An article by Maria Ross, Manager of the Association of Autonomous Austrian Women’s Refugees, examines how women are still at risk for poverty based on gender. She examines how the social inequality of men and women has impacted women and how this trend is in danger of increasing. Her discussion focuses on how women earn less than men and tend to gain income from informal forms of employment, e.g. short-term employment, temporary work, contracts for services out of the home, etc. Factors such as single motherhood, migration, age, disability, and homelessness also aggravate women's susceptibility to poverty.
Domestic violence is another factor that increases the risk of female poverty. Poverty can cause violence and addictions, which can restrict a woman's decision making ability and explain why women often stay with their abusive partners. Violence and poverty are interrelated.
A major prerequisite for women to escape violence and violent relationships is financial safeguarding and independence.
Compiled from: "Women at Risk of Poverty," Maria Ross, The Network of East-West Women-Polska/NEWW, 14 February 2005 (source cited: www.wave-network.org).