Need for Quantification of Feminization of Poverty

Economics

In India, poverty is a major issue among policymakers. World Bank describes that the world had 872.3 million people below the poverty line according to the new methodology based on the revised poverty line as $1.90, of which 179.6 million people lived in India. It states that India had 21% share of the world’s poorest, with 17.5% of the total world's population in 2011 (Poverty and Equity Data, World Bank). The rank of India in the 2017 global Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was found out to be 37th out of 103 nations (Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative) and ranks 100th out of 119 countries in Global Hunger Index which show that there is an immediate need to look into this matter. Women play multiple roles at the household and community level since they are the primary caretaker of the household. Their work is mostly unpaid and largely ignored. It had been evident that the burden of poverty is largely borne by women in the society due to denied access to resources such as monetary credit, land and inheritance, lack of health care, nutritional needs, decision-making power, and access to education and support services. Women and girls are more vulnerable to poverty than men and boys because of gender inequalities. Therefore, a need arises to quantify the feminisation of poverty that may help policymakers to develop target-based policies.

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