Female-headed households and female-maintained families: Are they worth targeting to reduce poverty in developing countries?

Economic Development and Cultural Change

Volumn 45, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 258-280

  Buvinić, Mayra ^a   Rao Gupta, Geeta ^a  

^a INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING WORLD; FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLD; FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLD; POLICY APPROACH; POVERTY ALLEVIATION; POVERTY REDUCTION; SOCIAL POLICY; TARGETING;

CHILE;

EID: 0030702091     PISSN: 00130079     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/452273     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. Idriss Jazairy, Mohiuddin Alamgir, and Theresa Panuccio, The State of World Rural Poverty (New York: New York University Press [for the International Fund for Agricultural Development], 1992).
2. Margaret E. Grosh, Administering Targeted Social Programs in Latin America: From Platitudes to Practice, World Bank Regional and Sectoral Studies (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1994).
3. Nancy Folbre, "Mothers on Their Own: Policy Issues for Developing Countries" (paper prepared for the joint ICRW/Population Council series on the Determinants and Consequences of Female-Headed Households, 1990).
4. Ibid.
5. Sara McLanahan, "Family Structure and the Reproduction of Poverty," American Journal of Sociology 90, no. 4 (1985): 873-901.
6. A table summarizing these studies (sample size, methodology, definitions, and study findings in terms of poverty conditions and consequences) is contained in Mayra Buvinić and Geeta Rao Gupta, "Targeting Poor Woman-Headed Households and Woman-Maintained Families in Developing Countries: Views on a Policy Dilemma" (paper prepared for the joint ICRW/Population Council program on Female Headship and Poverty in Developing Countries, 1994).
7. Sherrie Koussoudji and Eva Mueller, "The Economic and Demographic Status of Female-Headed Households in Rural Botswana," Economic Development and Cultural Change 21 (July 1983): 831-59.
8. Catherine W. Berheide and Marcia T. Segal, "Locating Women in the Development Process: Female Small-Holders in Malawi" (paper presented at the meeting of the National Women's Studies Association, June 1989).
9. Thomas W. Merrick and Marianne Schmink, "Households Headed by Women and Urban Poverty in Brazil," in Women and Poverty in the Third World, ed. M. Buvinić, M. Lycette, and W. McGreevey (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983).
10. Sandra Rosenhouse, "Identifying the Poor: Is Headship a Useful Concept?" Living Standards Measurement Study Working Paper no. 58 (World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1989).
11. Leela Gulati, "Impacts of Male Migration to the Middle East on the Family: Some Evidence from Kerala," Working Paper no. 76 (Center for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, India, 1983); Devaki Jain, "Women and Their Households - the Importance of Women in Macro Policies" (paper presented at joint ICRW/Population Council Seminar III, "Determinants of Households Headed or Maintained by Women: Considerations of the Lifecycle," New York, April 10-11, 1989).
12. Leela Gulati, "Impacts of Male Migration to the Middle East on the Family: Some Evidence from Kerala," Working Paper no. 76 (Center for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, India, 1983); Devaki Jain, "Women and Their Households - the Importance of Women in Macro Policies" (paper presented at joint ICRW/Population Council Seminar III, "Determinants of Households Headed or Maintained by Women: Considerations of the Lifecycle," New York, April 10-11, 1989).
13. Folbre (n. 3 above).
14. Ricardo Barros, Louise Fox, and Rosane Mendonça, "Female-Headed Households, Poverty, and the Welfare of Children in Urban Brazil" (paper prepared for the joint ICRW/Population Council program on Female Headship and Poverty in Developing Countries, 1993).
15. Marta Tienda and Sylvia Ortega Salazar, Female-Headed Households and Extended Family Formations in Rural and Urban Peru (Madison: Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, 1980).
16. Susana Lastarria-Cornheil, "Female Farmers and Agricultural Production in El Salvador," Development and Change 19 (1988): 585-615.
17. Jain.
18. G. H. R. Chipande, "Innovation Adoption among Female-Headed Households: The Case of Malawi," Development and Change 18 (1987): 315-27.
19. Berheide and Segal (n. 8 above); Koussoudji and Mueller (n. 7 above).
20. Mariana Schkolnik, "Chile: Impacto del Gasto Social en los Hogares con Jefatura Femenina" (Chile: Impact of social expenditure on female-headed households), Draft PREALC Working Paper (Santiago, Chile, 1991).
21. Odile Frank, "The Childbearing Family in Sub-Saharan Africa: Structure, Fertility, and the Future" (paper presented at the joint ICRW/Population Council Seminar I, "Concepts and Classifications of Female-Headed Households: Implications and Applications for National Statistics," New York, December 12-13, 1988).
