Poor Women in Rich Countries The Feminization of Poverty Over the Life Course [Paperback]

The first book to study women's poverty over the life course, this wide-ranging collection focuses on the economic condition of single mothers and single elderly women--while also considering partnered women and immigrants--in eight wealthy but diverse countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In a rich analysis of labor market and social welfare sectors, Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg and a team of outstanding international contributors conclude that both living-wage employment and government provision of adequate benefits and services are necessary if lone women are to achieve a socially acceptable living standard. Taken together, the chapters extend a feminist critique of welfare state theories and chart nations' disparate progress against poverty -- probing, for instance, how Sweden emerged a leader in the prevention of women's poverty while the United States continues to lag.

By identifying the social and economic policies that enable women to live independently,Poor Women in Rich Countriesprovides nothing less than a blueprint for abolishing women's poverty.

1. Revisiting the Feminization of Poverty in Cross-National Perspective, Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg

2. Sweden: The Feminization of Poverty?, Diane Sainsbury and Ann Morissens

3. Feminization of Poverty: The French Case, Claude Martin

4. Germany: Deviating from the Male Breadwinner Norm, Ute Klammer

5. The United Kingdom: The Feminization of Poverty?, Jane Millar

6. Women's Poverty in Canada: Cross-Currents in an Ebbing Tide, Patricia Evans

7. The Italian Case, Enrica Morlicchio and Elena Spinelli

8. Feminization of Poverty in Japan: A Special Case?, Kimiko Kimoto and Kumiko Hagiwara

9. Feminized Poverty in the United States: Any Surprises?, Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg

10. Summary, Synthesis, and Conclusions, Part 1: The Poverty of Lone Women, Their Diversityl£Ý