Introduction
Relative poverty describes people who fail to earn an income that provides them with the ability to obtain the national standard of living (Dunn 2017, 377). Although subject to change, the Australian poverty line puts single households earning less than $430 a week, and households of 4 that earn less than $895 a week, as living under the poverty line. As 3 million Australians currently live in these conditions, families and individuals are increasingly susceptible to disadvantages (Australian Council of Social Service 2016, 7). The following report will link statistical evidence of health and education to key concepts of life chances and structural inequality. These links will provide insight into barriers between those living
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For example, in 2014 the disadvantaged were 23% more likely to have arthritis (compared to 15% for advantaged), alongside 1/3rd of disadvantage population being obese (compared to 1/5th of advantaged persons) (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2014 para. 12 and 23). This constitutes structural inequality as those born in lower income locations are more likely to contract medical issues compared to those that are born in higher income areas. The lack of good health in disadvantaged communities can be presumed from the inaccessibility to health care facilities. In 2006 there was approximately 1 in 10 general practitioners working in poverty-stricken areas compared to 1 in 4 working in advantaged areas (ABS 2014, para. 25). This exemplifies how structural inequality creates certain opportunities for some compared to others. This opportunity exists through the ability for the wealthy to obtain medical advice due to its increased availability within these areas, compared to those in relative poverty who are not provided with the same opportunity as …show more content…
Restricted access to educational resources have persistently influenced children’s abilities to learn effectively, often resulting in an overall performance drop in school, seeing 67% of low income children completing grade 12, compared to children from more advantaged families where higher incomes provide better educational results for children, seeing 88% of these children completing year 12 (Ladd 2012, 204; Ferguson, Bovaird and Mueller 2007, 702; Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012, 40). This becomes increasingly alarming as educational results heavily influence a person’s ability to obtain work. Performing well in school is vital as it provides opportunities for individuals to go into the labour force and the ability to obtain qualifications as 86% of higher occupational work requires post-secondary qualifications, and 50% of jobs require some sort of post-school qualification (Callander, Schofield and Shrestha 2012, 149). This indicates how life chances of being born into a family that is experiencing relative poverty prohibits children to effectively be provided with quality education. This enhances the disadvantages of those in relative poverty as it is evident that further implications of unsuccessful results of accessing higher paying jobs prevents
Class divisions can result in tensions between people and different regions. Wage disputes between workers and employers in which workers try to improve their income levels are a common cause of dispute. These divisions can sometimes lead to social and economic instability. As shown earlier, inequality leads to poverty problems but the facts have not been explored. Australia has a very high level of relative poverty with 12.2% of Australians living below the poverty line, defined as receiving an income below 50% of the median income level. Poverty tends to trap families into a vicious cycle of low incomes and limited economic opportunities. High poverty levels also tend to be associated with increased levels of crime, suicide, disease and reduced life expectancy.
The disparities accounted for in the distribution of wealth and income tends to reflect wealth that is accumulated during a person’s working life and utilised during retirement. Whilst this sources the foundation of inequality, the distribution of income in Australia is influenced by socio-economic factors such as gender, age, occupation and ethnicity. Gender is a common inconsistency in various economies, during 2013 average weekly earnings for males were $1516 while females earned $1250, this is still coherent for males and females in the same occupational categories, and is augmented for opposite genders in different occupational categories. In terms of ethnicity, it has been recorded that persons born overseas earn more than persons born in Australia, that non-English speaking backgrounds earn less than English speaking backgrounds and the period of residence in Australia is proportional to the income earned. However, the lowest income earners in the Australian community are Indigenous Australians and being heavily reliant on government welfare, earn a substantial loss in income compared to that
Using information from Australia’s Health 2016, select two groups who suffer from significant health inequity and analyse how they experience health at a different level to other Australians. In your response, you must address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and one other group of your choosing. Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is improving in several different measures, including noteworthy declines in infant and child mortality and decreases in preventable mortality related to cardiovascular and kidney diseases. Although improvements have been made, significant disparities persist between ATSI Australians and non ATSI Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are still left with
Whilst these percentages had changed significantly it was also found that the types of people who were living under the poverty line were still the same. In this report it was found that 75 percent of those living below the poverty line were not in the workforce, and that the aged made up 41 per cent of all Australians that were living in poverty. (Williams, Lawrey 2000) Therefore it is clear that although the poverty line had risen significantly from 1975 to 1987, there has not been an improvement in the percentage of Australians living under the poverty line, but instead this percentage has increased.