22. Laurel K. Schwede, "Family Strategies of Labor Allocation and Decision Making in a Matrilineal Islamic Society: The Minangkabu of West Sumantra, Indonesia" (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1991).
23. Barros et al. (n. 13 above).
24. Carolyn Barnes, "Differentiation by Sex among Small-Scale Farming Households in Kenya," Rural Africana 15-16 (Winter/Spring 1983): 41-63.
25. Carol Saldert, Female-Headed Households in Rural Bangladesh, Report from a Minor Research Task Force (Department of Social Anthropology, University of Stockholm, January-February 1984).
26. Koussoudji and Mueller (n. 7 above).
27. Eileen Kennedy, "The Significance of Female-Headed Households in Kenya" (paper presented at the joint ICRW/Population Council Seminar II, "Consequences of Female Headship and Female Maintenance," Washington, D.C., February 27-28, 1989).
28. Gulati (n. 11 above).
29. Jain (n. 11 above).
30. Eileen Kennedy and Pauline Peters, "Household Food Security and Child Nutrition: The Interaction of Income and Gender of Household Head," World Development 20, no. 8 (1992): 1077-86.
31. Pravin Visaria, "Poverty and Living Standards in Asia," Population and Development Review 6, no. 2 (1980): 189-223.
32. F. Louat, M. E. Grosh, and J. van der Gaag, "Welfare Implications of Female Headship in Jamaican Households" (paper presented at the International Food Policy Research Institute Workshop on Interhousehold Resource Allocation: Policy Issues and Research Methods, Washington, D.C., February 12-14, 1992); Cynthia B. Lloyd and Anastasia J. Brandon, "Women's Roles in Maintaining Households: Poverty and Gender Inequality in Ghana" (paper prepared for the ICRW/Population Council joint program on Family Structure, Female Headship, and Poverty in Developing Countries, 1991); Catherine F. Johnson and Beatrice Lorge Rogers, "Children's Nutritional Status in Female-Headed Households in the Dominican Republic," Social Science and Medicine 37, no. 11 (1993): 1293-1301.
33. F. Louat, M. E. Grosh, and J. van der Gaag, "Welfare Implications of Female Headship in Jamaican Households" (paper presented at the International Food Policy Research Institute Workshop on Interhousehold Resource Allocation: Policy Issues and Research Methods, Washington, D.C., February 12-14, 1992); Cynthia B. Lloyd and Anastasia J. Brandon, "Women's Roles in Maintaining Households: Poverty and Gender Inequality in Ghana" (paper prepared for the ICRW/Population Council joint program on Family Structure, Female Headship, and Poverty in Developing Countries, 1991); Catherine F. Johnson and Beatrice Lorge Rogers, "Children's Nutritional Status in Female-Headed Households in the Dominican Republic," Social Science and Medicine 37, no. 11 (1993): 1293-1301.
34. F. Louat, M. E. Grosh, and J. van der Gaag, "Welfare Implications of Female Headship in Jamaican Households" (paper presented at the International Food Policy Research Institute Workshop on Interhousehold Resource Allocation: Policy Issues and Research Methods, Washington, D.C., February 12-14, 1992); Cynthia B. Lloyd and Anastasia J. Brandon, "Women's Roles in Maintaining Households: Poverty and Gender Inequality in Ghana" (paper prepared for the ICRW/Population Council joint program on Family Structure, Female Headship, and Poverty in Developing Countries, 1991); Catherine F. Johnson and Beatrice Lorge Rogers, "Children's Nutritional Status in Female-Headed Households in the Dominican Republic," Social Science and Medicine 37, no. 11 (1993): 1293-1301.
35. Koussoudji and Mueller (n. 7 above); Farida E. Arif, "Self-Employment for Rural Distressed Female Headed Households - a Case Study of a Pilot Project in Bangladesh" (paper presented at the International Labour Organisation National Workshop on Female-Headed Households and the Development of Guidelines for Their Participation in Development, New Delhi, April 26-28, 1988);
36. Shahnaz Kazi and Bilquees Raza, "Households Headed by Women: Income, Employment, and Household Organization" (paper presented at the fifth annual general meeting of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad, January 4-6, 1989); Barros et al. (n. 13 above).
37. Martin Ravallion, "Poverty Comparisons: A Guide to Concepts and Methods," Living Standards Measurement Study Working Paper no. 88 (World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1992).
38. Susan Horton and Barbara Diane Miller, "The Effect of Gender of Household Head on Food Expenditure: Evidence from Low-Income Households in Jamaica" (paper presented at the Conference on Family Gender Difference and Development, Economic Growth Center, Yale University, September 4-6, 1989).
