A Report Card on Women and Poverty

by Monica Townson

ISBN: 0-88627-218-1 April 2000

CAW 567 OTTAWA A Report Card on Women and Poverty

by Monica Townson

Monica Townson is an independent economic consultant working in the field of social policy. She has been a consultant to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, served on the Pension Commission of Ontario for eleven years and was a member of the Canada Pension Plan Advisory Board. She chaired the Ontario Fair Tax Commission which reported in 1993 after a three-year review of the tax system. She is the author of many books and studies and a frequent guest on television and radio.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives ac- knowledges the financial support of the Canadian Labour Congress in the preparation of this study.

ISBN: 0-88627-218-1 April 2000 The feminization of poverty is a concept that As for older women, there has been little has been around for a long time—according change there either. In 1967, the Royal Com- to some accounts, since the late 1970s. It de- mission said about half of all women aged 65 scribes a situation where the number of or older who were on their own were in the women in poverty is increasing at a much low-income group. Thirty years later, the per- faster rate than for men, so that poor people centage remains the same: 49% of unattached are disproportionately female. women aged 65 or older have low incomes. It’s not something we have heard much In fact, poverty rates among older unat- about recently. Yet women remain among the tached women were as high as 72% in 1980, poorest of the poor in Canada. Over the past but they have declined steadily since then, two decades, the percentage of women living thanks to improvements in government pro- in poverty has been climbing steadily. As grams such as Old Age Security (OAS) and Canada enters the 21st century, almost 19% of the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), as adult women are poor—the highest rate of well as the maturing of the Canada/Quebec women’s poverty in two decades. About 2.2 Pension Plan (CPP/QPP). (The term “unat- million adult women are now counted as low- tached” refers to a person living alone or in a income, compared with 1.8 million who had household where she is not related to other low incomes in 1980.1 household members.) When the Royal Commission on the Sta- Addressing women’s poverty no longer tus of Women issued its report, some 30 years seems to be a high priority among policy-mak- ago, 47% of women under 65 who were on ers—if indeed it ever was. But while Canadi- their own were considered low-income. In the ans are justifiably concerned about the increas- three decades since then, the poverty rate of ing numbers of children growing up in pov- this group has scarcely changed. The most erty, we have tended to overlook the fact that recent numbers show that 41% of women in children are poor because their parents are this category have low incomes. poor. And it is the poverty of women that is The Royal Commission reported that al- behind the poverty of so many of our children. most 52% of families with children headed by About 20% of low-income women are moth- sole-support mothers were poor. Today, that ers heading lone-parent families. Another 51% percentage, which went as high as 62% in 1984, are spouses in poor families, while 29% are now stands at 56%. In fact, the rate has been on their own—many of them older women. consistently above 50% since the early 1980s

A Report Card on Women and Poverty 1 Figure 1 Poverty rates of Canadian women 1980-1997 80

0 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

All females Adult women aged 18-65 Unattached women aged 65 or older Women heading lone parent families

Measuring poverty with in Canada, we have used them here to docu- Low-Income Cut-Offs ment the extent of women’s poverty. The LICOs used in this report are based on 1992 Canada does not have any kind of official family spending patterns. We use the terms “poverty line.” But Statistics Canada produces “poverty” and “poor” to refer to those whose low-income rates for different family sizes in incomes are below the pre-tax LICOs. different-sized cities and rural areas, based on a measure called the “Low-Income Cut-Off” The depth of poverty (LICO). The LICOs define “low income” in relative terms, based on the percentage of in- Most poor people live thousands of dollars come that individuals and families spend on below the poverty line. In fact, the National the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter Council of Welfare reports that the number of in comparison with the rest of the population. people living at less than 50% of the poverty Families and individuals who spend a dispro- line has grown dramatically in recent years, portionate amount of their income on these from 143,000 families and 287,000 unattached necessities are considered low-income. individuals in 1989 to 277,000 families and StatsCan calculates both before-tax and 456,000 unattached individuals in 1997.2 after-tax LICOs, and it has always emphasized Statistics Canada produces a measure that that, while the low-income-cut-offs are com- gauges the depth of poverty and is referred to monly referred to as poverty lines, “they have as the “average income deficiency.” The table no officially recognized status, nor does Sta- below can be used as an indication of just how tistics Canada promote their use as poverty severe poverty is for different groups of lines.” However, the agency also notes that the women. It shows the “poverty gap,” or how LICOs do “reflect a consistent and well-de- much additional income would be needed to fined methodology which identifies those who raise them above the low-income line. are substantially worse off than the average.” For example, 49% of older women on their Since Statistics Canada’s LICOs are still own were poor in 1997, and their average in- the most widely used measure of low income comes were $3,000 below the poverty line. But,

2 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Table 1: The Poverty Gap Average income deficiency in constant (1997) dollars Low income families and individuals

