Many of us don’t have direct experience with poverty and homelessness, which is both a blessing and a curse. It’s not a fate you’d wish upon anyone but having no direct experience with either homelessness or poverty engenders ambivalence. Just because we’re not directly affected doesn’t mean that others aren’t.
A report released this week by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Falling Through The Cracks: Poverty and Disadvantage in Australia, finds that the people most likely to suffer poverty are single women who rent, typically with disabilities and some form of caring responsibility.
What constitutes poverty and disadvantage in Australia is a question of degree. But it is salient, in Anti-Poverty Week, to remember that there are one million households across our nation which are suffering severe income poverty with access to less than 30% of the national median. That is roughly $200 a week.
Can you comprehend how you might cover the costs of living with that?
Most often it is single mothers, young women in casual employment starting their careers, women who haven’t been gifted with privilege and older women struggling to pay their mortgages who are likely to be in poverty; struggling their way toward homelessness.
Single parent households, often headed by women, are more likely than any other demographic to have multiple financial vulnerabilities; half of these women cannot raise enough money in emergencies.
Issues that face women enduring poverty in Australia are magnified by the gender pay gap; women’s contributions are consistently devalued.
Over the past two years I’ve been giving my time to a non-profit on homelessness issues I co-founded, Street Smugglers. We started this because in a country like ours homelessness cannot be a viable option.
When I speak with homeless people it is the women who stand out. Homelessness is stereotyped as an issue for men, but 40% of all homeless people in Australia are women.
These women have invariably left domestic violence situations and face untimely financial stress.
There are some women I will never forget; the woman who left a physically and sexually violent relationship, the girl who was contemplating prostitution to pay for shelter, the young woman who asked for a hairbrush because she finally had a job interview.
Reducing homelessness and poverty in this lucky country requires all of us to be active and consider our roles. We can all do something. These are 3 of the simplest things you can do.
- Break the barrier: Say hello or make eye contact with the homeless people you see often. Homelessness is frustratingly isolating, even in the cities. Acknowledging a person’s existence and dignity – no matter where they live – matters.
- Reuse that old suit: Ready to Work is one of many organisations that are helping women at the fringes who want to put their best foot forward. You can donate your old suits to them and give their clients a new lease on opportunity.
- Volunteer for that vacancy: There are so many great organisations dealing with the challenging work in this area. Many of them need business minds to help them be more effective. With a few years experience and some networks there is a role for women to directly help organisations flourish by sitting on their boards.