POVERTY INCIDENCE FOR WOMEN

Women living in poverty tend to unprotected rights and face obstacles that may be extraordinarily difficult to overcome. This results in deprivation not only in their own lives and but society and the economy also suffer, as women's productivity is well known as one of the greatest generators of economic dynamism.

While both genders suffer in poverty, gender discrimination usually means that women have far fewer resources to cope. Women are likely to be the last to eat, least likely to access healthcare, and routinely trapped in time-consuming, unpaid domestic tasks. They also tend to have more limited options to work or build businesses and suitable education may lie out of reach. Some end up forced into sexual exploitation as part of a basic struggle to survive.

A modified version of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was used to determine the extent of acute severe poverty among women in the states. The MPI developed in 2010 by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme and uses different factors to determine poverty beyond income-based lists.

It does this capturing the severe deprivations that each person faces at the same time with respect to education, health and living standards. The MPI assesses poverty at the individual level. If someone is deprived in a third or more of ten (weighted) indicators, the global index identifies them as ‘MPI poor’, and the extent – or intensity – of their poverty is measured by the number of deprivations they are experiencing.

The MPI can be used to create a comprehensive picture of women living in poverty, and permits comparisons both across states.