Exploring the Causes of Poverty

Poverty is referred to the state of lacking enough financial essential and resources required to live a minimum of living in the community or society (Baker et al., 2018). In this assignment, the way poverty is developed, and values related to it are to be discussed.

One of the key causes of poverty is lack of sufficient household income because without enough earnings, lack of financial resources is faced which is makes individuals unable to maintain minimum lifestyle standards (Damaske et al., 2017). In case of single mothers, it is seen that there is single income in the family due to the lack of a partner. It is evident as in the UK nearly 50% of household with single parents are experiencing poverty and it is regarded as the highest rate of poverty for any family structure in the country (trustforlondon.org.uk, 2021). The lack of employment is another issue which drives poverty among families. This is because without enough access of employment for the individuals, they are unable to develop stable income and adequate financial resource required for standard living practices, in turn, making them remain poor (Brady et al., 2017). In the UK, it is reported that 200,000 single parents in the UK which is 10.6% of the population who have economic activity are presently unemployed. They represent nearly 2½ % of the overall unemployment rate in the UK (trustforlondon.org.uk, 2018). It indicates that wide number of single parent families that require enough economic resources for growth current lack jobs due to which they do not steady flow of finances required to maintain lifestyle which has led them to remain under poverty.

The study by Lebni et al. (2020) mentions that lack of adequate level of education and work experience among people leads them to face poverty. This is because without enhanced education and experienced work skills, the individuals are considered incompetent in many related working fields. It makes them unable to have permanent earning through employment leading them to have no steady source of financial availability required for meeting their minimum life needs and standards. The fact is evident from the study by Pawel (2021) where it is informed that as of 2015, nearly 31% of the single mothers in the age group of 25 years are found to have bachelor’s degree in comparison to 54% in married women of 40 years of age and 40% in overall women. This informs that single mothers have less higher-level educational skills due to which they face hindrance in accessing employment and steady income which drives them towards poverty. The presence of increased financial liability leads individuals to face increased poverty. This is because increased liability requires more expenditure of finances which may not be available from the minimum income of any single individual (Kim et al. 2019). In case of single mothers, they are seen as sole carer of the children and it leads them to bear increased financial liability which makes them face poverty out of lack of enough availability of finances from single income in the lack of a partner (Nieuwenhuis and Maldonado, 2018).

The above discussion informs that poor education, unemployment, increased financial liability and others drives poverty among individuals such as single mothers.

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References

Baker, C.E., Kainz, K.L. and Reynolds, E.R., 2018. Family poverty, family processes and children’s preschool achievement: Understanding the unique role of fathers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(4), pp.1242-1251.

Brady, D., Finnigan, R.M. and Hübgen, S., 2017. Rethinking the risks of poverty: A framework for analyzing prevalences and penalties. American Journal of Sociology, 123(3), pp.740-786.

Damaske, S., Bratter, J.L. and Frech, A., 2017. Single mother families and employment, race, and poverty in changing economic times. Social science research, 62, pp.120-133.

Kim, Y., Lee, S., Jung, H., Jaime, J. and Cubbin, C., 2019. Is neighborhood poverty harmful to every child? Neighborhood poverty, family poverty, and behavioral problems among young children. Journal of community psychology, 47(3), pp.594-610.

Lebni, J.Y., Gharehghani, M.A.M., Soofizad, G. and Irandoost, S.F., 2020. Challenges and opportunities confronting female-headed households in Iran: a qualitative study. BMC women's health, 20(1), pp.1-11.

Nieuwenhuis, R. and Maldonado, L.C., 2018. The triple bind of single-parent families: Resources, employment and policies. The triple bind of single-parent families: Resources, employment and policies to improve wellbeing, pp.1-30.

Pawel, A., 2018, Are 1.6 Million Unemployed Single Parents the Uk’s Untapped Resource?, Available at: https://www.thehrdirector.com/business-news/employment/unemployed-single-parents/ [Accessed on: 12 November 2021]

trustforlondon.org.uk 2021, Poverty and family structure, Available at: https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/family-type-poverty/ [Accessed on: 12 November 2021]