The United States is plagued with stark health disparities across its communities (Institute of Medicine, 2013). Defined as the “variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between socioeconomic and/or geographically defined population groups,” disparities describe the inequality of access to basic health services in America (HSRIC, 2016). Over the past decade, health reform has attempted to address this issue of health inequality by strategizing to insure more people and provide increased access to care.
Lack of doctors is only one facet to this multifaceted problem. Accessibility in terms of having the financial resources to obtain care is another. “Individuals in lower social status groups have the highest rates
Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience health inequalities than people in higher socio-economic classes. Health inequalities are not only found between people of different
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). Satcher (2010) reports that health inequities are “systematic, avoidable, and unjust” disparities (p. 6). He also states that the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that social conditions are the most important determinant of a person’s health. Social conditions “determine access to health services and influence lifestyle choices” (Satcher, 2010, p. 6). These determinants must be addressed in order to reduce health inequity. Inequity can be
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of disease” (WHO, 1974). Health inequalities are the differences in health or healthcare opportunities in different societies this may be due to income,
Evidence show that people from lower class backgrounds and ethnic minority’s backgrounds are more likely to suffer more health problems to the majority ethnic group this shows a pattern of inequality.
Tracing the life of a child, he shows how an initial slow start can cause the child to lag further behind as time goes on. What struck me the most about this was how early children’s life courses are set – even before birth. Barry lists poor nutrition during pregnancy, lack of paid parental leave, and low-quality medical care in childbirth as factors that can permanently impact the child’s future learning abilities. And when students carry their environmental disadvantages into schools, Barry ways schools become places where these hindrances are “compounded and not corrected for.” These early life experiences often disqualify students from even reaching college and getting a degree, which is becoming necessary for obtain a well-paying job. In this way, education seems to become a trap – education is a way out of poverty, but poverty is a hindrance to education. The ways in which inequality compounds in schools challenges how I think about the role schools play in society as educational institutions. By looking at how disadvantages and advantages accumulate through the course of schooling, I can better understand how schools contribute to wider social
In other claimants’ eyes, China has violated the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
Several efforts have been made to eliminate them but as time moves on, more difficulties have come up which have made the progress even more cumbersome. Many powerful governments have also put in their strategies to save many people from the verge of poverty and a lot has really been done. Though so many people have been able to be saved, there is a lot more others whom poverty will be their lifetime experience.
Socio-economic factors are widely acknowledged as important determinants of poverty. If an individual experiences adverse living conditions in childhood, majority of them will have inadequate income and result in low socio-economic status as adults (Carroll et al, 2011). Children born in poor households have difficulty in accessing the basic needs (e.g. food, clothing, and good living environment) and this can affect their learning ability at school, unable to focus. In other words, they have a higher chance of dropping out of school or lower education attainment, unable to provide appropriate qualifications when they move onto adulthood, seeking for job opportunities. These children are finding day-to-day life tough, they are living in cold, damp houses, do not have warm or rain-proof clothing, their shoes are worn, and many days they go hungry (Children's Commissioner, 2012). Often this has taken place over a long period of time, impacting on their development, behaviour and physical health furthermore limiting their potential as they grow into adults.
Throughout each life stage I have encountered weather it being the past future or present I have faced and will face changes. The changes are influenced by the developmental stage, developmental tasks, psychosocial crisis, and central process for resolving crisis, radius of significant relationships, and the coping strategies I have adapted to. Within these aspects previously listed that have influenced me in the past, present, and in the future I have successes and barriers that have also shaped me into the person I am in my present stage. By way of example, the psychosexual theory and the social learning theory draw relation to my development and experiences that have shaped my development through my life stages. Upon the early adolescence, later adolescence, and early adulthood life stages I have encountered have helped structure the development I have in my present life stage.