Female-Headed Households, Poverty, and the Welfare of Children in Urban Brazil

Abstract

This study describes female-headed households and analyzes the determinants of poverty among these households and the consequences for children. Data are obtained from the Brazilian Pesquisa National por Amostra de Domicilios (PNAD) for mostly 1984 and some other years. Historically Brazil has always had a large proportion of female headed households in part due to the plantation culture and the need for male labor migration to plantations. This study focuses on households in Recife Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre. These metro areas reflect a variety of socioeconomic conditions. Two alternative definitions of headship are compared and caution is urged in using too narrow a concept of headship in situations such as in this study where households depend upon more than one income earner. Income levels varied across the three regions. Mean income in Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre was similar. Income in Recife was much lower. There were more female headed households per capita in Recife. The general trend was that the lower the relative income the higher the likelihood of being a female headed household. Female headed households with minors and Moynihan-type households had the greatest proportion in the lower income groups. It is concluded that 1) female headships were heterogenous; 2) the extent of poverty of female headed households varied by region and was the greatest in the northeast; and 3) female headed households were poorer because females earned less than males. Lower female income was related to lower hours worked and the tendency of women to work in occupations that paid lower salaries or to hold low status occupations. Employers were faulted for failing to hire women for higher paying jobs or to pay salaries on par with male counterparts. Single-mother headed households in urban areas were 3.4% of households but these households with children tended to be poor and were designated a vulnerable group. Not all female headed households were vulnerable particularly those in the south. Interventions should be targeted at children who are most at risk for poor school attendance at ages 10-14 years in poor female headed households. Children were worse off in Recife where there was a stronger association between poverty and female headship. Only children in female headed households had decreased school attendance with increasing age. The analysis of the poverty effect on children indicated different impacts in each metro area.