Feminization Of Poverty

767 Words4 Pages

Education is a key element linked with one’s class in the system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. Specifically, parents transmit the benefits or disadvantages of their class to their children through the educational system (Young, J, 1990. p.162). The type and level of education a child receives is normally associated with class, region, race and ethnicity, religion and gender. Quoting John Porter, Young, J. 1990, argues that “those who have most access to the greatest rewards of society are thus at the top of the stratification system…is composed of individual with …similar backgrounds” (Young, J 1990.p,.162). Quoting the National Council of welfare, Young, J. 1990.p. continues to posit that “those Canadians most …show more content…

This essay will continue to consider how children are treated in the classroom and by the school system and the potential effect of this on them in the larger society. The effect of “feminization of poverty” on children is important to emphasize. Consequently, the issue is about much more than gender. Therefore, the right place to begin is to find out about the relationship between education and poverty. In most cases, poverty is apparently linked to the level of education a person has acquired. More so, the concept of feminization of poverty is “… considered a key issue not only because it effects women, but because women apparently appear to have a longer life span than men and are also at higher risk of living in poverty when they are old…” (Enotes, n.d, n.p). Stretched to its logical limit, women’s poverty usually amounts to the poverty of children as they are most likely to be fending for them if the unexpected happens. Accordingly, women’s poverty will translate to the children’s experience of poverty. According to Enotes, “There are a number of correlates that have been found to be related to the phenomenon of women living in poverty. …” (Enotes, n.d, n.p). Enotes further argues that “to better understand the feminization of poverty, it is important to determine what factors place women at higher risk for …show more content…

Most Canadians would like to assume that all Canadian children have the right circumstances within the bounds of the educational system to accomplish as much as their abilities allow. However, this does not happen; rather, what we have is the devastating effects of poverty and marginalization on women and children. A person who is born poor faces a greater likelihood of ill-health in childhood and throughout his or her adult life. Invariably what this translates into in Canadian educational circumstances is that if a child is born of Native American or of any other minority group, that child is bound to face a lesser chance to graduate from high school; lesser still that the child will attend university. Quoting Weatherspoon, Young, J. continues to argue that “to be born poor is to face a greater likelihood that you will be judged a delinquent in adolescence and, if so, … be sent to a “correctional institution” (p.163). Arguing further, (Young, J.) continues to state that “to be born poor is to …. find life an uphill struggle …” (p.163). Technically, we find here that poverty, which is in most cases a result of lack of education, which women and children from the minority groups do not have easy access to, can also have an unpleasant label for its