Women & Poverty

I find it quite rare to see women begging for money on thestreets but I've noticed it in the past few cities that we've visited. I findit really disturbing; it's one of my fears of being old and living in poverty.Somehow it's ok to be young and do the poor starving artist thing but the realityof being old and poor is frightening. "Abouthalf of all women aged 65 or older who were on their own were living inpoverty..." from the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada. This study was done about 30 years agoand the percentage hasn’t changed much, and we are a rich country.

I felt a bit funny taking these pictures, like I was doing something wrong. Ifelt like it’s a violation and at the same time I want to remember, to knowthat this is a reality not just something that I studied at uni.