39. Judith Bruce and Cynthia B. Lloyd, "Beyond Female Headship: Family Research and Policy Issues for the 1990s," in Intrahousehold Resource Allocation: Policy Issues and Research Methods, ed. L. Haddad et al. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, in press).
40. Merrick and Schmink (n. 9 above); Ranjana Kumari, Women-Headed Households in Rural India (New Delhi: Radiant, 1989); Schwede (n. 21 above); Jeanne Frances I. Illo, Irrigation in the Philippines: impact on Women and Their Households: The Aslong Project Case, Women's Roles and Gender Differences in Development: Cases for Planners, Asia 2 (Bangkok: Population Council, 1988); Barroset et al. (n. 13 above).
41. Merrick and Schmink (n. 9 above); Ranjana Kumari, Women-Headed Households in Rural India (New Delhi: Radiant, 1989); Schwede (n. 21 above); Jeanne Frances I. Illo, Irrigation in the Philippines: impact on Women and Their Households: The Aslong Project Case, Women's Roles and Gender Differences in Development: Cases for Planners, Asia 2 (Bangkok: Population Council, 1988); Barroset et al. (n. 13 above).
42. Lloyd and Brandon.
43. Johnson and Rogers.
44. Rosenhouse (n. 10 above).
45. Ravallion.
46. Nora Lustig, "Measuring Poverty in Latin America: The Emperor Has No Clothes" (paper prepared for "Poverty: New Approaches to Analysis and Policy - a Symposium," International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva, Noyember 22-24, 1993).
47. Mayra Buvinić, J. P. Valenzuela, T. Molina, and E. Gonzalez, "The Fortunes of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children: A Case Study on the Transmission of Poverty in Santiago, Chile," Population and Development Review 18, no. 2 (1992): 269-97; Patrice Engle, "Maternal Work and Child-Care Strategies in Peri-Urban Guatemala," Child Development 62 (1991): 954-65, and "Influences of Mother's and Father's Income on Children's Nutritional Status in Guatemala," Social Science and Medicine 37, no. 11 (1993): 1303-12; Johnson and Rogers (n. 31 above).
48. Mayra Buvinić, J. P. Valenzuela, T. Molina, and E. Gonzalez, "The Fortunes of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children: A Case Study on the Transmission of Poverty in Santiago, Chile," Population and Development Review 18, no. 2 (1992): 269-97; Patrice Engle, "Maternal Work and Child-Care Strategies in Peri-Urban Guatemala," Child Development 62 (1991): 954-65, and "Influences of Mother's and Father's Income on Children's Nutritional Status in Guatemala," Social Science and Medicine 37, no. 11 (1993): 1303-12; Johnson and Rogers (n. 31 above).
49. Mayra Buvinić, J. P. Valenzuela, T. Molina, and E. Gonzalez, "The Fortunes of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children: A Case Study on the Transmission of Poverty in Santiago, Chile," Population and Development Review 18, no. 2 (1992): 269-97; Patrice Engle, "Maternal Work and Child-Care Strategies in Peri-Urban Guatemala," Child Development 62 (1991): 954-65, and "Influences of Mother's and Father's Income on Children's Nutritional Status in Guatemala," Social Science and Medicine 37, no. 11 (1993): 1303-12; Johnson and Rogers (n. 31 above).
50. Shubh K. Kumar, "Income Sources of the Malnourished Poor in Rural Zambia," International Food Policy Research Institute Working Paper (Washington, D.C., 1991); Marito Garcia, "Income Sources of the Malnourished Rural Poor in the Provinces of Arba Antique and South Cotabato in the Philippines," International Food Policy Research Institute Working Paper (Washington, D.C., 1991).
51. Shubh K. Kumar, "Income Sources of the Malnourished Poor in Rural Zambia," International Food Policy Research Institute Working Paper (Washington, D.C., 1991); Marito Garcia, "Income Sources of the Malnourished Rural Poor in the Provinces of Arba Antique and South Cotabato in the Philippines," International Food Policy Research Institute Working Paper (Washington, D.C., 1991).
52. Charles H. Wood, "Women-Headed Households and Child Mortality in Brazil, 1960-1980" (draft presented at the joint ICRW/Population Council Seminar II, "Consequences of Female Headship and Female Maintenance," Washington, D.C., February 27-28, 1989).
53. Deborah Levison, "Family Composition and Child Labor: Survival Strategies of the Brazilian Poor" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, March 30-April 1, 1989).
54. Eileen Kennedy, "Effects of Gender of Head of Household on Women's and Children's Nutritional Status" (paper presented at the workshop on the Effects of Policies and Programs on Women, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C., January 16, 1992); Engle, "Maternal Work and Child-Care Strategies"; Buvinić et al., "The Fortunes of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children."
