Women's Reality: Why Poverty Is a Feminist Issue

Poverty is not gender neutral, it is a feminist issue, dissproportionately impacting women. Women are more likely than men to be poor, to live in persistent low income, to fall into debt, to lack savings, and to face structural barriers that entrench economic insecurity. From pensioner poverty to in-work hardship, unpaid care burdens to benefit changes, analysis reveals how poverty and gender intersect, and why transforming policy and practice matters.

 Who are those living in poverty

Household survey data finds that 20 percent of women, and 18 percent of men, live in poverty, but single women are worse still. Twenty-five percent of single women now live in poverty, compared to 23% of single men, and 23% of single female pensioners are poor, the highest rate seen in 15 years wbg.org.uk.

Women also make up the vast majority of single parents, and 45 percent of single parents, most of whom are women, live in poverty, which means almost half of children in single-parent families are poor wbg.org.uk. In all households with children, 30% live in low-income situations, the highest level since the 2007-08 financial crisis.

Why Are Women More Likely to Experience Poverty?

Several structural, social, and policy-driven factors combine to worsen the poverty risk for women:

• Unpaid care and caring burdens: Women frequently act as shock absorbers of economic hardship, taking on food preparation and caring responsibilities, which diminish their ability to work, save, or invest.

• Lower earnings and savings: Women’s lower pay, part-time work, and career interruptions, particularly for caring roles, reduce their capacity to build up wealth or survive economic shocks.

• Cuts to welfare and public services: Since 2010, repeated welfare cuts, benefit freezes, and under-funded services have disproportionately impacted women, as they are more reliant on social support and benefits.

• Single parenthood: With 86% of single parents being women, and nearly half of them in poverty, single mothers remain one of the most economically vulnerable groups (ONS).

• Ethnic and disability disparities: Women from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups are significantly more likely to be poor due to multiple overlapping barriers including lower pay, higher unemployment, caring responsibilities, and sometimes being single parents .

• Inadequate safety nets: Women with no recourse to public funds, survivors of abuse, and disabled women often struggle to access benefits, facing heightened poverty risk in the absence of protective welfare entitlements.

Pensioner Poverty and Retirement Insecurity

Women, especially single women, face remarkable poverty in later life. In recent decades, single female pensioners were among the most affected, with one in five living in poverty at one point. Currently, around 23% of single female pensioners are poor, a stark reminder that aging brings greater financial vulnerability for women (wbg.org.uk).

Moreover, retired women receive significantly less pension income than men, 36.5 percent less, equating to an average annual shortfall of £7,600, leading trade unions to symbolically declare mid-August as the date when women “stop receiving” pension income for the remainder of the year (The Guardian).

Housing, Homelessness, and Energy Poverty

Poverty for women often intersects with precarious or unsafe housing. Many single mothers live in poor quality or temporary accommodations, while relying on food banks and community support.

Single women make up over 60 percent of adults in temporary accommodation, a group that has doubled in size over the past decade. These insecure housing conditions often trap women, especially those escaping abuse or with children, aking it harder to seek safety or independence (Labour Hub).

Energy poverty also hits women harder: older women living alone are more likely to suffer because they have lower pension income and often live in less energy-efficient homes, leading to higher excess winter mortality rates among women than men.

The Emotional Toll and Time Poverty

Beyond financial insecurity, time poverty can inflict psychological strain on women. Caring and domestic responsibilities, which consume much of their time, often limit women’s ability to access work, leisure, and self-care. Without free time, women miss medical appointments, social connections, and opportunities for economic participation.

The combination of tight budgets, caring duties, and social stigma isolates women in poverty, undermining their mental health, access to services, and ability to plan for the future. Many women skip meals or cut back on essentials to feed their children, a deeply troubling act of maternal sacrifice.

Policies That Make a Difference

To confront and reverse the gendered nature of poverty in the UK, policy must be shaped by a feminist lens, recognising how public decisions impact women differently.

Restore and increase public spending

Investment in public services, welfare safety nets, and children’s supports helps women most immediately. Expanding benefit uplifts, removing benefit caps, and boosting child benefit are key steps.

Support carers and single parents

Policies must provide paid carers’ leave, fair pension credits for unpaid care, and generous parental leave that prevents mothers from falling into long-term poverty.

Tackle pension inequality

The gender pension gap must be closed faster. Reforms such as automatic enrolment for low-earning workers, shared pension arrangements, and addressing state pension age delays are necessary. Read more the on the Gender Wealtch Gap!

Affordable housing and fuel support

Increasing housing allowances, capping rent increases, providing winter fuel payments, and investing in energy efficiency in homes, can help keep women out of poverty.

Individual entitlements and autonomy

Removing “no recourse to public funds,” ensuring all women can access benefits and protections, regardless of immigration or marital status, is crucial.

Conclusion

Women’s poverty in the UK is not a flaw in the system, it is its design. It reflects decisions that devalue women’s work, ignore their needs, and deprioritise public infrastructure. From retirement insecurity, to motherhood poverty, from housing instability, to the crushing burden of unpaid care, women experience poverty as a lifetime burden.

A feminist approach calls for structural fixes, policy recognition of gendered disparity, and public investment in care, housing, pensions, and equality.

August 2025