What is the Feminization of Poverty?

Feminization of poverty is a term that describes women as the most vulnerable group of people in the world that are prone to poverty and a much lower standard of living. It reflects the changes and adverse impacts that affect poverty rates worldwide, especially when it boils down to the mundane affairs of women. In today's modern world, women are likely to suffer more than any other group under the overbearing weight of a complete lack and forced gender biases that inhibit their everyday lives. When you refer to poor people, six in ten of them are women, many of them being single mothers. All around the world, women find themselves in difficult situations brought on by the economic, social, cultural, and health consequences of the average patriarchal society, exposing them further to extreme poverty-ridden situations. To better understand the feminization of poverty, it is important to define the word 'poverty'. This is a word commonly associated with lack of income and an inadequate standard of living. It depicts the lack of opportunities and enjoyment, and, for many women, the limitations on what they can have in a functioning society. Although gender equality has pervaded most modern-day societies, the position women occupy can still be described as complexly inferior in many regions of the world. A good example is the surge of misogyny in South Korea— one of the world's largest tech hubs with an economy advancing at a considerably rapid rate due to 51% of its active labour force being women—that has led to the election of an infamous misogynist named Yoon Seok-yul, who quashed every effort in the country to promote gender equality. The issue of gender inequality is infact more dire in developing societies, as two in three adults living in abject poverty are women. In Nigeria, the current poverty capital of the world, Women represent 51% of the population, yet the subordination of these same women has refused to ease up till today. Take the Agricultural Sector, for example. The United Nations Development Programme Fact Sheet shows that Nigerian women grow over 60% of the country's farm produce. Yet, less than 20% of these women own land and are barely awarded due credit for their agricultural input. 

Nigeria Women in Poverty - Past Years

Throughout the years, poverty in Nigeria has afflicted more women than men, leading to many untold hardships. Before the colonial era, Many regions of Nigeria held inhumane cultural views that affected the livelihood of young girls such as; female genitalia mutilation (FGM), trafficking to men once they begin menstruation for marriage or prostitution due to poverty or having to share one husband and his meagre income with other wives, leaving no means of sustenance for the woman or her children, except the man wills it. Many young women suffered through these times silently, while the women who dared to be outspoken were stigmatised and cruelly discriminated against. Women were continually left out of family inheritance and businesses— a familiar source of wealth at the time— and forced to live on scraps while the men in their families lived well-off lives. Then came colonisation, a period so dark that the status of the average Nigerian woman worsened. You see, at the time, many parts of the country were already immersed in traditional patriarchal relations. This made enough space for the Western patriarchal systems and policies to fit perfectly, almost like a crucial cog in the machine of women's subjugation. Women were forced to not only become mothers but also menial workers, forced caretakers, and labourers, who aim to please everyone both at home and at their workplace. The feminization of poverty in Nigeria continues to escalate, along with extreme gender inequality, stifling the human rights and prospects of women spread across society. Many women today still face these problems that once plagued our past communities. Capitalism remains the order of our present day, and yet women are still fewer and earn less than men in almost every working industry. They are also grossly underrepresented in the political affairs of the country. Back in 1992, the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) recorded only one (1) female senator out of the 91-seat Nigerian Senate Assembly. In the year 2023, the Senate House, now containing 98 seats, had 15 female senators according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Fast forward to 2026. There are now only four (4) women out of the 109 seats in the Nigerian Senate. I am forced to ask, are we progressing or regressing? Why is there a persistent sluggishness in the Nigerian government’s response to the concerns and affairs of people who represent more than half of the population? Even if they tried, Many women cannot run for political positions because of societal factors such as limited access to employment, the high cost of vying for political positions, forced childcare, gender-related violence, and many cultural reasons, all in direct link to poverty and marginalization. 

Nigerian Women in Poverty - Recent Years

Today, both educated and uneducated women in Nigeria face callous hindrances in the hands of society, and many of them have to deal with it themselves or saddled with kids. Statistics show that women make up 70% of the poor people in Nigeria, and more than half of the women living in rural areas are surviving on less than a dollar a day. In developing regions of the world, anything can go wrong for a young girl, regardless of her privileges. The idea of a woman being plunged into abject poverty is much more than income-earning conversations. It is also about the right to access or the lack thereof, to quality education, affordable healthcare, housing, forms of fixed assets, and proper nutrition. In the 'Feminization of Poverty in Nigerian Cities' by Adunola Adepoju, A certain Muslim woman from the city of Osogbo in Nigeria defined poverty most authentically: 

“Poverty is sorrow. It is the totality of want and lack of necessities of life such as good food, clothing, house, money, job and even education. For young women, poverty forces them to do things that they do not want to do - prostitution, begging, stealing, suicide and evil thoughts against others.”

For many women, poverty becomes so central in their lives that it weighs them down with hopelessness and desperation, which in turn affects their needs and those of their children. Single mothers in Nigeria make up 9.5% of the entire population and have to put up with juggling jobs to afford the basic wants. Many face sexual exploitation simply because they are willing to do anything to provide a better future for their children. This kind of plight, however, is not the same for men. In Nigeria, child abandonment by men has become more prevalent than ever, with a little over 160 cases recorded in Gombe, Nigeria by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in 2023. In America alone, over 40% of low-income-earning men run away from their entire families when they start to feel burdened by bills and demands. This fairly common occurrence worldwide receives very little backlash. However, the same cannot be said for women. If she chooses to leave her family to fend for just herself, she will be heavily chastised by society and can even be arrested. Poverty destroys women's happiness, ruins their mental stability and forces atrocious decisions to be made with little regard for their well-being. As poverty in Nigeria continues to be even more appalling daily, women are under immense pressure to make ends meet. Thousands have expressed feeling burdened with more responsibilities than the men in their lives. Women just want to live better and be better, but the living conditions faced in our part of the world are so incorrigible that it immediately worsens already blighted situations. The Nigerian government needs to create more necessary benefits and opportunities to aid women and their communities so that we can be able to envision a better future for our little girls.