by Ashek Mahmud : OSCAR Lewis, an American anthropologist, developed the ‘culture of poverty’ approach, which was published in 1966. Lewis proposed that a distinctive culture or subculture in chronically impoverished communities is characterised by shared beliefs, values, norms, and behaviours. This subculture is transmitted from one generation to the next. Thereby, the culture of poverty perpetuates a cycle of poverty, as children born into these environments often inherit the values and behaviours of their parents, making it challenging for them to break free from poverty. Four major factors are intertwined with the culture of poverty, making it difficult to escape poverty. Those factors are: (a) the culture of labelling; (b) material conditions; (c) psychological states; and (d) hegemonic ideology.
In terms of the culture of labelling, the poor are characterised as lazy, disgusting, evil, criminal, ineligible, inferior, ignorant, and suspicious. Regarding material conditions, the poor have to live with a scarcity of resources, nutritional deficiency, material deprivation, and lower living standards. Mostly, they are disintegrated with the larger society; they are highly dependent on those who are less dependent. Also, they have strong feelings of fatalism and helplessness, along with a lack of gratification and a plan for the future. For this reason, they have less motivation for mobility and changing their situations. Besides, hegemonic ideologies such as patriarchal norms and capitalistic ideas seem to be responsible for the persisting culture of poverty.
However, the culture of poverty cannot be limited to the class structure, like farmers, the working class, the unemployed, and informal day labourers. We can also find societies in which gender structure and gender practices are intertwined with the culture of poverty. Traditional gender roles suggest that women are obligated to solely perform domestic responsibilities, and they seek to make women dependent by restricting their access to education, employment opportunities, and social services. While the rates of women’s education, employment, and participation in social activities are gradually improving, we cannot overlook women’s vulnerability due to the persistence of cultural norms associated with the culture of poverty. The culture of poverty for women is perpetuated by structural constraints and adaptive attitudes that adhere to traditional patriarchal norms.
The structural constraints can be categorised into three types: traditional domestic constraints, occupational constraints, and political-administrative constraints. The increasing rates of female child marriage, the rising rates of school dropouts among girls, and the growing imbalance between women’s educational achievements and job opportunities can lead women to accept domestic patriarchal roles. For example, the Centre for Development and Employment Research reports that in the age group of 15 to 17 years, 80.7 per cent of unmarried women and only 16.2 per cent of married women were enrolled in educational institutions in Bangladesh.
However, the nexus between organisational roles in occupational sectors and domestic roles with traditional obligations diminishes women’s motivation to continue their jobs. The combination of a heavy workload in many private organisations, such as private banks, and lower wage rates with regard to market value can destroy women’s dreams of progress and improved well-being. The ongoing protest by garment workers against low wages in the industrial areas of Dhaka is seen as a potential step towards breaking free from the culture of poverty. Factory owners proposed Tk 10,400 in the minimum wage in the past week, while workers from different industrial hubs demanded Tk 23,000, which caused unrest and labour movement. Since the garment industry is a major employer of female workers, their reasonable demand for fair wages is directly linked to the improvement of women’s living standards. Instead of resorting to threats of factory closures, an urgent solution is needed, involving an increase in wage rates and a decrease in inflation through friendly discussions and administrative control mechanisms.
The most problematic issue is that a heavy workload in both the job sector and the household sector makes it difficult for women to maintain and improve well-being. Due to the profit-driven nature of capitalist motives, private organisations are often unwilling to hire the necessary number of employees and, as a result, impose heavy workloads on a few employees. In many families, women cannot escape from immense household-related workloads because many husbands provide very limited support with household tasks. In this situation, the government’s initiative to establish rational maximum working hours for all organisations would be effective in reducing the workload of women. More importantly, the school education system should be restructured with thoughtful resources to teach students about gender equality in household chores.
The reconstruction of the education system at every level of education is essential for restructuring social norms and values in every sphere of society. Thoughtful education might be enriched with both rational and moral education, through which all can learn and realise that there is no basic difference between males and females and nobody is inferior in terms of gender, while the dignity of males and females relies on the quality of education, responsibility, and honesty. The dissemination of an anti-hegemonic ideology promoting education for all, liberty for all, responsibility for all, and morality for all could serve as an effective guide to eradicating the psychological states of female inferiority and the subjugation of females to males.
Balancing the ratio of males and females in obtaining educational degrees, ensuring access to employment, achieving income distribution independence with shared responsibilities, participating in decision-making, and engaging in social activities is necessary to break free from the culture of poverty. Another concerning point is that the increasing fear of insecurity among females, stemming from a lack of rational administrative procedures, such as employment security, health security, and life-security programmes, may reduce opportunities for upward mobility. Rational and morally sound practices by political institutions, such as bureaucratic organisations and the judicial system, could encourage females to feel more secure. It requires the implementation of fair and impartial justice, the reduction of corruption, and the establishment of accountability for all formally responsible officials.
Implementing these factors will serve as motivation for women to have increased access to education, employment, gender equality, and shared responsibility. As a result, women will experience higher dignity, brighter futures, increased hope, and social blessings. The more the culture of empowerment is established, the more the culture of poverty will be reduced.
New Age
