THE GENDER-POVERTY GAP - WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

We examine gender differences in the relative poverty of men and women in eight industrialized countries. The analyses are based on data fro m the Luxembourg Income Study, which includes data from the United Sta tes, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Sweden, Ital y, and the Netherlands. We examine the importance of the gender-specif ic demographic compositions of marriage, parenthood, and employment in accounting for differences in men's and women's poverty rates, both w ithin and across countries. The cross-national comparisons suggest tha t the relative importance of demographic characteristics differs by co untry and that factors such as religion, culture, and government polic ies also help determine the gap between women's and men's poverty rate s.