1980 1985 1990 1997 Two-parent families with children $8,917 $8,582 $9,034 $10,057 Elderly married couples $3,467 $3,146 $3,210 $3,705 Unattached non- elderly women $8,131 $7,538 $6,889 $7,350 Unattached elderly women $4,887 $4,157 $3,461 $2,993 Female lone-parent families $10,103 $10,249 $8,960 $9,036 Source: Statistics Canada, Income Distributions by Size in Canada, 1997. Catalogue 13-207-XPB. Text Table V. while 56% of women heading lone-parent of 1999, says it was shocked to discover that families were poor in the same year, their the number of families and individuals living depth of poverty, at just over $9,000, was three at less than half the poverty line actually in- times greater. creased in 1997. Clearly, there has been a sharp Transfer payments have played a crucial increase in the ranks of the poorest of the poor role in providing income security for older since 1989, says the Council, as governments women. In fact, about 64% of the income of at all levels cut back services and income sup- women aged 65 or older in 1997 came from ports to poor people. “Cuts in welfare by pro- government transfers of all kinds, which was vincial and territorial governments and cuts an increase from the year before. Public pen- in unemployment insurance by the federal sion programs have been responsible for re- government probably go a long way to ex- ducing the “depth of poverty” in which older plaining this tragic state of affairs,” the Coun- women find themselves—especially in com- cil said. parison with women who are lone-parent heads of families and who do not generally Is the wage gap closing? receive such benefits. But, as some observers have noted, many Many people have assumed that, as more and seniors have been lifted just barely above the more women entered the paid labour force, poverty level by the various income programs. their earnings would lift them and their fami- Instead of being poor, they are now simply lies out of poverty. Indeed, it’s true that the “near poor.” In the case of elderly women on earnings of married women have done much their own, those who are still poor are not to keep family poverty rates down. Based on quite as poor as they used to be. special tabulations by Statistics Canada, the What is noteworthy about the table is how National Council of Welfare says that, while the depth of poverty has increased for those 10.8% of all husband-and-wife families were for whom the poverty gap was already the poor in 1997, that percentage would have worst. The National Council of Welfare, in its jumped to 22.1% without the earnings of latest Poverty Profile, published in the autumn wives. The number of families living in pov-

A Report Card on Women and Poverty 3 erty would have more than doubled. In effect, a relatively small portion of workers in the without paid employment, many more lowest earnings categories. women would be living in poor families. The majority of women, on the other It’s also true that the wage gap between hand, remain in the lowest earnings catego- women and men is closing—at least for those ries. The improved earnings position for who work full-time for a full year. In 1997, for women, these authors say, was restricted instance, full-time women workers earned an largely to members of the baby boom genera- average 72.5% of the earnings of men em- tion: that is, those 40 to 54 years of age. For ployed full-time for a full year. That compares women in other age groups, their position with just 66.1% in 1987.3 within the earnings distribution remained The slope of the lines in Figure 2 shows unchanged, and for some it grew worse. how the wage gap is closing slowly. To close Young women were worse off in 1994 than the gap completely would require women’s they had been in 1984. wages as a percentage of men’s to reach 100%. As well, there is evidence that the wage Periods where the line is sloping downward gap is closing, not so much because many indicate a widening of the wage gap. more women are getting better-paid jobs, but But the apparent improvement should be because men’s wages have failed to increase. treated with caution. The percentages are Since 1980, for example, the average earnings based on average earnings and tell us noth- of women who worked full-time for a full year ing about where women are on the earnings have increased by 57%, while the average scale. Not all women have shared equally in earnings of men working full-time rose by just these gains. Katherine Scott and Clarence 14%. Lochhead, in a 1997 paper called Are Women The CCSD study found that the women Catching Up in the Earnings Race? published who made wage gains over the decade from by the Canadian Council of Social Develop- 1984 to 1994 were the beneficiaries of a grow- ment (CCSD), observed that men still domi- ing pool of good jobs in the health, education, nate the higher-earnings groups and make up and social service sectors. As good opportu- Figure 2 Closing the wage gap

