Women, poverty, and empowerment in Africa

Abstract

The link between gender and poverty is complex, conceptually and empirically, mainly because of the lack of a single, universal definition. The most commonly applied approach to measuring poverty is through economic well-being, which offers limited insights into the analysis of gender and poverty. Conceptualizing poverty using Sen's Capability Approach that views deprivation as including constraints on persons' opportunities and abilities, to generate valuable outcomes, is relevant for the analysis of poverty from a gender perspective. This is because it enables an examination of intrahousehold resource allocations, which shed light on individual capabilities and functionings. The interplay between poverty and gender has also been conceptualized as feminization of poverty. Women have been shown to be vulnerable to extreme poverty because they face greater burdens of unpaid work, have fewer assets and productive resources than men, earn less than men, are more likely to work in sectors that have lower average incomes, and are also likely to be engaged in part-time work due to the burden of unpaid work. Women's economic empowerment is central to realizing women's rights and gender equality especially with regard to access to and control over productive resources; access to decent work; control over their own time, lives, and bodies; and increased voice, agency, and meaningful participation in economic decision-making at all levels. However, the progress in women's empowerment in Africa has been limited. To better understand the link between women, poverty, and empowerment, there is need for improving availability of accurate and timely data (especially on time use and multidimensional aspects of poverty) and for further empirical analyses of gender and poverty, especially analyses that use high-quality data and incorporates non-econometric dimensions such as constrained capabilities and social exclusion.