Abstract Narrative The investigators will document trends in the geographical incidence of poverty among females at three scales: the 50 states in the United States, all Standard Metropolitan Areas, and in a sample of nonmetropolitan counties. They will then conduct an analysis of the relative importance of the several mechanisms suggested in existing literature on poverty feminization to illustrate how determinants vary between rural and urban areas and at different scales. The goal of the research is to clarify how conditions responsible for poverty feminization vary throughout the country, and thereby help explain the substantial increase in female-headed families that occurred between 1970 and 1980. The geographic dimensions of poverty are important theoretical and policy concerns. The investigators are capable young scholars whose work on the topic will help fill a serious gap in the literature in social geography and will also provide valuable results for policy and program formulation.