20 Women’s wages as a % of men’s wages Women’s

0 1967 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997

Full-time full-year workers Other workers All earners

4 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives nities opened up in traditional areas of wom- women’s poverty down the road. For exam- en’s employment, these authors say, a portion ple, Statistics Canada reports that the male/ of these women benefited from rising earn- female earnings gap is larger among the self- ings. Men’s average wages remained static employed than within the employee popula- because they lost high-paying jobs in the tion, even after taking into account that part- goods-producing sectors as a result of eco- time employment is higher among women. nomic restructuring. Among full-time, full-year workers, self-em- These authors also warn that, as the struc- ployed women earned 64% of the average ture of the economy continues to change, with earnings of self-employed men, compared the continuing polarization of job opportuni- with 73% among employees. ties, there is a real danger that women’s eco- Often women have no choice about ac- nomic advances will be halted. “Such a situa- cepting this kind of work. Lack of better em- tion,” they say, “would herald greater eco- ployment opportunities; lack of accessible and nomic insecurity for all Canadians.” affordable child-care arrangements; and fam- Continued government cutbacks, ily caregiving responsibilities may leave them downsizing and privatization could also re- with few options. In 1997, for example, 34% duce the pool of good public sector jobs that of women in the age group 25 to 54 who had have fuelled the overall improvement in wom- part-time jobs would have preferred to be en’s average earnings. Persistent differences working full-time. in the levels of male and female earnings, say As more and more women are employed the authors of the CCSD report, combined in these non-standard jobs, a more realistic with the relatively small gains made by some assessment of the wage gap would be to look women over the decade, led them to conclude at a comparison of the earnings of all women that it will be many years before women’s la- and all men—including those who work part- bour market earnings catch up to men’s. In time or who are employed in other non-stand- other words, the wage gap will be with us for ard jobs, such as temporary and part-year jobs. the foreseeable future. On this basis, the average earnings of women in 1997 were 63.8% of men’s. In fact, the wage Non-standard work gap between all women and all men has actu- and women’s earnings ally been increasing over the past three years—perhaps a reflection of the fact that Another reason to be concerned about the con- women are increasingly employed in non- tinuing wage gap is the fact that more and standard jobs where earnings are lower. more women are now working part-time— increasingly, because they have not been able Gender inequality and poverty to find full-time jobs—and in other kinds of non-standard jobs such as temporary, part- Statistics on women’s low incomes don’t tell year and contract work, as well as self-em- the full story of women’s poverty. The most ployment. It has been estimated that 40% of recent United Nations Report on Poverty, is- women’s paid jobs, compared with 27% of sued in 1998, notes that a broad range of pub- men’s jobs, are now of this type.4 lic and private organizations throughout the Many of these jobs do not provide women world have vowed to eradicate poverty. “If with the kind of financial security they need they are to succeed in this endeavour,” the UN to support their families and provide for their says, “they will need to adopt a comprehen- future. That could result in higher rates of sive view of poverty: one that recognizes that

A Report Card on Women and Poverty 5 it is more than a shortage of income.”5 This well, they are “only one man away from wel- new concept of human poverty focuses on fare.” “the denial of opportunities and choices most Canadian studies have also pointed out basic to human development—to lead a long, that the causes of women’s poverty differ in healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent many ways from the causes of men’s poverty. standard of living, freedom, dignity, self-es- In a 1990 study of Women and Labour Market teem, and the respect of others.” Poverty,6 for example, Morley Gunderson, Human poverty, the UN Poverty Report Leon Muszynski and Jennifer Keck noted that notes, also recognizes the critical effects of the poverty of individual men can often be gender inequality which perpetuates poverty linked directly to the labour market, where both within and across generations. Income they may be employed in certain jobs with low poverty, the UN says, is usually measured at wages, or may not be able to find work at all. the household level, ignoring disparities While women in the paid work force may have within the household. The gendered approach similar problems, they also face barriers as a to human poverty, by contrast, makes it pos- group—such as confinement to low-wage job sible to look within the household at the ways ghettos and lack of access to well-paid em- in which resources such as food, education or ployment. health services, as well as productive assets, But women’s poverty, these authors note, are distributed among family members. It also springs from the complex interplay of emphasizes that it is within households that such factors as divorce and separation, as well capabilities are provided or denied—and as women’s unique roles as mothers, home- through its structure that public and private makers, caregivers, and nurturers. “These so- resources are channelled. cial factors place limitations on the paid work Recent studies in Canada have also sug- that women have been offered or permitted gested it would be misleading to assume that to do, and they are one explanation given for income within a family is pooled so that all the discriminatory practices of employers,” family members have equal access to it. For according to these authors. example, the Women and Taxation Working A more comprehensive approach to deal- Group of the Ontario Fair Tax Commission, ing with poverty—such as that envisaged by reporting in November 1992, said this is par- the UN Poverty Report—would take these gen- ticularly true in families where wife abuse der differences into account. It would look at occurs. In such families, said the Working how women’s financial security may be un- Group, forms of economic abuse may include dermined because they must combine paid forcing the wife to ask for money, giving the work with unpaid family responsibilities; how wife an allowance, taking the wife’s money lack of quality affordable child-care limits the away, and not letting the wife know about or ability of women to earn wages and support have access to family income. their families; and it would look at how gov- Observers have concluded that, even if ernment policies—such as the Ontario govern- family income is above the poverty line, it can- ment’s decision to slash social assistance rates, not be assumed that all members of the fam- or the federal government’s recent changes in ily are equally well-off. That’s why proposals the unemployment insurance program—have to base income-tested benefits on family in- an adverse impact on women, denying them come—such as the now-abandoned Seniors income support when they are most in need. Benefit—can have such a significant impact In addition, using a deeper and broader on women. As many women know only too analysis of poverty, says the UN, sets it more

