Public Policy, Poverty and Gender Equality

The basic problem addressed in this paper is ?Why is the female population still showing the highest levels of impoverishment despite the implementation of public policies to deal with female poverty and the creation of institutions directed to achieve equality? This analysis is based on the conceptual approach of the gender perspective. With that aim, the concept of gender is defined in this paper as the product of socially constructed roles and values for each sex. Consequently, the gender perspective allows for the identification of the meanings of the problems affect people due to their biological sex. The concept of gender equality is defined in this paper as the deliberate treatment of situations of justice, suffered by people as a result of being submitted to situations of unjustified inequality due to their biological sex. Gender equity policies are deliberate policies directed to oversoming the existence of inequalities that cannot be handled in the short run by existing gender equality policies. This approach proposes basic contributions to the methodology of political interventions in order to address female poverty. It points out the limitations of the conventional indicators to measure female poverty such as income, unfulfilled basic household and family figurehead needs, and suggests indicators related to the exercise and enjoyment of such rights.