In August 2015, a UNICEF Pacific study titled Child
Sensitive Social Protection in Fiji: Assessment of the
Care and Protection (C&P) Allowance was launched
by the Fiji Minister of Women, Children and Poverty
Alleviation. The report highlights that recipients
of the C&P Allowance are among the most deprived
children with a child poverty rate for ages 0–17
years at 35.3%.1
After researching poverty in Fiji
from a gender perspective for almost a decade, one
thing that strikes me in this report is the fact that
‘poor’ are not a static group but individuals within
poor households who are affected differently by rise
and fall of income and consumption over time.
Shocks and vulnerability from falling into poverty
due to illness, unemployment or death of a breadwinner
often burden women’s responsibilities as poverty
managers. As noted by Chant (2007), for other parts
of the world, women’s lives become more complicated
and financially overextended because of an
increase in women’s share of livelihood responsibilities
due to changes in social and economic conditions
— shifting the boundaries around ‘obligation’
and responsibility. In presenting some of the findings
from the UNICEF study, this In Brief will argue that
women acting as the shock absorbers in an effort to
shield children from the worst effects of poverty not
only offer new insights into ‘feminisation of responsibility’
(Brydon 2010) but also confirms the need to
measure gender-sensitivities of poverty. Therefore,
in revealing the circumstances and vulnerabilities of
women as poverty managers, this In Brief provides
a deeper insight into individual characteristics that
may intensify poverty for women. While poverty
lines are useful tools for tracking poverty over time,
they remain weak on revealing the nature and depth
of poverty to better inform gender-sensitive policies
that reduce the risk of women falling into poverty.