• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.125-146
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether "the feminization of poverty" is under process in Korea and what factors are key determinants of these trends. The Korean Labor and Income Panel Study from 1998 to 2005 is used and the sample includes all individuals who aged 18 or more. The results show that the feminization of poverty is still under process since 1998 and the economic status of females is getting worse compared to their counterparts. Regarding the causes of these trends, the level of education and type of employment are significant predictors for explaining the feminization of poverty in cross-sectional data analysis. In the longitudinal analysis, however, the number of persons in households and the number or working persons have significant influences on the feminization of poverty. It is urgently necessary to enact social policies preventing discriminations against females in the labor markets and to introduce social welfare benefits for females based on citizenship. In addition, the welfare benefits for the elderly are also necessary because their economic status is the worst among all age groups.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.191-216
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• 2007

This study focuses on the problem of feminization of poverty that is formed within family relations. In order to approach this question, this study analyses the process of becoming poor through the life stories of ten woman are now heads of a household. There are differences among the study participants in the process of becoming a member of a low-income class. I have classified them into two groups depending on the routes they are led into the low-income class; one is the continuation of poverty group, and the other is the new members of the low-income class group. The continuation of poverty group is the case where they have been poor since their childhood and are still poor in their adulthood. The new members of the low-income class group is the case where you have become a low-income class sometime around divorce. The difference of the groups are related to the differences of the ways the power relationships work within a family. Women head of a household are prone to poverty because of the discrimination in formation, distribution and control of resources in their original family and their family formed by marriage. The norm of male breadwinner worked as a discrimination device. But this kind of discrimination device showed differences in their workings according to class. The continuation of poverty group experienced exclusion in the gendered responsibility of supporting the family and maintaining the family, whereas the other group experienced exclusion through the gendered nature of the distribution and control of resources. By showing that the presupposition of discussions on the poverty of woman head of a household is false, these findings challenge the existing view that as long as 'The Family' is maintained women will not be poor.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.167-194
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• 2004

This paper examine the gender-poverty gap and the feminization of poverty in Korea with using data from the National Survey Household Income & Expenditure(1996, 2000) and the Urban Survey Household Income & Expenditure(1996-2002) by Korea National Statistical Office. The poverty rate in 2000 was 16.9 percent for female-head families and 7.9 percent for male-head families, which means that female-head families were 2.6 times more likely to be poor than male-head families. With examining impact of economic crisis in 1998 on gender-poverty gap, it show that both the poverty rate of female-head and male-head increase radically in peak of economic crisis, while, in the stage of recovering economy, the poverty rate of male-head families recovered mostly the level before economic crisis, but that of female-head families recover only the 2/3 level before and the 1/3 remain still under poverty. Thus gender-poverty gap appeared bigger during passing through economic crisis. With analyzing on influence factors of poverty, it appear that poverty is influenced by gender itself as well as education level, working condition which is reflected substantially characteristics of gender. Such an analysis results mean that the considering gender dimension is necessary to resolve poverty fundamentally because gender is a point intersection among family, labour market, and social security. Therefore it appears certain that to develop and adopt of women-friendly social policy is effective approach, which could resolve poverty and social problems related to social rights.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.61-87
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• 2013

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the quality of life of poor women. This study utilized data combined KLIPS with Time Use Survey for an analysis and analyzed time at the intersection of the class and gender. With discretionary time as center, this study investigated poverty status from the quality of life. And in order to make comparison more clearly, object was classified into 4 groups; non-poor male, poor male, non-poor female and poor female. Study results are as follows; First of all, poor women had the shortest discretionary time among all the groups and also had highest poverty rate of living quality. And this study found that deprivation of non-poor female headed householder is serious. Second, analysis of inequality level between and within groups through Theil index indicated that gender influence in poor strata was 3 times higher than that of non-poor strata. This study found that poor women experienced mixed exclusion at the point where gender and class crossed. And this study also has a meaning that an empirical analysis was conducted through above matters on secondary poverty and hidden poverty of poor women which existing researches were unable to discover.