6 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives firmly in a political context. Here, poverty is tween women and men, after adjustments that not merely a grave social and economic prob- take into account key differences between lem, but also constitutes a violation of human women and men–such as age, training and the rights. Poverty and inequality are a threat to presence of children–that affect their earnings. social stability and also a threat to civil and Gender Equality indexes use ratios of political rights, says the UN. The UN acknowl- women to men. A ratio of 1.0 is the point where edges that this broader concept of poverty is women and men are equal in relation to that more difficult to measure using the quantita- index. Below 1.0, women’s income and earn- tive techniques typically employed is house- ings are less than men’s; above 1.0, they would hold income and expenditure surveys. These be greater. Looking at the years 1986, 1991 and surveys have to be supplemented with quali- 1995, this report concludes that there has been tative data. gradual improvement in the gender equality In Canada, attempts have been made to index for total income from 1986 to 1995, but develop broader measures of women’s in- a large gap still remains. equality–although such efforts are still in their The report also notes that even when sta- infancy. And nothing has yet been done tistical adjustments are made to the income through public policy to link these measures indexes to help understand the gender gaps– to the intractable problem of women’s pov- by taking into account male and female dif- erty. Nor has there been any attempt at the ferences in age, education, occupation, em- policy level to address women’s poverty spe- ployment and family status–large gaps remain cifically unexplained. Federal, provincial and territorial minis- As Figure 3 shows, in 1995, with a ratio at ters responsible for the Status of Women re- only 0.56, women were still very far from cently issued economic gender equality indi- reaching equality. Policies to close the gap will cators, developed by Statistics Canada within have to include much more than just labour a framework established by the Ministers. market policies, the report emphasizes. They They include a gender equality index for to- will have to include greater sharing of paid tal income that reflects the income gap be- and unpaid work between women and men; Figure 3 Gender Equality Index for Total Income 0.58

0.56 0.56

0.54 0.54

0.52

0.50 0.49 Equality Ratio Equality 0.48

0.46

0.44 1986 1991 1995 Years

A Report Card on Women and Poverty 7 provisions which recognize specific needs their effectiveness and made it even more based on sex such as maternity and lactation; likely that women’s poverty will continue to and measures which help ensure that indi- increase in future. viduals, women or men, who provide unpaid care for others, do not bear its costs alone. This Cuts in social assistance approach, says the report, recognizes similari- ties and differences, and more equitably val- There have been savage cuts in social assist- ues women’s and men’s contributions. ance rates over the past decade, for example. The UN Poverty Report points out that in- The National Council of Welfare says that creasing women’s work outside the home may “The millions of children, women and men give women greater control over income who were on welfare some time during the within the household—though at the expense 1990s have suffered greatly at the hands of the of even greater pressure on their time. Poor federal, provincial and territorial govern- people face many trade-offs between differ- ments. Squeezing dollars out of the poorest ent dimensions of poverty, says the UN, but of the poor,” says the Council, “is a record that women face many more than men, and they can only be described as shameful.” 8 experience poverty differently—and often The Council points out that the federal more acutely. government set the stage for a wholesale as- A fuller understanding of poverty, says sault on welfare with its infamous “cap on the UN, sees it as a social malaise created by CAP” in 1990, when it cut federal support intersecting inequalities. Gender inequalities, under the Canada Assistance Plan to Ontario, it says, are not just damaging to the interests Alberta and British Columbia. Ottawa killed of women, but also to people’s livelihood as a CAP outright in 1996, replacing it with the whole. To be successful, the UN emphasizes, Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST). anti-poverty strategies must deal with issues The new system, says the Council, made it all related to women’s low status and lack of but impossible for provinces and territories to empowerment. make long- overdue improvements in their welfare systems. Government policies Not only were the improvements not contribute to women’s poverty made, but the provinces had already embarked on plans to make eligibility for wel- Governments in Canada have not developed fare even tighter and more demeaning, the strategies to deal with women’s poverty. In Council notes. One of the very first measures fact, many of the policies they have imple- taken by the Harris government in Ontario mented recently have exacerbated the prob- when it came to power in 1995 was to slash lem and have undoubtedly contributed to in- welfare benefits for all recipients except the creasing poverty rates for women. Changes aged and the disabled by 21.6%. Not long af- have been made or proposed in key income terwards, Harris eliminated a nutritional sup- support programs that ostensibly are intended plement for poor pregnant mothers because to prevent poverty by providing financial sup- he claimed they would only spend the money port for people when they are most vulner- on beer. able—including women who are sole support People on welfare have seen cuts in their mothers; older women; and those who have welfare rates almost everywhere. And benefits lost their jobs. Instead of strengthening these for most categories of recipients in most prov- programs, governments have undermined inces are nowhere near the poverty line. Total

