International Handbook of Gender and Poverty

"Yes, what is really compelling about this book is its sheer breadth – one hundred plus articles bringing together voices from both Northern and Southern analysts, feminists and non-feminists, who are looking at a whole range of different aspects. For example, there are discussions of gendered experiences of poverty with regard to migration, inheritance, health, sexuality and work. And also I think the book brings a real conceptual richness to thinking about gender experiences of poverty and vulnerability. One example is a focus on the concept of time poverty and the way that women shoulder disproportionate burdens of time poverty. And this tends to be heightened for some women, eg, indigenous women, in particular. For example, on average, women in Guatemala who work outside the home spend 32 hours a week on house and care work whereas men spend less than 15. This is a fairly typical pattern seen all around the world. In terms of other conceptual approaches, there is a very interesting article on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s new Social Institution and Gender Index (SIGI) which is trying to look much more systematically at the way that cultural and social practices undermine gender equality. So they are looking at institutions such as discriminatory family codes, son bias – the preference in some cultures for having a son which may lead to practices of female feticide in some parts of the world, particularly in India and China – or gender-based violence. This is a very exciting new initiative that the OECD has started as it aims to highlight the need to better understand deeply engrained social and cultural norms and practices held by men, women, boys and girls in order to promote gender equality. And, apart from case studies, does it offer any solutions? Yes, that is one of the reasons I really like the book. It has a rich array of possible solutions that it discusses. It looks, for example, at the way that social protection can play a very critical role in reducing gendered experiences of poverty and vulnerability. So, for example, cash transfers in Lesotho are proving to be a way to ease gender conflicts around resources in the household. The book also looks at microfinance strategies, gender responsive budgeting and the extent to which budgets are allocated to ensure adequate implementation of gender related laws and policies. In addition, there is a lot of discussion around decentralisation – as you bring local governments and power decision-making structures closer to people, to what extent are women able to be represented at that level and challenge the often informal old boys networks that tend to operate? And finally, there are also some interesting examples of programme approaches which seek to challenge typical norms and practices of masculinity. So, in short, there is a really rich cross-section of promising practices from different parts of the world."