The sustained feminisation of poverty in Sweden : An event history analysis of relative poverty among Swedish parents

The demographic transition and other recent social developments have created new social risks for parents in Sweden. Research has shown that one such risk is relative poverty after a separation, especially for parents. The transition from a dual-earner to a single-earner household can be a challenge. With growing income inequality, some groups in society will be affected more than others. This thesis aims to investigate differences in the risk of experiencing relative poverty for separated mothers, separated fathers, and coupled parents across Swedish birth cohorts. Using retrospective data from the Swedish Generations and Gender Survey to build longitudinal records, a discrete time Event History Analysis is estimated for the probability of experiencing relative poverty. The results show that separated mothers have a significantly higher risk of experiencing relative poverty than separated fathers and coupled parents in most birth cohorts. Further, the difference in risk of relative poverty seems to be increasing for separated mothers across birth cohorts in relation to separated fathers and coupled parents. However, this thesis is limited in terms of data, which makes it difficult to make general claims for the Swedish population.