抄録
This article has two main objectives. Firstly, how to measure "poverty" is addressed in terms of gender. Poverty is analyzed by focusing on households with a female householder and on households with male-female couples, because these tend to have the common factor of low female income. For the purposes of this argument, it is important to recognize the household within a gender-sensitive framework. This study does not assume an equal distribution of resources between all household members, but it defines the household from the viewpoint of "cooperative conflict" and an intra-household income distribution system. The second objective of this article is to point out the importance of conducting poverty measurements while considering both the incomes of each household member and the income of the household as a whole. What is critical in assessing poverty is how much one can support him/herself on his/her own income, taking into account wages, benefits and so on. At the same time, however, it is wrong to disregard the fact that people share their incomes with other family members. In the case of two-earner households, it is appropriate to equally weigh the contribution of each partner rather than giving preference to either one. Such measurements of poverty may well illuminate the existence of individuals and households confronting low income and poverty under the lasting recession and serve as an essential tool for assessing the effects of social policies to solve these problems.
