Women and Poverty
Women face systematically higher poverty risk than men across most of the world. The headline difference is modest in some countries — but when adjusted for unpaid care work, asset ownership, control over income, and lifetime earnings, the gender-poverty gap widens. The 'feminization of poverty' concept dates to the 1970s; the structural drivers identified then remain largely unaddressed.
Key insights
Headline poverty data underweights gender differences
Household surveys typically classify a household as poor or non-poor, applying that status to all members. This obscures intra-household inequality. Women in 'non-poor' households may receive less food, education, healthcare than men. Individual-level poverty measures (where they exist) consistently show wider gender gaps than household-level measures. Most international comparisons rely on household-level data.
Single-parent households are disproportionately poor
In OECD countries, single-parent households face poverty rates 2-3× higher than two-parent households. 80%+ of single parents are women. This is true in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Japan. The pattern reflects: lower female wages, childcare costs that displace work, intermittent labour force participation around childbirth. Child support enforcement, paid parental leave, and subsidized childcare all shrink the gap; few countries have implemented all three.
Unpaid care work is the unaccounted poverty driver
Globally, women perform 75% of unpaid care work — caring for children, the elderly, the sick; cooking, cleaning, fetching water and fuel. The ILO estimates the global economic value of this work at $10.8 trillion per year — about 9% of global GDP. This work limits time available for paid work, education, leisure, political participation. The COVID-19 pandemic increased women's unpaid care burden disproportionately; recovery in female labour-force participation has lagged.
Women in poverty per 100 men in poverty (age 25-34)
Gender poverty ratio, age 25-34
Key Finding: Women aged 25-34 are 22% more likely to live in extreme poverty than men of the same age globally.
Hours of unpaid care work per day — gender gap
Average daily hours, women vs men
Key Finding: Women spend 2-5× more time on unpaid care than men across all major regions. The gap is smallest in Northern Europe.
Methodology & caveats
Why household-level data obscures gender
Survey-based poverty measures assume equal distribution within the household. Empirically, this assumption fails: women in poor households may have less food, healthcare access, education spending than men. Individual-level measures (asking about each household member's resources separately) are technically possible but rarely done at scale. Most poverty statistics therefore underestimate gender gaps.
Asset vs income vs consumption poverty
Asset ownership (land, livestock, housing) is heavily male-skewed in many parts of the world — only 13% of agricultural land in low-income countries is owned by women. Asset-based poverty captures gender gaps that income-based poverty misses. Inheritance laws, marriage property regimes, and customary practices all matter.
SDG 1.2.2 specifically calls for gender disaggregation
SDG 1.2.2 requires reporting of poverty rates 'by sex' for both child and adult populations. Implementation is patchy — most countries lack gender-disaggregated time series. The 'gender data gap' is widely identified but slowly closing. UN Women and the World Bank's Gender Data Portal aggregate available data; coverage is best in Latin America and the OECD, weakest in conflict-affected states.