Women Living with Homelessness: They Are (Almost) Invisible

Abstract

Introduction: In this paper I present and discuss the stories told by women living with extreme poverty and homelessness. Consigned to the margins of society they are barely noticed, almost invisible.

Main Body: To draw attention to women’s homelessness, the narratives of three women from three different age groups, young, middle-aged, and older, are presented. These women convey their lived experiences of becoming/being homeless through telling their stories. To make visible the forces of the political, economic, and social structures behind their poverty, scholarly literature and research are drawn upon. Commonalities were found in how the women fell into and lived in poverty. Daily struggles of survival exerted impacts on their health, such as physical problems, mental anguish, and emotional distress. Yet, resilience and hope kept them going. Community responses included a lack of empathy, blaming the women for their misfortunes, and denying their existence—thus contributing to their invisibility. Current neo-liberal discourses result in normalizing ever widening disparities between citizens, while the rates for social assistance programs and minimum wages ensure people live far below the poverty line.

Discussion: Community responses to poverty are discussed, using ideas from Michel Foucault and Richard Kearney on how dominant neo-liberal discourses govern societal conduct situated within a political and social space of a non-responsive public. Yet recognizing a common humanity should bring forward an ethical response and the erasure of indifference needed for social justice in a caring society. To this end, Foucault proposes a minimum of domination of the “other” in our inevitable power relationships, while Kearney suggests reconstructing the meaning of “otherness” and embracing rather than shunning the “stranger.”

Implication: To bring about change, counter-discourses based in empathy and ethics need to be developed, accompanied by more equitable policies. Practice calls for engaging with women who are homeless by respectfully listening and working with them to best meet their needs. Scholarship, apart from appealing to reason, should invoke empathy and try to change the public’s indifference to an ethical response towards the “other.”

Reflections on Lives in Extreme Poverty

Trish’s Response

• Trish Lenz 

1. City of Toronto, Streets to Homes Program, Toronto, ON, Canada

   Trish Lenz

The narratives contained in this chapter give voice to three resilient women who have struggled to survive and endure extreme poverty and homelessness. Their stories remind us of the humanity and realness of individuals who exist on the margins of our society. Bringing to light Carol, Anna, and Miriam's experiences with poverty and homelessness help to dispel the myth of homeless person as “other.” In my frontline work as a street outreach counsellor providing case management and housing support to homeless individuals in Toronto, I see women like Carol, Anna, and Miriam frequently. I am touched by their ability to endure extreme poverty, marginalization, stigmatization, and often violence.

Working with homeless women (and men) gives me a chance to get to know those very individuals whom our society pushes to the margins and tries to ignore. It gives me the opportunity to hear their stories, and in those stories their successes and failures, their joy and grief. In short, it un-makes “the otherness” that our societal label of homelessness so often creates. By bravely sharing their stories, Carol, Anna, and Miriam have shared with readers their humanity—they have shared their commonality with all of us. Like other women, they have medical problems, they experience joy and fear, they celebrate their successes, they contribute to their community, they worry about providing for their children. By telling their life experiences, they are reminding us as readers that we are all alike. For those unable to work, volunteer or have direct, meaningful contact with homeless women, this chapter and its narratives help to reconstruct the “other” in a way that honors difference and life experience, instead of denigrating it.

As readers, we are asked to question our beliefs, engrained within us by a society governed by unforgiving neo-liberal ideologies. We are asked to question our often dehumanizing perspectives on homeless women and see them as the human people that they are. The narratives that are recorded in this chapter may likely cause the reader to be uncomfortable. When confronted so blatantly with striking descriptions of poverty and violence, readers may feel deep unease. I hope that readers take these feelings of discomfort and use them to challenge their beliefs on homeless women in a meaningful way.

This chapter reminds us that we as a society allow certain members to struggle and endure extreme poverty, rejection, and isolation. It reminds us that we often respond to women and homelessness with apathy, neglect, and general ignorance. It challenges us to re-imagine our world and our place in it—what would our world look like if we honored all women instead of rejecting homeless women? If we are reminded of the humanity of a woman experiencing homelessness, how does that challenge our beliefs about poverty and homelessness? Like all three women in this chapter, I believe that we can re-imagine society and build an inclusive, empathic world—one that honors and celebrates all individuals, regardless of their position in society. As Carol and Anna, respectively, have said in their narratives, “The tables will turn…I have always had hope.”

Andre’s Response

• Andre Lyn 

1. United Way, Peel Region, Mississauga, ON, Canada

   Andre Lyn

Poverty is a complex situation that is entangled with other social issues, such as physical and mental health, unemployment, low-income, abuse and violence, as well as lack of stable and affordable housing. The three women, Carol, Anna, and Miriam, profiled in this chapter provide very explicit reflections of the complexity of extreme poverty and homelessness. These stories are particularly important within the context of a suburban area where the prevalent and enduring perception of the community is prosperity. Poverty and homelessness are invisible and denied.

From a researcher and funder of programs in this suburban community, these stories are essential to raise awareness of not just the existence of poverty, but of its complexity. As we move towards a social justice approach to addressing the social issues facing our community, these stories provide us with a better understanding of their root causes. They provide the rationale for which programs and services are developed, delivered, and funded. The programs and services serve a range of needs, from those like Carol, Anna, and Miriam who are already living in poverty and experiencing homelessness to early intervention to prevent others from falling into these experiences.

Another important role of these stories is that they breathe life into the statistics related to the social issues facing our communities. People, whether individual or corporate donors, potential volunteers, policy makers, and politicians are able to relate to the people and circumstances within these stories. No longer are they the “other.” These are real people who could be a close friend or relative. That could be your own life or that of your children’s. Many of us are just one pay cheque away from poverty and homelessness. It is also not only because of the choices and decisions we make, but circumstances that befall us—illness, the passing of a spouse or parent.

Remarkably, these stories are not just about despair and suffering, but also about resilience and generosity. Just as there are many pathways that can lead individuals and families into poverty and experiences of homelessness, there needs to be a variety of suitable and sustainable opportunities to move people out and beyond their current crisis situation. In the end, while these are very personal and specific stories, they are also profoundly political and can become the impetus for change to help not only an individual, but to move a community from indifference to one that supports and cares for all its residents.