Analysis

The femininity index in poor households compares the percentage of poor women between the ages of 20 and 59 with the percentage of poor men in the same age group.

This indicator shows that poverty reduction efforts in the region have not benefited men and women equally, and that poor households concentrate a higher proportion of women in the ages of greatest productive and reproductive demand.

In 2022, for every 100 men living in poor households in the region, there were 118 women living in poverty.   This is evidence of the lack of economic autonomy of women, who in the absence of other household income are more likely to be in poverty, a situation that is exacerbated in households with a greater presence of children. In all countries with available information for this indicator, the femininity index of poverty is greater than 100, showing that poverty affects women to a greater degree than men.