Women and Poverty (1989) - Combat Poverty Agency

on hish women also forces us to rely in places on evidence
from other countries. . . .
The Measurement ofPoverty and Women
Placing the focus on women means that we must look
critically at how existing research has· treated women.
Research can conceal as well as reveal. Most poverty research
has shortcomings in how it has measured poverty among
women. Conventional research on poverty has usually
assumed that income is distributed equally within the home.
~o the research has.based its measures of poverty on the
mcome of collective or aggregate units such as families and
households. This ignores both the possibility that income is
unequally shared. and women's lack of control over the
family's income. Women, therefore, and perhaps children
also, are likely to be undercounted in poverty figures that are
based on household or family income. Research based on
household or family income accepts that there are no poor
people in households or families with incomes above the
poverty line and that all members of families are equally poor
or rich. Such assumptions are unjustifiable in the absence of
evidence to prove that they are correct.
Where possible throughout this book, women living on low
incomes speak for themselves, sometimes through their
writings and poems. This kind ofinformation is as important,
and in some cases more important, as statistical information.
Women's own experience of poverty is the main focus of
interest throughout this book~ .
everyday lives, their hopes, fears and expectations.
Chapter 3 takes work as the focus and looks at how women
fare with regard to paid work and unpaid work .and how they
have been affected by recent developments m the labour
market. .. d· Ch
Social welfare's treatment of women ~sexamme m apter
4, particularly for its ~ffect on women s long-term chances of
remaining in or escapmg from poverty. .
In Chapter 5 the foc~s is on. women's acces~· to pubhc
services mainly education, housmg and legal services..
Chapter'6 looks at the relationship between women's health
and poverty. ... .
Chapter 7 examines some local actions that have been taken
to improve women's sit~atio~, especially· attempts by wo!"en
to organise themselves m therr ~ocal· are.a~..The purpose IS to
evaluate the potential of educational actiVIties among women
at local level for bringing about change. . . ...
Chapter 8 looks to !he future and identi~es· the posslblhues
and priorities for action to address women s poverty. .
The Framework for the Book
The main dimensions of women's poverty provide the book's
structure. The book consists of three parts: the first
descriptive; the second explanatory; the third suggested
changes. . .
Chapter 1 presents and examines the most up to date evidence
available on poverty in Ireland. Women's poverty is the main
focus and the characteristics of groups of very poor women
are examined in detail.
Chapter 2 puts flesh on these statistics: it describes, sometimes
in women's ownwords, what it is like to live one's life
in very poor conditions. We get a feeling .for women's
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