The Feminization of Poverty

[miss_katelynne]

I was just reading about poverty for my Sociology 101 class and I came across this excerpt.

Poverty affects women more than men, creating a social phenomenon that sociologists call the feminization of poverty, a huge number of women living in poverty, mostly as single mothers or heads of families.  Compared with other industrial nations, the United

Comments

[the_lance]

I think the issue has and will continue to be generational lag. I think the "feminist" has demanded immediate action when that is nearly impossible as those values are established very early.

My perception is that things have continued to get better for women even in the face of these challenges. We're obviously not there yet. And while there are certainly some immediate things you can do, I think most of it comes with time.

[miss_katelynne]

I would agree with that. I have a problem with, what seems to be, a large number of people saying everything already IS equal and we're just Teh Awesome.

[the_lance]

There are a few things that have become marginally equal (that is, within the statistical margins of equity as we can measure) but I think people mistake that for all of those factors being equal. That simply isn't the case.

[miss_katelynne]

Yep.

This class has really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I've always known that things still weren't completely equal (not just between men and women), but this class has helped me think about those things more concretely.

[thren0dy]

"By socializing women to become wives and mothers, feminist theory suggests, the patriarchal society further discourages them from developing educational and occupational skills."I find this part very interesting. I can't say I agree or disagree with it, but it really caught my attention. It made me think of a a paper I wrote for my feminism class in college, wherein I basically bitched about the fact that it seemed to me that in our society, women are made to feel that they are not complete as women unless they become wives and mothers. You're not "whole" without children and a family life. She disagreed (she has 5 kids) and graded me down on it. I really do feel that way, though. I am weary of "when are you gonna have kids?" and "your life isn't complete without kids." Maybe YOURS isn't, bucko! I firmly believe that one can only be made "whole" or complete through self-realization and self-acceptance, marrying someone or having a baby will not complete an incomplete person

[miss_katelynne]

I agree with you completely. I have kids, because I WANTED to have kids, that doesn't make it right for everyone. I think I've told you this before, but my aunt and uncle are childless, and to me that's perfectly okay. You know, they love being able to jump on a plane and fly to Aspen for a ski trip, or go on a cruise to the Carribean. With kids that would be much harder. My aunt also is very anal about her house being spotlessly clean... definitely not gonna happen with kids around.

[mistress_rhayna]

I also agree with your view on feminism. If you choose to climb the corporate ladder--cool. If you decide to have children and stay home--equally cool. I think that's the key for me--that all choices women make for their adult career path are considered equal. While I think great strides are being made (most of teh senior managers at my company are female), there are definitely things to work on.

Interestingly, Gen X is starting a trend back to stay at home moms because they are putting a high value on parenting and family. How this trend will affect equality in the workplace will be interesting. These women are making a choice to stay at home, not just following social norms, so I hope that it will have a positive effect, rather than negative.

I also agree that time is of the essence. Changes take time and hopefully, as Gen X gets older, some of the more unequal practices will be slowly phased out by those of us who were brought up to be anything we chose to be.