自Diana Pearce 提出「貧窮女性化」的概念後，近三十年來學術界累積許多貧窮女性化的討論。由於貧窮女性化一開始是描述貧窮女性比例偏高的現象，並無明確的操作型定義，因此對於貧窮女性化的實證研究，也產生許多不同的測量與討論方式。經數十年來的實證研究發現，貧窮女性化的定義中，只有「貧戶裡面女性戶長的組成比重有增加的情形」這個定義較能成立。本文以性別群體為分析焦點，利用行政院主計處家庭收支調查資料，分析1990年至2003年間台灣是否有貧窮女性化的現象？經過各種貧窮女性化的定義的分析討論，研究發現只有「貧戶裡面女性戶長的組成比重有增加的情形」的現象是明顯的，此發現與美國目前的研究結果一致。

Ever since Diana Pearce proposed the concept of “Feminization of Poverty” approximately 30 years ago, academia has accumulated voluminous related discussions. However, because the concept was created to describe the phenomenon of an exceptionally high proportion of females in poverty, it did not provide a clear and verifiable definition. As a result, a wide range of measurement methods and discussions on positivistic research of the concept have thus proliferated. After decades of positivistic research on “Feminization of Poverty,” only one of its definitions, “the percentage of female householders in poverty has increased,” received empirical support. This paper, based on the data from the Household Income and Expenditure surveys by DGBAS of the Execu- tive Yuan, tries to analyze whether the phenomena involved in “Feminization of Poverty” occurred in Taiwan between 1990 and 2003. After verifying all the definitions involved in “Feminization of Poverty,” this study has found only one phenomenon to be obvious: the percentage of female householders in poverty has increased. This finding is the same as the current research result in America.