8 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives welfare income for a single employable per- eliminating the year’s basic exemption so that son in Newfoundland, for example, is only 9% even low-income workers would be required of the poverty level. The Council estimates to contribute to the CPP from the first dollar that total welfare income in 1998 for a single of their earnings. parent with one child ranges from a low of All of these changes would have had a 50% of the poverty level in Alberta to a high much greater impact on women than on of 69% in Newfoundland. For couples with men—but that was nowhere acknowledged. two children, welfare incomes average around In fact, the government did not even bother 50-55% of the poverty level. to do a gender analysis of its proposals, even Not only is the system harsher than it was though it has made a formal commitment to at the start of the decade, says the Council, it undertake such an analysis of any policy pro- is also much more complex and less logical. posals it makes. There was no attempt to as- The lack of subsidized child-care is an exam- sess the impact the proposed changes might ple that has particular consequences for have had on the incomes of older women in women. As the Council points out, “Govern- the future. Nor was there any consideration ments everywhere are trying to get people off of the potential for the proposed changes to welfare—including parents—and into the increase the future rate of poverty among paid labour force. Yet they steadfastly refuse older women. to provide suitable child-care: the one pro- Fortunately, these proposals were not gram that is absolutely essential to helping adopted. But there is nothing to prevent them families with children escape from welfare.” from being raised again when the operation of the CPP is reviewed every three years, as Attacking the elderly poor the new legislation requires. The government is also under pressure to abolish the CPP and Older women on their own have one of the replace it with a system of mandatory savings highest rates of poverty of any group of accounts; or to allow people to opt out of the women in Canada. But in the past few years, plan and have their contributions directed to the government has proposed changes to the private savings accounts instead. With their public pension system that would almost cer- lower earnings, greater incidence of insecure tainly have resulted in an even greater number paid employment, and their need to combine of women ending their days in poverty. Ulti- paid and unpaid work, women would be se- mately, many of the proposed changes were riously disadvantaged by such proposals for not adopted. But the fact that policy-makers privatization. If these policies were to be could have overlooked such a potentially dev- adopted, they could also lead to higher rates astating impact on women is evidence that of poverty among older women in future. poverty among older women is not even a consideration in policy development. Changing the unemployment For example, in the February 1996 Infor- insurance program mation Paper that served as the basis for con- sultation on changes to the Canada Pension The Canadian Labour Congress has docu- Plan, the government’s proposals included mented how recent changes in the Unemploy- cutting benefits for surviving spouses; chang- ment Insurance program—now euphemisti- ing the structure of the child-rearing drop-out; cally called “Employment Insurance”—dis- limiting inflation indexing; increasing the age criminate against women. In its 1999 report of eligibility for retirement pensions; and Left Out in the Cold: The End of UI for Canadian

A Report Card on Women and Poverty 9 Workers, the Congress found that the percent- leave or quit their jobs also fall disproportion- age of unemployed workers covered by UI in ately on women. 1997 was less than half what it was in 1989— This is yet another example of policy- falling from 74% of the unemployed to 36%. making that ignores the differential impact on But UI coverage for women is even lower. women and the potential of the policy to con- Only 32% of unemployed women received UI tribute to further increases in women’s pov- in 1997. These figures refer only to regular erty. benefits; they do not include changes in coverage for maternity or parental leave, sickness, Defining poverty away benefits for fishers, for training, or other employment benefits. Not only have governments been unwilling As a result of government changes to the to acknowledge the extent of women’s pov- program, the weeks and hours of work needed erty, but they now seem to be embarked on a to qualify for Unemployment Insurance course to “define” it away. They are develop- nearly tripled from 1990 to 1996. At the same ing a poverty measure that they claim would time, part-time and temporary jobs kept in- be more “credible with respect to the severity creasing. The number of weekly hours re- of poverty” than the low-income cut-offs gen- quired to qualify for UI jumped from 15 to 35 erally used to determine the extent of poverty. in 1997. And since most part-time and tempo- Corporate-funded research institutes, rary jobs are filled by women, the change had such as the Fraser Institute, along with the an immediate impact on them. In a single year, business press, have long argued that Statis- says the Congress, coverage fell by 15%. tics Canada’s LICOs do not really reflect pov- More recent data showed that the number erty because they measure low income in rela- of women receiving UI “layoff” benefits in tive terms. People whose incomes are below 1998 had dropped by 10.7% from the year be- the LICOs are only poor in relation to the rest fore. The number of men receiving benefits of the population, they claim. What is needed, dropped by 2.7%. The steep drop in the they say, is an absolute measure of poverty. number of women receiving UI is not because Essentially, this approach would determine a fewer women were unemployed, the Con- specific assortment of goods and services— gress says. The proportion of unemployed sometimes referred to as a “basket of goods”— women receiving UI actually dropped from that would constitute the basic necessities of 32% to 30%. The proportion of unemployed life for individuals and families. Only those men getting UI increased in 1998 from 39% to without sufficient income to purchase these 41%. minimal basic necessities would then be con- The Congress notes a number of features sidered “poor.” of the program that particularly hurt Researcher Christopher Sarlo, of women—including the fact that part-time Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario, workers and temporary contract employees uses this approach to calculate “poverty lines” working 15 to 30 hours a week cannot get for the corporate-sponsored Fraser Institute. enough weeks in a 12-month period to qualify He argues that “the income cut-offs do not for benefits; that part-time, temporary and appear to correspond to widely held notions part-year workers—jobs predominantly held of deprivation.”9 His budgets seem to be de- by women—are penalized with a lower ben- signed to define “poverty” as being on the efit rate; and the fact that unfair and very se- borderline of deprivation. Needless to say, vere penalties imposed on workers forced to such a stringent definition of the basic neces-

