In a decade where poverty has increased, women have continued to bear the brunt of poverty, and this book both illustrates and explains why it is so. It analyzes the extent of women's poverty in a variety of contexts - training schemes, the labour market, redundancy, unemployment and retirement; and in different roles - as breadwinners, as carers, as lone mothers, as wives and widows. The book also steps inside the "private" world of family, to explore the role that women play in managing poverty on a daily basis. All the original chapters have been substantially updated and are accompanied by three new chapters, reflecting theoretical and policy changes since the first edition was published. These chapters examine women's poverty in the light of recent government policy, in the context of Europe and the single European market, and in relation to policies of community care.