• 한국사회복지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.313-345
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• 2003

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.31
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• pp.1-28
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• 1997

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.73-87
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to investigate the economic deprivation of male-headed or female-headed households. Household having children under the age of 18 are categorized into three types according to the gender of household head: male-headed household, female-headed household, and dual-parents household. The findings from data, for this study came from the Korean Labor Panel Study in 2003. The analysis shows that the household's age, education, residence types, etc are key explanatory variables in determining whether to be in poverty. While the public income transfer is most effective in reducing poverty in female-headed households, the private income source is relatively more useful among male-headed families. Since single-household families are particularly at risk, public policy makers should pay special attentions to developing and expanding welfare-to-work programs which provides work incentives to overcome relative poverty and community networks on child care.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.333-354
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• 2009

This study decomposes the gender differences on poverty to explain the causes of the poverty gap between male- and female-headed households. In order to do this, we start from examining the extent of the poverty gap between maleand female-headed families and then conduct decomposition of poverty differences by gender using the Oaxaca method. This paper uses the (Urban) Family Budget Survey data from 1982 to 2008 and measures poverty using 50% of the median income poverty line. Major findings of this study are as follows: First, in 2008, the coefficient effect explains 70% or more of the total gender-poverty gap. Second, the trend of gender-poverty gap in the period of 1982~2008 shows that the poverty gap by gender increased in the 1980s', decreased in the 1990s', and a re-increased in 2000s'. Third, comparing the decomposition results in 1982, 1989, 1999, 2008, we found that the share of characteristic effect of the total gender poverty gap has been increased gradually over time. It means the characteristics of the female-headed households have become worse than those of the male-headed households in urban working families. At the same time, the still large coefficient effect suggests that the problems such as the discrimination against matriarchs or the lack of social support for them still play important roles among urban working families in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.143-169
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• 2007

The major purpose of this study was to offer a comprehensive analysis of the changing trends and causes of poverty among urban wage earners' households from 1995 to 2005. In order to do that, this study used the micro data of "Income and Expenditure Survey of Urban Households" by the National Statistical Office(NSO) and GEE(Generalized estimating equation) regression model which is know as an appropriate method for the longitudinal and clustering data. The results show that (1) the numbers of poverty rate and poverty gap in recent years are even getting seriously worse than those in the IMF crisis. (2) Main characteristics of poor are female headed, old aged, low educated households, and having atypical working position. (3) Major determinants of poverty are also related to the variables as mentioned the above. (4) However, poverty reduction effect of public transfer increased preferably in recent years.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.801-821
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• 2020

There are a number of prior studies on the poverty experience of Korean women, but little is known about the poverty experience of Korean elderly women in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to examine the poverty experiences of Korean elderly women who immigrated to the U. S. Qualitative case study methods were used to achieve these research objectives. Three Korean elderly women living in Oakland of California who received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the U.S. federal government were included in the study. The data were collected by conducting a total of six meetings per participant, and the researcher read the consent form directly to the participants and obtained a hand-written signature. The analysis and interpretation began by repeating the interview transcript several times, and the repeated keywords were to be understood in the context, focusing on time, space, and relationships with other people. The contextual understanding of Korean elderly women's experiences in poverty was interpreted in three dimensions: extending poverty in their mother country, double torture as female immigrants, and limiting labor due to aging and diseases. Before moving to the U.S., they had a difficult livelihood by farming and one of them had to live in poverty due to the bereavement to her husband. But even after moving to the U.S., they have continued to live in poverty. As female immigrants with low education and no special skills, they were incorporated into the periphery of the labor market in the industrialized U.S. and were forced to make a living with low wages. Korean elderly women were unable to return to the labor market in the surrounding areas due to aging and diseases, and were continuing their impoverished lives relying on SSI. From the findings, we discussed the role of the Korean immigrants community as a way to improve the quality of life for Korean elderly women in the U.S.