55. Eileen Kennedy, "Effects of Gender of Head of Household on Women's and Children's Nutritional Status" (paper presented at the workshop on the Effects of Policies and Programs on Women, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C., January 16, 1992); Engle, "Maternal Work and Child-Care Strategies"; Buvinić et al., "The Fortunes of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children."
56. Eileen Kennedy, "Effects of Gender of Head of Household on Women's and Children's Nutritional Status" (paper presented at the workshop on the Effects of Policies and Programs on Women, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C., January 16, 1992); Engle, "Maternal Work and Child-Care Strategies"; Buvinić et al., "The Fortunes of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children."
57. See Victor R. Fuchs, "Women's Quest for Economic Equality," Journal of Economic Perspectives 3, no. 1 (1989): 25-41.
58. Kennedy, "Effects of Gender of Head of Household."
59. Duncan Thomas, "Intra-Household Resource Allocation: An Inferential Approach," Journal of Human Resources 25, no. 4 (1990): 635-64.
60. Dov Chernichowsky and Christine Smith, "Primary School Enrollment and Attendance in Rural Botswana" (World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1979, mimeographed); Louat et al. (n. 31 above); Sylvia Chant, "Single-Parent Families: Choice or Constraint? The Formation of Female-Headed Households in Mexican Shanty Towns," Development and Change 16 (1985): 635-56; Gulati (n. 11 above).
61. Dov Chernichowsky and Christine Smith, "Primary School Enrollment and Attendance in Rural Botswana" (World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1979, mimeographed); Louat et al. (n. 31 above); Sylvia Chant, "Single-Parent Families: Choice or Constraint? The Formation of Female-Headed Households in Mexican Shanty Towns," Development and Change 16 (1985): 635-56; Gulati (n. 11 above).
62. Barros et al. (n. 13 above); Isabel Vial, Eugenia Muchnik, and Juliana Kain, "Evaluation of Chile's Main Nutrition Intervention Program" (University of Chile and Catholic University, Santiago, May 1988, mimeographed); Kumari (n. 36 above); Kazi and Raza (n. 32 above); Schwede (n. 21 above); Deborah S. DeGraff and Richard E. Bilsborrow, "Female-Headed Households and Family Welfare in Rural Ecuador," Journal of Population Economics 6, no. 4, pp. 317-39.
63. Barros et al. (n. 13 above); Isabel Vial, Eugenia Muchnik, and Juliana Kain, "Evaluation of Chile's Main Nutrition Intervention Program" (University of Chile and Catholic University, Santiago, May 1988, mimeographed); Kumari (n. 36 above); Kazi and Raza (n. 32 above); Schwede (n. 21 above); Deborah S. DeGraff and Richard E. Bilsborrow, "Female-Headed Households and Family Welfare in Rural Ecuador," Journal of Population Economics 6, no. 4, pp. 317-39.
64. Engle, "Influences of Mother's and Father's Income on Children's Nutritional Status in Guatemala"; Buvinić et al., "The Fortunes of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children."
65. Engle, "Influences of Mother's and Father's Income on Children's Nutritional Status in Guatemala"; Buvinić et al., "The Fortunes of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children."
66. Irwin Garfinkel and Sara S. McLanahan, Single Mothers and Their Children (Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute, 1986).
67. Mayra Buvinić, Nadia Youssef, and B. von Elm, "Women-Headed Households: The Ignored Factor in Development Planning" (Washington, D.C.: International Center for Research on Women, 1978).
68. While the establishment of SERNAM encountered significant opposition from conservatives in the revived Chilean Congress, the program on female headship raised no eyebrows, in part because giving priority to poor female-headed households was a safe political alternative when compared with promoting legislation on divorce or abortion.
69. M. Elena Valenzuela, Sylvia Venegas, and Carmen Andrade, eds., De Mujer Sola a Jefa de Hogar: Género, Pobreza y Políticas Públicas (From unpartnered female to head of household: Gender, poverty, and public policies) (Santiago: Women's National Service, 1994).
70. Vial.
71. Juan Pablo Valenzuela, "Caracteristícas de Pobreza de las Participantes en el Plan Piloto para Jefas de Hogar" (Poverty features of participants in the Pilot Plan for Female Heads of Households), in Valenzuela et al., eds.
72. Ibid.
73. Igacio Irarrázabal and Lucia Pardo, "Jefatura Familiar Feminina, Estructura del Hogar y Pobreza" (Female headship, household structure, and poverty), in Valenzuela et al., eds.
74. Garfinkel and McLanahan (n. 52 above).