ABSTRACT
This chapter examines gender trends and poverty rates in the United States between the 1950s and the mid-1970s, and suggests that there was a dramatic change in the composition of the US population that were poor (Pearce 1978). The term feminization of poverty can be traced to a study conducted by Dr. Diane Pearce, a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin and the former director of the Women and Poverty Project of Wider Opportunities for Women. The broad acceptance of the feminization of poverty approach defies a holistic understanding of poverty and poses methodological problems in researching poverty in different types of households, particularly Black female–headed households. There are many reasons why poverty rates among Black female–headed households, and Hispanic female–headed households, remain consistently higher than White female–headed households. The Black feminization of poverty theory supports the ideas of the original feminization of poverty beliefs, and links poverty in Black households to single motherhood and "unstable traditional family units".
