Mary O'Hara

WHY DO WE HUMILIATE THE POOR FOR BEING POOR?

 

People tend to treat the poor as if their poverty is their own fault—as if the conditions that entrap them are the product of bad life decisions or their own ineptitude.  Such accusations rob people of opportunities and rights; they're also hurtful. Mary O'Hara, an award-winning writer specialising in social policy and social justice, was brought up in conditions of poverty. She asks how the attitudes of condescension and blame that perpetuate inequality and division can be overturned.