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17 - Women and poverty in Mozambique: is there a gender bias in capabilities, employment conditions and living standards?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

By
Pier Giorgio Ardeni  and
Antonio Andracchio
Edited by
Flavio Comim ,
Mozaffar Qizilbash  and
Sabina Alkire
Pier Giorgio Ardeni
Affiliation:
Full Professor of Political Economy and Development Economics University of Bologna
Antonio Andracchio
Affiliation:
Researcher Centre for International Development Bologna
Flavio Comim
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Mozaffar Qizilbash
Affiliation:
University of York
Sabina Alkire
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

Introduction

This chapter presents an analysis of the employment conditions and living standards in Mozambique with particular emphasis on women's conditions. A large strand of the literature has emphasised the existence of a gender bias in employment conditions and living standards, particularly in developing countries. Some have also argued about a supposed process of feminisation of poverty. In this chapter we try to address that issue by looking at the relationship between employment conditions, consumption expenditure, living conditions or ‘capabilities’, asset ownership and poverty of women in Mozambique. It is widely believed that women are poorer than men simply because they are women: they are discriminated against in the labour market (and so they earn less than men), they are discriminated against at home (and so they do not get the same education attainments as men), they are discriminated against in the family (they often have to work during the day and take care of their family at night). Although this opinion is relatively widespread and held true, it is not clear why it should be so, especially in a society that claims there are no gender barriers. Moreover, it is obviously important to understand what are the determinants of a greater poverty for women as opposed to men. In this chapter we will address the issue of whether women are actually discriminated against in the labour market, and, if so, if this leads to a larger percentage of poor among women as opposed to men.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Capability Approach
Concepts, Measures and Applications
 , pp. 510 - 560
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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References

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