This paper refers to the understanding of the concept of poverty feminization. The term “feminization of poverty” describes a number of different phenomena，such as：higher poverty rate among women than among men，deeper poverty of households run by women when compared to those run by men，higher extent of women than men among the poor and among welfare recipients，the specific form of poverty of single mothers，and more severe consequences of poverty suffered by women than by men. Symptoms of poverty feminization can be discerned in various areas of social life. On the macro scale poverty feminization refers usually to the situation of women：（1）on the labour market （higher women’s unemployment rate，women’s problems with returning to the labour market after giving birth to a child），（2）related to their incomes （lower earnings of women），（3）related to their old age benefits （lower old age pensions of women）.

A relatively new area of research on feminization of poverty are micro-scale studies on the level of poor households’ functioning. Qualitative analyses of poverty reveal unequal gender-based division of home responsibilities and everyday activities among the members of poor families. In poor families，except for the common responsibilities of a wife and a mother （such as cooking，cleaning，child care），a woman overtakes the roles traditionally attributed to husbands and fathers-she organises and secures means to satisfy her family’s needs （looking for a job，applying for social benefits，borrowing money）.

This paper deals with the advancing in recent years in Poland process of poverty feminization. In Poland women are on average better educated than men are，but their position on the labour market is lower. Increase in the number of female-headed households evokes discussion about the “culture of single motherhood” as one of issues contributing to poverty perpetuation and its intergenerational transmission. Research results of both quantitative and qualitative studies conducted in recent years in Poland are used to provide evidence that Polish women are to a larger extent affected by poverty than men.