The Feminization of Poverty in Canada

Poverty can be defined as “the lack of resources necessary for material well-being” (Mooney, Holmes, Knox & Schacht, 2011). In Canada, poverty affects a wide variety of individuals, although women have become increasingly overrepresented in this area. This is due to a phenomenon known as the feminization of poverty, a phrase attributed to researcher Diana Pearce. The question of ‘why’ there are more females living in poverty, is important to examine since this issue means that half of the population is more likely to experience poverty. In order to understand why this is the case, we must examine some of the contributing factors, including: economic vulnerability and the rise of female-led single parent families, in addition to why this is a problem in Canada. We will examine these factors using the feminist and symbolic interactionist perspectives. Before examining the contributing factors, however, we must get a better understanding of what poverty is and how it is measured in Canada. The definition of poverty in Canada is one that has been up for debate for quite some time. According to Alvin Finkel, this debate has been politically contentious and disagreements on the definition began following the end WWII (2008). For example, during the Cold War, the idea of poverty was often discounted as communist propaganda. It wasn’t until 1961, when the Dominion Bureau of Statistics (now Statistics Canada) released a study showing the prevalence of poverty in Canada, that the government began seriously looking into poverty. This study determined that an individual was living in poverty if they did not have the “income required to purchase a minimally acceptable standard of housing, adequate food, and clothing, and still have enough to pay medical and school costs, church dues and miscellaneous and unforeseen expenses” (Finkel, 2008, p.250). The word poverty was avoided, however, and instead the government focused on “low-income cutoff” lines. (Finkel, 2008, p.250). In

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