10 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives sities needed for survival makes it possible the objective of the exercise is to reduce the largely to eliminate poverty by defining it reported rate of child poverty and thus to away. For example, Sarlo estimates that only minimize the challenge that policies on child 8.64% of all unattached individuals were poverty have to meet. There seems to be a “poor” in 1993, while Statistics Canada’s strong possibility that the new MBM will be- LICOs indicated 37.14% of all unattached income the government’s preferred measure of dividuals had incomes below the cut-offs. poverty used for social policy purposes. It will The National Council of Welfare says almost certainly result in much lower meas- Sarlo’s poverty lines “reflect a mean-spirited ured rates of poverty among all groups, in- view of life that regards people as poor only cluding women. if they can be shown to be visibly and strik- In a recent paper on measuring poverty, ingly different from the rest of society.” The for instance, the National Council of Welfare Council points out that the Sarlo food basket estimates that, when the before-tax LICOs are contains no coffee or tea. There are no health compared with HRDC’s after-tax MBMs, pov- care items in the basket on the grounds that erty rates for all persons in 1996 would have poor people should be able to get charity den- increased by 4% in Newfoundland, but in all tal services from dentists in the community other provinces would have dropped by any- and they should be able to pick up free eye- where from 18% in Nova Scotia to 49% in glasses from the local Lions Club. Quebec.10 The Council also says that poverty “Poverty rate” calculations such as these among seniors could fall noticeably if poverty seem to be designed to convince the general were to be measured by the new MBM. Sen- public that the extent of poverty in Canada iors tend to have incomes that are very close has been greatly exaggerated and that there is to the current low-income cut-offs, the Coun- really no need for governments to take action cil says. “Even a modest drop in the poverty or for public policies to be developed to deal lines under a shift to market basket measures with poverty. Are policy-makers likely to be could lead to a further decline in the poverty convinced? Could they be persuaded that rates of seniors.” there is no need to develop policies to address Defining away poverty in this way ab- the poverty of women because most women solves the government of the obligation to are not really “poor”? provide support for those who are falling be- As far-fetched as that may seem, it is per- hind. The use of absolute measures of pov- haps significant that, at the request of the pro- erty imply that policy-makers need not be vincial and territorial Ministers of Social Serv- concerned if women—or any other low-in- ices, Human Resources Development Canada come groups—fall far behind the rest of the (HRDC) is now developing a “needs-based” population. Observers have pointed out that measure of poverty, called the Market Basket it is part of the new wave of thinking about Measure (MBM). This calculation takes the poverty based on an “agenda of disentitle- same approach as Sarlo does—although it ment” that has shaped social policy in the doesn’t go to the same extremes in restricting 1990s. Welfare cuts, described earlier, are an the amounts allocated for basic necessities. obvious manifestation of this approach. To be The collaboration between HRDC and the poor, in this view of poverty, means to be ex- provinces apparently originated because cluded from the normal activities which oth- provinces were interested in measuring the ers enjoy and to be denied full access and par- success of the National Child Benefit in reduc- ticipation in the community and society. As ing child poverty. Cynical observers might say

