Poverty is a significant threat to women’s equality. In Canada, more women live in poverty than men, and women’s experience of poverty can be harsher, and more prolonged. Women are often left to bear more burden of poverty, leading to ‘Feminization of poverty’. Through government policy women inequality has resulted in more women and children being left in poverty with no means of escaping. This paper will identify some key aspects of poverty for Canadian women. First, by identifying what poverty entails for Canadian women, and who is more likely to feel the brunt of it. Secondly the discussion of why women become more susceptible to poverty through government policy and programs. Followed by the effects that poverty on women plays in …show more content…
the defination of ‘feminism of poverty’ refers to situations of increasing poverty for women and the fact that more women are living in poverty than men, basically poor people are disportionately women (Townson, 2000).
a.) Who are the poor?
According to the National Council of Welfare, The majority of those who rely on social assistance in Canada tend to be women, children and people with disabilities, it is noted that government policy focus on getting them into the paid workforce without adequate supports such as childcare, housing, and money for basic expenses, these policies are considered to be unrealistic and create much misery for the Canadians that are forced to live under these policies (Women, 2007). According to Census 2000, the average annual pre-tax income of women from all sources including government transfers was $22,885 or 62% that of what men receive. In Canada, female lone parent families have by far the lowest average total incomes among families. Although women continue to be among the poorest of the poor in Canada, they make up a disproportionate share of the population with low income 2.4 million women in 2001 compared to 1.9 million men (Work, 2004).
Women targeted for poverty
Background
In 2006, social and health programs within Canada were reduced by about 6 billion or 30% by the second year of the implementation of Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST), which lead to a fiscal
“Today … there is a growing crisis of women’s homelessness across Canada. The Canadian government has failed to explore the causes of women’s homelessness” (Rahder, 2006, p.38). This growing issue is caused by societies carelessness on the homelessness issue, and the lack of support to change it. Even the Canadian government does not see it as an urgent issue to address because, as stated above, they have even failed to
Poverty is a serious issue in Canada needs to be addressed promptly. Poverty is not simply about the lack of money an individual has; it is much more than that. The World Bank Organization defines poverty by stating that, “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time”. In Canada, 14.9 percent of Canada’s population has low income as Statistics Canada reports, which is roughly about two million of Canadians in poverty or on the verge of poverty. In addition, according to an UNICEF survey, 13.3 percent of Canadian children live in
As Canadians and individuals from around the globe progress toward the future, today’s world is plagued with a reoccurring theme of income disparity. Now more than ever, social welfare has become a vital asset in combating the thresholds placed on Canadians nationwide. Historically, such a theme has been prominent and each time the onus has been placed on the government to combat such situations through social welfare. With each individual holding a different idea of the ideology they find befitting, the chosen method can severely impact the trajectory in which these policies are implemented. With today’s society has continuously being dominated by corporatism and greed, a movement toward equality is critical in allowing Canada to grow and prosper collectivity. Based on current Canadian conditions and analysis of both
Duffy and Mandell portray many themes around poverty in their article “poverty in Canada”, but there is one word that really symbolizes the main theme, and
Inequality in Canada is not as prominent as many other places around the world, although it does remain in certain segments of Canada. There are many forms of inequality in Canada and internationally, although this papers main focus is going to be the inequality of wealth. According to Steven Kerstetter “Canadians may view their country as a land of opportunity, but it is also a land of deep and abiding inequality in the distribution of personal wealth” (Kerstetter 2002). The “gaps between the rich and poor remain evident in Canadian statistics” (Kerstetter 2002), Canadians have always kept financial security as an essential element of life and have tried to obtain and sustain it within their lives. Frank Cunningham’s article, “What’s
Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, however, many citizens are below the blurred poverty line. (251). The poverty line in Canada is measured by the LICO-IAT (boooook) and the MBM (253). The resources for those below the poverty line are very poor; food banks and shelters are unable to uphold the amount of people that are in need of them. (252). Among the poor, many people have paid employment, however, it is not enough.
Sexism at work is not the lone way women are discriminated in Canada, since women are also confronted with biased clothing rules. In modern day society, a woman is encouraged to dress in provocative attire, is given restrictions in what she wears, and is notified that wearing clothes that shows one’s shoulders is inappropriate, which remains the contrary for men. To start off, female students are not permitted to wear certain attire at school as it is claimed to distract their male classmates. For example, a 16 year-old female, attending a public high school in London, Ontario, “was called to the principal’s office and told to cover up, for wearing a grey skirt and black and turquoise top” ('They were sexualizing my outfit': Toronto students). The fact that an
Through the Contemporary Women’s Issues in Canada course, various topics related to gender inequality were discussed. Due to a long history, of sexism and misogyny in many aspects of Canadian society, outdated behaviours and thoughts have prevailed in many aspects of society. Three main topics that are central to achieving gender equality are gendered violence, gender roles and socialization, and child care.
According to Chapter 1 of the book "Poverty In Canada", poverty refers to conditions where people lack resources to attain proper diet, participate in community activities, and the living conditions in the society they live in. Poverty can be absolute where people do not have enough resources to survive, or relative where people are not able to participate in common daily activities. The groups who are most likely to experience poverty in Canada are Aboriginal Canadians, women, unattached adults, people of color, persons with disabilities, and recent immigrants to Canada. The reason many of these groups live in poverty is because they work low-wage occupations. For groups such as, people with disabilities, people receiving social assistance,
1. Introduction In Canada, the ongoing issue of economic inequality has affected many individuals and is considered a contributing factor to poverty and poor health. Various studies have demonstrated that from an economic perspective, gender equality is a contributing factor (Raphael, 2016). Although the gender inequality rate is lower in Canada compared to other countries, it is far from perfect and there remains significant progress to be made (Raphael, 2016).
Gender inequality has been a long part of Canada’s history with men being the dominant decision makers. Women have had to fight long hard battles and overcome numerous obstacles to prove themselves and demonstrate that they are equal to men and not inferior. Over the course of a century women have achieved suffrage and have become increasingly visible in the political and economic sectors. Despite all the achievements women have made barriers remain in effect leaving women at a social, economic and political disadvantage even in the twenty-first century. The primary obstacles in achieving gender equality are the noticeable absence of women in authoritative economic and political positions, unfair social stereotypes that are still
The poverty issue has taken center stage in the social front owing to the impact it has on Canadian households as well as the tripartite level of government, that is Federal, Provincial and municipal government. This research paper will therefore assess the genesis of this social issue, the indicators established for proving its existence, the policies enacted and adapted towards its reduction in the country and also the role of the public in combating the challenge.
The Toronto Star published an article reporting that Toronto currently has the highest rate of children living in households that are considered low income in Canada (Monsebraaten, 2015). The article reports that in Toronto the child poverty rate is higher than the poverty rate of any other age group. This paper will discuss child poverty, how this is a challenge to public health practices and policies, and finally, discuss potential solutions for public policy that address this issue.
Since the Second World War, the functions and responsibilities of women in Canadian society has significantly changed. This societal shift has been considerably perceptible in one of Canada’s finest institutions; the military. Today, Canada is a global front-runner in military gender integration, excelling with regards to both the proportion of women in its military - currently around 14.8% of combined Regular and Reserve Force personnel - as well as in the roles in which they can serve.
Feminization of poverty is defined as, “A societal-level process over time in which the poor are increasingly made up of women and children” (Eshleman, 2010, p. 588). According to Lauren Abbate of Mount Holyoke College, “Feminization of poverty is the phenomenon in which women experience poverty at rates that are disproportionately high in comparison to men” (Abbate, 2010). It appears that,