Women Flashcards
Functionalist Theory states women are more likely to be poor because their primary role as carers is low paid:
Functionalists believe that different roles in society receive different levels of reward.
Women are more likely to be carers in the family and in society at large. Women’s primary role as carers fulfils the socialisation needs of society, but it is not financially rewarding
Parsons there is a value consensus in society over the levels of reward given to different social groups. The domestic role of women is low paid as women are seen to be motivated by altruism rather than by material rewards.
Functionalist Theory states women are more likely to be poor because their primary role as carers is low paid 2
Take more care of the elderly, the sick and other vulnerable groups. Such caring roles are unpaid or low paid and this makes women more vulnerable to poverty as they have less income. These caring responsibilities can also have a number of consequences which increase the risk of poverty.
Single mothers are more likely to be dependent on state benefits, Their domestic role places demands on single mothers as carers, preventing them from taking up full time employment. Glendenning and Miller found that this meant more mothers are dependent on state benefits
Weberians claim women are more likely to be in poverty because of their poor labour market situation
Individual income depends on labour market situation ie how much demand is placed on skills in the labour market. The domestic role of women often leads to them having a poor labour market situation as many need part time work, have career breaks to raise children and as a result they have fewer skills and qualifications to offer in the labour market and this means they are less likely to get high paid jobs
Owing to domestic and family commitments, most part time workers are women. Part time work tends to be lower paid than full time work, with fewer opportunities for career advancement. This results in women being more likely than men to have low paid work. EOC found that on average women are paid 15% less than men
Feminists claim that the poverty of women is the result of living in a patriarchal society
men have most of the power in families, they tend to be employed in better-paid and higher-status jobs than women, and that they tend to monopolise positions of political power.
Face discrimination as the ‘glass ceiling’ denies women career opportunities. This is supported by an EOC Report that found women were routinely missing out on senior jobs, starting on lower salaries and taking longer to get promoted
women being treated as ‘secondary workers’, only used when the economy needs them (war, times of full employment, shift working) and then they are discarded. This view is supported by the Socialist Feminist Benston who argues that women are exploited by capitalism in that they are treated as a ‘reserve army of cheap labour’ that enables wages to be kept low
be paid less because it is assumed they will be dependent on their husband’s wages.
Feminists claim that the poverty of women is the result of living in a patriarchal society 2
Home life can also contribute to women being in a state of poverty. Feminists claim that the family can be a harmful place for women. Feminists say women are often subject to exploitation and violence in the home
Marriage and the nuclear family is a way of controlling women and keeping them at home, serving men and preventing women from becoming independent workers
Women also suffer from hidden poverty. This occurs when family income is not equally shared; women spend less time on their own needs than men. Women may sacrifice an adequate diet or neglect their own clothing needs
A03
JRF reports that average pensioner incomes have increased in recent years resulting in a dramatic fall in pensioner poverty rates. Reforms to the state pension system have resulted in fewer pensioners being reliant on means tested benefits to lift them out of poverty.
However, working lives are getting longer as many women cannot afford to retire early and the state pension age is being continually pushed back.