A Report Card on Women and Poverty 11 one observer notes, it is to relegate the poor to flattened out at the level experienced in the the margins of economic survival. 1970s.11 In other words, the social well-being It is also directly at odds with the more of Canadians—as measured by this Index—is comprehensive approach to poverty called for no better now than it was 30 years ago, in spite by the United Nations in its Poverty Report, of a steadily increasing GDP per capita. mentioned earlier. A multi-dimensional con- The ISH uses a set of socioeconomic indi- cept of poverty, says the UN, basically mir- cators dealing with health, mortality, poverty, rors an integrated understanding of human unemployment, inequality, and access to serv- rights in which civil and political rights are ices. Declines in the Index in the early 1980s indivisible from social, economic and cultural and 1990s appear to be linked to the recession rights. Ending all forms of discrimination experienced in those time periods. The authors based on social status, gender, religion, race say declines may be attributed to higher rates or ethnicity would go a long way to eliminat- of unemployment, falling real wages, and in- ing some of the main causes of poverty, the creases in child poverty. But the key point to UN says. note, they say, is that a recovery in the GDP is not reflected in the ISH because unemploy- Where does Canada stand ment continued to be high and real wages con- on women’s poverty? tinued to slide. It is obvious that, while Canada’s GDP per Politicians continue to repeat that the United capita has continued to increase, not all Ca- Nations rates Canada as the best country in nadians have shared in the expansion. In fact, the world in which to live. But the UN Hu- on the UN’s Human Poverty Index (IHPI) th man Development Index (HDI) on which this Canada ranks 9 , behind Sweden, the Neth- statement is based looks at only three meas- erlands, Germany, Norway, Italy, Finland, 12 ures: life expectancy at birth; literacy; and per France, and Japan. According to this index, capita income, which it suggests reflects a Canada’s rate of human poverty in 1997 was “decent standard of living.” The per capita 12.0%. The highest rate was 16.5% in the income measure takes the country’s gross do- United States, closely followed by 15.3% in mestic product and divides it by the total Ireland, and 15.1% in the United Kingdom. population. But this is simply an average The UN statistics on human poverty in measure that tells us nothing about how the industrialized countries list a number of vari- country’s income (GDP) is distributed. Nor ables, including one indicating the percentage does it tell us what is really happening when of the population below an income poverty we take into account other developments, line. The numbers show that 11.7% of the Ca- such as high unemployment, deteriorating nadian population has incomes below 50% of public services, and increasing poverty. the median income. (The median income is the An Index of Social Health (ISH) con- point at which half the population is below structed by Satya Brink and Allen Zeesman the amount and half is above. Where it is avail- of Human Resources Development Canada able, social policy analysts prefer to use the showed that, while Canada’s GDP per capita median rather than the average figure, be- continued to climb throughout the period cause an average might reflect a great many from 1970 to 1995, the ISH did not follow the people with low incomes, and a relative few same pattern. It dropped sharply between with high incomes, which distorts the reality). 1980 and 1983; then went through a period where it was relatively stable; after which it

12 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives In most of the European countries, be- cians passed a resolution in 1989 to eliminate tween 5% and 7% of the population lives on child poverty by the year 2000. Since the reso- income less than 50% of the median. In the lution passed, the number of children living United States, however, 19.1% of the popula- in poverty has increased from 934,000 to 1.4 tion has an income less than 50% of the me- million, and the child poverty rate has risen dian. from 14.5% to 19.6%. Income inequality in Canada has contin- A neoliberal agenda now dominates ued to increase since the early 1980s. Tradi- policy-making in Canada, with the emphasis tionally, transfers from government and a pro- on reducing the role of the state and moving gressive tax system have been able to lower away from collective responsibility to indi- inequality within any given year. But in 1996, vidual initiative. Will we continue to cut trans- Statistics Canada reported that inequality af- fers and support for those who are most vul- ter transfers also increased. This disturbing nerable? Will we cut taxes, locking in the al- trend was attributed to cuts in government ready-reduced role of government and mak- transfers—in particular, unemployment insur- ing state intervention even more difficult? ance benefits and social assistance. There was Clearly, increased reliance on “the market- some improvement in 1997, thanks to an im- place” has led to increasing inequality. In fact, proving labour market, but still not enough progressive analysts would argue that increas- to make a significant dent in the overall pov- ing inequality, where some members of soci- erty of women. ety become increasingly wealthy while rates In reports for the Centre for Social Jus- of poverty also continue to increase, is a pre- tice, Armine Yalnizyan has documented the dictable result of capitalist economies. growing inequality between rich and poor in The issue of women’s inequality has to Canada.13 She notes that what governments be addressed if we are to make any headway have done, or chosen not to do, in the 1990s against women’s poverty. But neither seems had a tremendous impact on the growing gap to be anywhere on the public policy agenda between rich and poor: the after-tax gap grew as Canada begins a new century. The World more rapidly between 1994 and 1997—a pe- March of Women 2000 is demanding interna- riod of economic recovery—than at any time tional action to achieve equality and justice since the early 1990s. She says that the gap for women. It is a march that links 3,000 or- between rich and poor, and Canadians’ slip- ganizations from 143 countries to protest pov- pery slope towards the bottom, is driven pri- erty and violence in women’s lives. Three lev- marily by market-induced changes. But to see els of action began on International Women’s economic change as the primary variable, says Day, March 8, 2000, and will end on October Yalnizyan, blinds us to the power of collec- 17, 2000, which is the International Day for tive action, within and beyond politics. Politi- the Eradication of Poverty. cal choice plays a big role is closing the grow- The message must not be lost on policy- ing gap, she says. makers in this country. For it is surely time— Political choice will also determine 30 years after the Royal Commission on the whether we do anything to address the grow- Status of Women—to end the feminization of ing poverty of women. But that’s not neces- poverty in Canada. sarily a comforting thought. Federal politi-

