and the most vulnerable
populations and these populations are women.
Notable advances have
been made in the theoretical development of both concepts over the last
few decades. In the case of poverty, although the most frequent
definition refers to the lack of income, different approaches have
emerged as regards its conceptualization and measurement.
Altimir(2000).
poverty is a “situational syndrome in which the associated factors
include Under consumption, malnutrition, precarious living conditions,
low educational levels, poor sanitary conditions, an unstable position
in the productive apparatus, feelings of discouragement and anomaly,
little participation in the mechanisms of social integration and perhaps
adherence to a particular scale of values which differs to some extent
from that of the rest of society†(Altimir, 2000).
Poverty is
associated with the undermining of a range of key human attributes,
including health. The poor are exposed to greater personal and
environmental health risks, are less well nourished, have less
information and are less able to access health care; they thus have a
higher risk of illness and disability. Conversely, illness can reduce
household savings, lower learning ability, reduce productivity, and lead
to a diminished quality of life, thereby perpetuating or even
increasing poverty.
Poverty is often defined in absolute terms of low
income less than US$2 a day, for example. But in reality, the
consequences of poverty exist on a relative scale. The poorest of the
poor, around the world, have the worst health. Within countries, the
evidence shows that in general the lower an individual’s socioeconomic
position the worse their health. There is a social gradient in health
that runs from top to bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum. This is a
global phenomenon, seen in low, middle and high income countries.
Poverty
according to business dictionary poverty can be defined as a Condition
where people's basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being
met.
And the concept of gender, as a theoretical and methodological
approach to the cultural construction of sexual differences that alludes
the inequalities between the female and male sexes and to the way the
two aspects relate to each other, has become an increasingly important
category of analysis.
Gender refers to the personal sexual identity
of an individual, regardless of the person's biological and outward sex.
How people define masculinity and femininity can vary based on the
individual's background and surrounding culture. Differing societal
expectations in different cultures establish the behavioral,
psychological and physical attributes that are associated one gender or
another.
Gender is defined by FAO as ‘the relations between men and
women, both perceptual and material. Gender is not determined
biologically, as a result of sexual characteristics of either women or
men, but is constructed socially. It is a central organizing principle
of societies, and often governs the processes of production and
reproduction, consumption and distribution’ (FAO, 2002). Despite this
definition, gender is often misunderstood as being the promotion of
women only. However, as we see from the FAO definition, gender issues
focus on women and on the relationship between men and women, their
roles, access to and control over resources, division of labour,
interests and needs. Gender relations affect household security, family
well-being, planning, production and many other aspects of life
(Bravo-Baumann, 2003).
Much has been written about gender and about
poverty. It is arguable, however, that the relationships between the two
have not been adequately understood. Nor are they being reflected in
policy prescriptions. At one level, the relationship between gender
disadvantage and poverty appears to be quite straightforward, as in the
tendency to equate women, or female-headed households, with the
"vulnerable" or the poor. Alternatively, "investing" in female education
is seen as an efficient means of reducing poverty and enhancing growth.
While these arguments may have some empirical validity, although to
varying degrees in different contexts, the gender analysis of poverty
also needs to unravel how gender differentiates the social mechanisms
leading to poverty. This is an important question, which has received
relatively little attention in recent policy debates. Another important
part of the story is to understand how these limited views of the
relationships between gender and poverty are being shaped by the
emerging poverty models and (neoliberal) policy prescriptions for
poverty alleviation—the emphasis on (female) primary education as the
route out of poverty being one example, and the residualist "safety
nets" for women and other "vulnerable" groups being another.
Whether
measured by income/consumption or the broader array of
entitlements/capabilities indicators, the incidence of poverty among
women appears to be on the increase, according to many increasing family
break-up, low productivity, a deteriorating environment, the economic
recession of the 1980s (including economic crisis and structural
adjustment policies in the developing countries), the market transition
in the former socialist countries, and “welfare reform†in the United
States. The adverse effects of these factors on women are in turn
exacerbated by intra-household inequalities which leave women unprepared
for and especially vulnerable to socio-economic downturns, changes in
marital status, or natural disasters. WID/GAD researchers. The main
factors behind this trend are population growth, the emigration of
men,increasing family break-up, low productivity, a deteriorating
environment, the economic recession of the 1980s (including economic
crisis and structural adjustment policies in the developing countries),
the market transition in the former socialist countries, and “welfare
reform†in the United States. The adverse effects of these factors on
women are in turn exacerbated by intra-household inequalities which
leave women unprepared for and especially vulnerable to socio-economic
downturns, changes in marital status, or natural disasters.
The
perception is growing around the globe that poverty is becoming
increasingly feminized, that is, that an increasing proportion of the
world’s poor are female. A 1992 UN report found that “the number of
rural women living in poverty in the developing countries has increased
by almost 50% over the past 20 years to an awesome 565 million, 374
million of them in Asia, and 129 million in Sub-Saharan Africa. While
poverty among rural men has increased over the last 20 years by 30%,
among women it has increased by 48%†(Power, 2000, p. 5). The
feminization of poverty was a key concern of the women’s caucus of the
World Summit on Social Development. According to the Platform for Action
adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September
1995, “More than one billion people in the world today, the great
majority of whom are women, live in unacceptable conditions of poverty,
mostly in the developing countries†(United Nations, 1996, p. 37).
Buvinic (2000) has written: “Women now account for a growing percentage
of the world’s poor.†And a publication of the United Nations
Development Programme states: “70% of the world’s poor are women
(Buvinic 2000).
According to Haydar (2005: 240) a “significant number
of people in the world today live under conditions of extreme poverty
and most of them lack access to basic goods such as food, water and
health careâ€. In addition, “everyone agrees that the conditions of the
poor are atrocious" (Haydar, 2005: 240). We therefore urgently need to
increase our efforts to reduce poverty. At the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) representatives also recognized that the
world is at a crossroads and that people will have to unite in the fight
against poverty. The adoption of the Johannesburg Declaration on
Sustainable Development was also a confirmation of the commitment of the
people of the world from both rich and poor countries to the United
Nations (UN) Millennium Declaration. The Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) that emerged from the UN Millennium Declaration were very
specific, with clear measurable targets such as reducing poverty among
the more than 1 billion poor people worldwide by 2015 (Human
Development Report, 2005: 17).
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Gender and perception of poverty in Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State is the focus of this study. The main objectives of the study were to examine the way men and women perceive poverty and to understand the gender-based differences in the perception of poverty and to explore the effects of poverty coping strategies with/without taking into account the gender-based differences in perceptions of poverty and to assess the impact of intra household inequalities on household welfare and ... Continue reading---
