gender poverty

1. Gender and Poverty: Conceptual Overview
Sonia Montaño
Women and Development Unit
Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean
Inter-Agency and Expert Group Meeting on the
Development of Gender Statistics
12-14 December 2006, New York

2. Poverty is multidimensional
From a gender perspective poverty includes specific
dimensions such as Unequal distribution of
 opportunities
 access to income and economic resources
 Political participation and decision making
 Gender based Violence
 Time Use
 Reproductive rights

3. Income Poverty Methodology: What gender bias does it have?
Men and women are distributed
equally among the poor. It
doesn’t capture individual
poverty.
It ignores gender based violence,
which has high prevalence in the
region. A manifestation of violence
that usually takes place is economic
violence toward women (prohibition
to work, to decide what to do with
the family income, etc).
It doesn’t capture economic
vulnerability. If a person is an
income receiver, then he has
greater power of decision within the
household in comparison to income
dependant members.
Assumptions:
Equal income distribution within
the household. Both the
household and all the
individuals within are equally
classified as poor or non-poor.
It considers the household as a
harmonic entity, disregards
conflict and negotiation
capacities
individual characteristics are not
relevant. It ignores power
relations within the household.
Effects:

4. Despite the limitations that income poverty measures
have, WDU-ECLAC has suggested a set of indicators that
allow
to measure, at least partially, the way that poverty
affects women.
The indicators that follow will allow us to see:
(i) If women have the same degree of economic autonomy
as men
(ii) If female headed households are more vulnerable to
poverty;
(iii) If more women than men are affected by poverty.
Nevertheless…

5. AMÉRICA LATINA (PROMEDIO SIMPLE, 16 PAÍSES ZONA URBANA a/, 13 PAÍSES ZONA RURAL
b/): POBLACIÓN SIN INGRESOS PROPIOS POR SEXO Y TRAMOS DE EDAD, ALREDEDOR DE
2002 (Porcentajes con respecto al total de cada sexo)
Fuente: CEPAL, Unidad Mujer y Desarrollo, sobre la base de tabulaciones especiales de las encuestas de hogares de los
respectivos países.
Women’s economic dependence contributes to their vulnerability to
situations of subordination. In this scenario the access, use and
control of money might be severely restrained.
Latin America (Simple Average, 16 countries urban areas, 13 countries rural
areas): Population without own individual income, by sex and age
(Data close to 2002) – Percentage with respect to the sex total

6. This indicator summarizes the smaller access that women have to income. This
inequality might arise due to differences in labor and/or non-labor income.
Latin America (Simple Average, 15 countries, only urban areas)
Distribution of men and women
separately, in income quintiles,
considering household per capita income
(Population of 15 years and older)
Distribution of men and women separately
in income quintiles, considering individual
income
(Population of 15 years and older)

7. Percentage of female headed household and female headed
household under the extreme poverty line (2002)
24 25
18
30
21
28
22
25
32 31 30 29
34
31
35
29 28
34
24 26 26 26 28 30 30 31 32
34 35 37 37 37
44
48
54
24
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Bolivia
México
Chile
Argentina
Ecuador
Brasil
Guatemala
Perú
Uruguay
Honduras
Colombia
Venezuela
Nicaragua
Paraguay
El
Salvador
Panamá
Costa
Rica
.Rep
Dominicana
Porcentaje de hogares encabezados por mujeres
Porcentaje de hogares indigentes encabezados por mujeres

8. Furthermore, the severity of poverty is higher in female headed
households. This is due to the fact that per capita income within
these families is further away from the poverty line.
Poverty gap, by sex of the household head
(1999, 2002)

9. In the population between 20 and 59 years of age there are more
women than men that live in poverty. Particularly among the
separated and widows.
Poverty Femenity Index

10. The lack or insufficiency of income is frequently related to non-
remunerated domestic work. Women are the main responsible of
this activity,
Percentage of the population that participates in domestic activities, by sex
(12 years of age and older)
Number of Hours dedicated to domestic activities, by sex
Hours a day Hours a week

11. Total labor day:
Number of hours dedicated to market oriented work plus
hours dedicated to non-remunerated domestic work
(Only men and women employed)
Fuente: CEPAL, Unidad Mujer y Desarrollo, sobre la base de tabulaciones especiales de las encuestas de hogares de los respectivos países.

12. Countries with information to calculate income
poverty from a gender perspective :
 Argentina
 Bolivia
 Brazil
 Chile
 Colombia
 Costa Rica
 Ecuador
 El Salvador
•Guatemala
•Honduras
•México
•Nicaragua
•Panamá
•Paraguay
•Perú
•Rep. Dominicana
•Uruguay
•Venezuela
 Cuba
 Haití

13. Countries with information to calculate time use
indicators :
 Cuba
 Bolivia
 Ecuador
 Guatemala
 México
 Nicaragua
Increasing efforts to develop
Time Use Surveys are needed in
order to make visible one of the
most important dimensions of
poverty for women.