A Report Card on Women and Poverty 13 Endnotes 7 Federal-Provincial/Territorial Ministers responsible for the Status of Women (1997) Economic Gen- der Equality Indicators. Ottawa: Status of Women 1 Statistics on low income in this report are taken Canada. mainly from the Statistics Canada publication In- 8 National Council of Welfare (2000) Welfare Incomes come Distributions by Size In Canada, 1997. Cata- 1997 and 1998. Ottawa: Winter 1999-2000. logue No. 13-207-XPB, April 1999. 9 Sarlo, Christopher (1996) Poverty in Canada. 2nd. 2 National Council of Welfare, (1999) Poverty Pro- Edition. Vancouver, British Columbia: The Fraser file 1997. Ottawa: Autumn 1999. Institute. 3 Statistics Canada (1999) Earnings of Men and 10 National Council of Welfare (1999) A New Poverty Women. Catalogue No.13-217-XIB. Line: Yes, No or Maybe? Ottawa; Winter 1998-99. 4 Townson, Monica (2000) Reducing Poverty Among 11 Brink, Satya and Allen Zeesman (1997) Measur- Older Women: The Potential of Retirement Incomes ing Social Well-Being: An Index of Social Health for Policies. Ottawa: Status of Women Canada’s In- Canada. Ottawa: Human Resources Development dependent Research Fund. (forthcoming). Canada, Applied Research Branch, Strategic 5 United Nations Development Programme, (1998) Policy. Overcoming Human Poverty. New York: United Na- 12 United Nations (1999) Human Development Report tions Publications. 1999. New York: Oxford University Press for the 6 Gunderson, Morley, Leon Muszynski and Jennifer United Nations Development Programme. Keck (1990) Women and Labour Market Poverty: Ot- 13 Yalnizyan, Armine (1998) The Growing Gap: A re- tawa: Canadian Advisory Council on the Status port on growing inequality between the rich and poor of Women. in Canada. and (2000) Canada’s Great Divide: The politics of the growing gap between the rich and poor in the 1990s. Toronto: Centre for Social Justice.

14 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Bibliography Scott, Katherine and Clarence Lochhead, (1997 Are Women Catching up in the Earnings Race? Brink, Satya and Allen Zeesman (1997) Meas- Ottawa: Canadian Council of Social Develop- uring Social Well-Being: An Index of Social Health ment. for Canada. Ottawa: Human Resources Devel- opment Canada, Applied Research Branch, Statistics Canada (1999) Earnings of Men and Strategic Policy. Women. Catalogue No.13-217-XIB.

Canadian Labour Congress (1999) Left Out in Statistics Canada, Income Distributions by Size the Cold: The End of UI for Canadian Workers. in Canada, 1997. Catalogue 13-207-XPB. Ottawa. Townson, Monica (2000) Reducing Poverty Federal-Provincial/Territorial Ministers re- Among Older Women: The Potential of Retirement sponsible for the Status of Women (1997) Eco- Incomes Policies. Ottawa: Status of Women nomic Gender Equality Indicators. Ottawa: Sta- Canada’s Independent Research Fund. (forth- tus of Women Canada. coming).

Gunderson, Morley, Leon Muszynski and United Nations Development Programme, Jennifer Keck (1990) Women and Labour Mar- (1998) Overcoming Human Poverty. New York: ket Poverty: Ottawa: Canadian Advisory Coun- United Nations Publications. cil on the Status of Women. United Nations (1999) Human Development National Council of Welfare (1999) A New Pov- Report 1999. New York: Oxford Press for the erty Line: Yes, No or Maybe? Ottawa; Winter United Nations Development Programme. 1998-99. Yalnizyan, Armine (1998) The Growing Gap: A National Council of Welfare, (1999) Poverty report on growing inequality between the rich and Profile 1997. Ottawa: Autumn 1999. poor in Canada. Toronto: Centre for Social Jus- tice. National Council of Welfare (2000) Welfare In- comes 1997 and 1998. Ottawa: Winter 1999- Yalnizyan, Armine (2000) Canada’s Great Divide: 2000. The politics of the growing gap between rich and poor in the 1990s. Toronto: Centre for Social Jus- Sarlo, Christopher (1996) Poverty in Canada. 2nd. tice. Edition. Vancouver, British Columbia: The Fraser Institute.

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