Jo Goodwin Parker's Discussion of Poverty and Feminization

What is poverty? I think most people have an understanding of what poverty is. “We get fictional accounts from television and the movies and the sound bites from the news and many of us have had a brief and uncomfortable encounter with the homeless on our cities streets.” (Henderson pg.18) The story begins with Parker describing what it’s like to live poorly. The author Jo Goodwin Parker paints a picture to create many of the harsh images she experienced living poor. By using these images, Parker can make the readers feel a lot of emotions and let the reader question their own stereotypes against the poor. She talks about how her husband left her and is off living a normal life without poverty, while she and her children are experiencing horrible living conditions, such as filth, bug infestation, no soap to wash clothes or their bodies with, not enough food or money to survive the long haul, etc.

The exact definition of feminization of poverty depends on two supplementary questions. What is poverty? and What is feminization? Poverty is a lack of resources, financial capacity or freedom. The term 'feminization' can be used to indicate a gender difference in any of these dimensions. Feminization is also an act and process of becoming more feminine. Feminism is treating women more fairly, giving them the same opportunities, and seeing them as equals. The feminization of poverty is a change in the poverty level of households led by women. More specifically, the difference in poverty level between women and men, and married couples. It may also mean an increase in the role of gender inequality as a determinant of poverty, which will be characteristic of feminization of poverty. The most extreme poverty in the United States is concentrated in certain geographical areas, including the protection of urban centers and indigenous Americans in major cities. These poverty-stricken areas are the result of decades of policies that limit the poor to economically remote areas. I researched about the serious ethnic differences in the distribution of wealth in the United States of America. The Caucasian family not only owns an average of ten times the assets of ethnic households' net assets, but also increased assets by twenty percent. This household data holds true for heterosexual married couples. If the household contains homosexual married women, or single mothers, they make less money than a tradition style family.

Why is it that women are treated differently than men? Is it because we raise woman to be dependent on men, to blindly follow them, no not ask questions and to be submissive? Why is it that more woman than men suffer from homelessness and poverty? I believe those answers lie within compassion and equality. In today’s society women are simply viewed as the weaker species and less deserving than the “hardworking men” in our county. I also believe poverty could be a thing of the past, there should never be a child who goes to bed hungry or has no clean clothes to wear, but greed consumes us. Greed and selfishness fuel poverty. Love, selflessness and compassion are the way to break this cycle.