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Socialist feminism provides a necessary corrective to the strict feminization of poverty analysis by incorporating analyses of race and class differences among women, of internal family politics shaped by the familistic ideology, and of the contradictory role of the welfare state. We use the concept of women's dual role to analyze the interconnections among the family, the labor market and the welfare state, and to examine the ways that gender and class struggles over the costs of reproduction of labor power are expressed as conflicts over welfare policies. We suggest five criteria for evaluating policy and use them to analyze two specific issues-the six-hour day and child support.

Two questions basic to welfare policy are examined: (1) whether the amount of poverty-related transfers is sufficient to fill the poverty gap; & (2) which families actually get benefits & how much of their income deficit is filled by those benefits. Transfers are seen to be sufficient. The post-Social Security poverty gap is $74 billion, while poverty-related programs total $198 billion. Further, 86% of current income-conditioned benefits go to the pretransfer poor & 89% of those are used to alleviate poverty (fill the poverty gap). Thus, if a substantial fraction of total federal & state expenditures on poverty-related programs could be targeted more toward the poor, the poverty gap would be eliminated. The current programs, however, would have to be changed substantially to achieve the necessary retargeting. 3 Tables, 1 Appendix. HA

SOCIALIST FEMINISM PROVIDES A NECESSARY CORRECTIVE TO THE STRICT FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY ANALYZING, INCORPORATING ANALYSES OF RACE AND CLASS DIFFERENCES AMONG WOMEN, OF INTERNAL FAMILY POLITICS SHAPED BY THE FAMILISTIC IDEOLOGY, AND OF THE CONTRADICTORY ROLE OF THE WELFARE STATE. WE USE THE CONCEPT OF WOMEN'S DUAL ROLE TO ANALYZE THE INTERCONNECTIONS AMONG THE FAMILY, THE LABOR MARKET AND THE WELFARE STATE AND TO EXAMINE THE WAYS THAT GENDER AND CLASS STRUGGLES OVER THE COSTS OF REPRODUCTION OF LABOR POWER ARE EXPRESSED AS CONFLICTS OVER WELFARE POLICIES. SUGGESTED IS A FIVE CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING POLICY AND USE THEM TO ANALYZE TWO SPECIFIC ISSUES--THE SIX-HOUR DAY AND CHILD SUPPORT.

Instead of using a gender-based theoretical framework to explain US women's impoverishment, a core of mainstream researchers has relied on a familiar male-centered "culture of poverty" analysis. Rather than simply grafting women onto the extant paradigm, these scholars instead replace male with female pathologies as central to their analysis. The resulting revised paradigm, termed here the "culture of single motherhood," marks a turning point in poverty scholarship. To the belief that men were the primary victims & perpetrators of impoverishment has been added the idea that women themselves could be the cause of their own, even men's, poverty. It is argued that even in the most recent theorizing about the "feminization" of poverty & its alleviation, the culture of poverty controversy remains, albeit updated to apply to the reality of women's poverty. 59 References. Adapted from the source document.

Darstellung von Erscheinungsformen der Armut in Lateinamerika und Übersicht über ihre Verbreitung aufgrund von Daten aus dem Zeitraum 1970-1981. Hinweis auf die Zuständigkeit des Staates für die Durchsetzung sozialer Gerechtigkeit und Diskussion der Möglichkeiten zur Beseitigung des Elends durch Maßnahmen zur Umverteilung des Einkommens und des Eigentums an Produktionsmitteln sowie durch sozialpolitische Hilfsprogramme

In this paper, we compare poverty statistics for Pakistan
based on data from the Household Income and Expenditure Surveys of
1984-85 and 1987-88, using a relative concept of poverty. After a brief
look at the quality of the surveys in use in Section II we recapitulate
the relative poverty concept in Section III. In Section IV we compare
the size and composition of the poor population in 1984-85 and 1987-88
by using relative poverty lines. In Section V we extend the analysis by
differentiating results across rural and urban areas and by taking into
account that the cost of living in rural areas may be lower than in
urban areas. Section VI presents a number of sensitivity analyses, and
Section VII concludes.

The aims of this collective research project in seven countries and regions in the EC, as regards content, were to establish in a comparative way the number of poor households in each country, to identity social groups at high risk of poverty, to assess the adequacy of social security in guaranteeing a minimum income (thus focusing on results, instead of on the means involved), and to distinguish between temporary and longer- term poverty by means of the panel method. The number of poor households varies from 10-40 per cent (more generous standard) or from 6-20 per cent (strictest standard). The number of long-term poor is much lower. Very few households are in absolute poverty. Important factors determining poverty are: unemployment, social status, age, whether single or not, and whether having only one income in the household (in Ireland and Greece also labour incomes that are too low). The impact of social security transfers on poverty is the strongest in the Benelux countries, least and in fact rather low in Catalonia and in Greece. This inadequacy can be explained by two factors: in many cases the amounts of benefits going to the poor are too low; and the redistributive effect of social security is horizontal rather than vertical, i.e. a large part of the benefits is not going to the bottom groups. From a methodological point of view, several poverty lines were tested. The so- called subjective standard is more realistic (also with regards to the equivalence scales) because it is based on the evaluation of a minimum income made by the population itself; but fluctuations complicate comparative analysis of countries over time. The so-called relative or statistical EC-standard is more appropriate for comparative purposes, but the level of the standard is arbitrarily defined (which is also true for the equivalence scale) and this method measures income-inequality rather than poverty. It is advisable to use the statistical method for the future comparative studies. Poverty-lines will always be based on a reasonable convention. grounded in a generous or restrictive notion of poverty.