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Women and Children in Poverty: A Microeconomic Perspective
Introduction
Poverty is a complex and persistent social issue that affects individuals differently based on age, gender, and social position. While poverty is often discussed as a national or global economic problem, its most visible and damaging effects occur at the microeconomic level, where individuals and families make daily decisions about work, education, health, and survival. This paper focuses on women and children as two of the most vulnerable groups affected by poverty. It examines poverty through a microeconomic lens, explores its relationship to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and evaluates why this form of poverty occurs and how it can be addressed. The paper also considers whether women and child poverty, while experienced locally, reflects broader macroeconomic structures, and whether the same patterns apply to the state of Florida.
Approach to Studying Poverty and Its Microeconomic Application
This paper approaches poverty by examining women and children as economic decision-makers operating under severe constraints. From a microeconomic perspective, poverty is not only about low income but about limited choices. Women in poverty often face lower wages, limited access to education, unpaid caregiving responsibilities, and labor market discrimination. Children in poverty are affected through inadequate nutrition, unstable housing, reduced access to healthcare, and lower educational opportunities. These constraints shape household decisions regarding labor supply, consumption, investment in human capital, and long-term wellbeing.
Microeconomics helps explain how poverty influences everyday behavior. For example, a low-income mother may choose part-time or informal employment due to childcare costs, even though full-time employment could yield higher long-term income. Similarly, families living in poverty may prioritise immediate needs such as food and rent over education or healthcare, reinforcing intergenerational poverty. These decisions are rational within constrained environments, yet they contribute to long-term economic disadvantage.
Review of Academic Literature Used
The academic literature used in this paper highlights how structural inequalities intersect with individual economic choices. Chant (2010) explains that women are disproportionately represented among the world’s poor due to gendered labour markets and unpaid domestic responsibilities. This supports the idea that women’s poverty is not a result of poor decision-making, but systemic economic exclusion.
Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997) demonstrate that childhood poverty has long-term effects on cognitive development and educational outcomes. Their research shows that early economic deprivation reduces future earnings potential, making child poverty a powerful micro-level mechanism that reproduces macro-level inequality.
Sen (1999) introduces the capability approach, arguing that poverty should be understood not just as income deprivation but as the absence of substantive freedoms. This framework supports microeconomic analysis by emphasizing how limited resources restrict individual choices, particularly for women and children.
Blank (2008) analyses poverty in the United States and highlights how labour market instability, low wages, and inadequate social safety nets perpetuate working poverty. This is particularly relevant when considering poverty in Florida, where many low-income households include employed adults.
Finally, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provides a psychological framework that aligns closely with microeconomic behaviour. When basic physiological and safety needs are unmet, individuals are unable to prioritise higher-level needs such as education, self-esteem, and personal development.
Poverty and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explains why poverty has such profound and lasting effects on women and children. At the base of the hierarchy are physiological needs such as food, shelter, and health. Many individuals experiencing poverty struggle to consistently meet these needs, leaving little capacity to focus on safety, education, or self-actualisation.
For children, unmet basic needs lead to developmental challenges that interfere with learning and emotional stability. For women, particularly single mothers, constant pressure to secure basic necessities limits opportunities for skill development or career advancement. From a microeconomic perspective, this explains why poverty shapes both consumption choices and labor market participation. When survival dominates decision-making, investment in long-term outcomes becomes economically and psychologically difficult.
Causes of Women and Child Poverty and Possible Solutions
Women and child poverty occurs due to a combination of labour market inequality, inadequate social policies, rising living costs, and unequal access to education and healthcare. Gender wage gaps, underemployment, and unpaid caregiving responsibilities disproportionately affect women. Children experience poverty as a result of household income limitations rather than their own economic actions.
A possible solution lies in targeted micro-level interventions with macro-level support. Policies such as affordable childcare, increased minimum wages, paid parental leave, and expanded access to education and healthcare can improve household decision-making capacity. Microeconomic interventions such as conditional cash transfers and childcare subsidies directly improve incentives and enable families to invest in human capital.
