Jane Millar

Gender and Poverty

A recent edition of this Journal (Volume 16, Part 2, April 1987) was devoted to a number of articles on the definition and measurement of poverty. Surprisingly, perhaps, this did not include any specific discussion of gender differences in the causes, extent and experience of poverty. But such gender differences do exist, though they are often obscured by much research on poverty. Our initial response to the special edition on poverty was to write a reply discussing how the various contributors had ignored the issue of gender. But women cannot simply be ‘added in’ to existing analyses; instead a different analytic framework is required. This article therefore begins by looking at some of the widespread evidence of the economic disadvantage of women compared with men. We then go on to discuss why it is necessary to focus on the gender dimensions of poverty. We argue that this involves far more than simply disaggregating data to produce statistics about the situation of women. Rather, this focus leads us to explore the structural causes of womens poverty and the gendered processes in the labour market, welfare systems and domestic household which interact to create and maintain that disadvantage. In the final section we consider some of the important conceptual and methodological issues which must be tackled if we are to find ways to investigate and measure poverty which are not gender-blind.

Relationships of care: working lone mothers, their children and employment sustainability

Lone mothers are a key target group for government policies to increase employment participation rates. Employment sustainability is central to achieving this goal and thus it is important to understand the factors that affect sustainability. When the lone mother starts work, her daily life changes in various ways, and so do the lives of her children, and perhaps also other family members who may become involved in childcare, or in other forms of help. These social relationships – at home, in work, in care settings, at school – may be a key element in employment sustainability, and one that has not yet been systematically explored in research. This article draws on data from an ongoing longitudinal qualitative study of lone mothers and their children, which has been following the families from the point that the mothers left income support and started working for at least 16 hours per week. The analysis starts from the assumption that sustaining work over time is a process that actively involves the family as a whole and not just the individual lone mother. In this article we explore how social relationships, inside and outside the family, are central to the ‘family–work project’ of sustaining employment.

Poverty and Social Exclusion in Europe

There are estimated to be almost 60 million people living in poverty throughout the European Union. This bleak statistic underlines the value of this important book which explores the nature and extent of poverty and social exclusion in six European countries, namely: Austria, Germany, Greece, Norway, Portugal and the UK. The book focuses on four ‘life course’ groups who might be considered particularly at risk: young adults, lone parents, the sick and disabled, and the retired.

How Low-Paid Employees Avoid Poverty: An Analysis by Family Type and Household Structure

The risk of poverty is very unevenly distributed in society. Some groups – unemployed people, lone parents, large families, people with disabilities, and some ethnic groups – have much higher poverty rates than average. Some events – losing a job, marital breakdown, having children – also put people at high risk of poverty. But being in a high-risk group does not necessarily mean you will be poor, nor does experiencing an event with a high poverty risk attached to it. Some people avoid poverty, despite being in high-risk groups or facing high-risk events. This article focuses on one such group – low-paid workers – and explores whether and how people in low-paid jobs are able to avoid poverty. We consider three main options – own wages and in particular working long hours, living with other people and sharing income, and state transfers through the tax and benefit system – and compare these across different family and household types. The results highlight the importance of household living arrangements in protecting low-waged individuals against poverty.

Excluding Children: Autonomy, Friendship and the Experience of the Care System

The concept of social exclusion is increasingly important in policy and research but has rarely been addressed from a child-centred perspective. Childhood is a social experience in itself, one that has its own norms and customs, and where the demands of participation and inclusion may be considerable, likewise the costs of exclusion. This paper explores the meaning and experience of social exclusion for children by focusing on a particular group of children and young people, those ‘looked after’ in the public care system. The sample involved children who had minimal contact with their parents, and who although not currently materially poor were vulnerable to a high future risk of experiencing poverty. They thus provided a valuable opportunity to explore some of the relational aspects of social exclusion. Using in-depth interviews to explore the meaning of friendship in their lives, the study revealed the importance of social relationships for these children, andin particular the impact of the care system on their capacity to make and sustain social networks. The findings suggest that the relational aspects of poverty are not just consequences of material poverty but can have a dynamic of their own, one that may have a particular resonance for children. This has implications not just for children in the care system, but also for children in families, where family poverty and the restricted social and economic integration of parents may also have an impact on children’s capacity for developing social relationships and wider social networks.

Time and Change: A Review of the Qualitative Longitudinal Research Literature for Social Policy

The four earlier articles in this themed section are based on presentations at a workshop convened to explore challenges in using qualitative longitudinal methods for policy-related research, with particular focus on data analysis and interpretation. Together, they provide useful pointers to the scope of qualitative longitudinal approaches, and extensive discussion of management and analysis of the particular and complex data produced. Readers who are interested in pursuing themselves a qualitative longitudinal approach to policy-related social research will want also to look to a wider literature to enhance their understanding of issues to be taken into consideration, and to explore the range of methods and options. The aim of this review article is to provide some ideas about the kind of literature likely to prove helpful. The bibliographic references for this review article are supplemented by the guide to sources which completes this themed section.

The Dynamics of Poverty and Employment: The Contribution of Qualitative Longitudinal Research to Understanding Transitions, Adaptations and Trajectories

In recent years there have been significant advances in our understanding of the dynamics of poverty, social exclusion and labour market transitions through the analysis of large-scale panel studies. This article examines the particular contribution that longitudinal qualitative research might additionally make in these areas, illustrated by evidence from an ongoing longitudinal qualitative study of lone mothers and their children, following the families as they leave income support for employment.

Qualitative Longitudinal Research for Social Policy – Introduction to Themed Section

Understanding the nature and process of change over time is an important part of social research. Large-scale longitudinal studies, such as the various birth cohorts and the British Household Panel Survey, have transformed the way in which we understand the relationships between individual lifecourse, family formation and dissolution, economic and social change, and social policy. Qualitative methods for longitudinal research are not yet as well established in social policy research as quantitative methods, but they are attracting increasing interest. The papers in this themed section were first presented at a Social Policy Association sponsored workshop held in London in November 2005. The main aim of the workshop was to explore the challenges of using such data for policy-related research, focusing in particular on data analysis and interpretation.

Gender, Poverty and Social Exclusion

This article discusses some of the problems involved in trying to develop gender-sensitive ways of measuring poverty. It argues that what is needed is a way of placing individuals within households and measuring both their contribution to the resources of that household and the extent of their dependence on the resources of others within the household. It is argued that this should involve examining sources as well as levels of income, and by adopting an approach that is dynamic, rather than static. The concept of social exclusion – multi-dimensional, dynamic, local and relational – could provide a way to explore these issues of autonomy and dependency, and their gender dimensions.

Lone-parent families and the Welfare State: past and present

This paper was published as Continuity and Change, 1987, 2 (3), pp. 387-422. It is available from http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1827480#fn01. Doi: 10.1017/S0268416000000710