Single Female Households Research Articles

Livelihood challenges of single female household heads in the Rohingya and host communities in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundFollowing the mass influx of Rohingya refugees into Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh in 2017, makeshift settlement camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf have been overburdened, leading to livelihood challenges for both Rohingya and host communities. The humanitarian crisis has had adverse effects on vulnerable populations, which include older people, persons with disabilities, adolescents, and single female household heads. Using a subset of a larger dataset on households with most vulnerable groups in both communities, we analysed the effect of the pandemic and lockdown on the livelihood of single female household (HH) heads.MethodsA cross-sectional household roster survey was designed to collect data from households with most vulnerable groups (MVGs) of host and Rohingya communities from December 2020 to March 2021; 11 host community villages and 10 Rohingya camps purposively selected as per the affiliated intervention of the project. The paper analysed quantitative and qualitative data from the sub-group of single female household heads without any income/low income. Participants were surveyed for their socio-demographic characteristics, COVID-19 experiences and knowledge, food security situation, social experiences and mental health using PHQ-2 test for depression.ResultsWe surveyed 432 single female HH heads. Support during the pandemic was reported to be low, with less than 50% of HHs reporting relief meeting their needs; only 36% and 15% of these HHs received rations in camps and host communities respectively. Loan facilities were mostly unavailable and there were reported insufficiencies in food consumption. Over 50% of respondents tested positive on the PHQ-2, a scale used to screen for depression. Further analyses indicates that having a chronic health issue (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.33–3.66) was positively associated with the PHQ-2 score for Rohingya single females. For host single females, having an ill member in the HH (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.02–2.08) and the inability to save before the pandemic (OR 1.57 95% CI 1.11–2.23) increased the odds of screening positive for depression.ConclusionOur study findings revealed insufficiencies with economic opportunities and food security for single female-headed households, as well as a high rate of positive screening for depression amongst this population. These findings call for a more in-depth understanding of the needs of this group.

Mind the Gap: The Effects of Eliminating the Gender Pay Gap on Income and Poverty

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the effects of eliminating Gender Pay Gap on income and poverty. Drawing upon the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions for Portugal, we use econometric tools to estimate the counterfactual earnings. The results obtained over the period under study (2014, 2017 and 2019) show that the average hourly income of women would increase by around 38%; the average annual income of households with women in the labor market would be around 22% higher; the poverty indicators would fall by 5% points; single female households and Madeira region would show a more significant decline in poverty.

"We are invisible to them"-Identifying the most vulnerable groups in humanitarian crises during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Rohingyas and the Host communities of Cox's Bazar.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on the Rohingya and the Bangladeshi host communities, which have been well documented in the literature. However, the specific groups of people rendered most vulnerable and marginalized during the pandemic have not been studied comprehensively. This paper draws on data to identify the most vulnerable groups of people within the Rohingya and the host communities of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study employed a systematic sequential method to identify the most vulnerable groups in the context of Rohingya and Host communities of Cox's Bazar. We conducted a rapid literature review (n = 14 articles) to list down Most vulnerable groups (MVGs) in the studied contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted four (04) group sessions with humanitarian providers and relevant stakeholders in a research design workshop to refine the list. We also conducted field visits to both communities and interviewed community people using In-depth interviews (n = 16), Key-informant Interviews (n = 8), and several informal discussions to identify the most vulnerable groups within them and their social drivers of vulnerabilities. Based on the feedback received from the community, we finalized our MVGs criteria. The data collection commenced from November 2020 to March 2021. Informed consent was sought from all participants, and ethical clearance for this study was obtained from the IRB of BRAC JPGSPH. The most vulnerable groups identified in this study were: single female household heads, pregnant and lactating mothers, persons with disability, older adults, and adolescents. Our analysis also found some factors that may determine the different levels of vulnerabilities and risks faced by some groups more than others in the Rohingya and host communities during the pandemic. Some of these factors include economic constraints, gender norms, food security, social safety-security, psychosocial well-being, access to healthcare services, mobility, dependency, and a sudden halt in education. One of the most significant impacts of COVID-19 was the loss of earning sources, especially for the already economically vulnerable; this had far-reaching consequences on individuals' food security and food consumption. Across the communities, it was found that the economically most affected group was single female household heads. The elderly and pregnant and lactating mothers face challenges seeking health services due to their restricted mobility and dependency on other family members. Persons living with disabilities from both contexts reported feelings of inadequacy in their families, exacerbated during the pandemic. Additionally, the shutdown in the formal education, and informal learning centres in both communities had the most significant impact on the adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown. This study identifies the most vulnerable groups and their vulnerabilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Rohingya and Host communities of Cox's Bazar. The reasons behind their vulnerabilities are intersectional and represent deeply embedded patriarchal norms that exist in both communities. The findings are essential for the humanitarian aid agencies and policymakers for evidence-based decision-making and service provisions for addressing the vulnerabilities of the most vulnerable groups.

An assessment of gender vulnerability in the humanitarian crisis in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh: Developing a gender-based vulnerability index in the Rohingya and Host community contexts

The massive influx of Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh has created a severe humanitarian crisis, which has been exacerbated by the COVID–19 pandemic. The research focused on the most vulnerable groups (MVGs) of Rohingya and adjacent host communities, such as pregnant and/or lactating women, elderly people (64+ years), persons with disabilities (PWD), single female household heads, and adolescents, with the aim to assess the vulnerability among the MVGs and between the households in both communities by developing a gender-based vulnerability index (GBVI), using data from a cross-sectional study in selected Rohingya camps and surrounding host communities. The GBVI―developed as a linear combination of several indicators under nine different themes reflecting vulnerabilities in humanitarian crises―was used to classify the households of both communities into three levels of vulnerability: low (bottom 33.33%), medium (middle 33.33%) and acute (upper 33.33%). Findings show the intensity of vulnerability is significantly greater among the Rohingya households than those in the host community; almost 65% of Rohingya households were ‘acutely vulnerable’ compared to 2% of host households. In both communities, female-headed households (including single female) are found to be more vulnerable (the highest percentage of households with acute vulnerability), followed by households with elderly and PWDs. Further analysis suggests that households with acute vulnerability in both communities are deprived of receiving certain services, such as COVID–19 monetary support and disability allowances. It is recommended to identify acutely vulnerable households consisting of MVGs from both communities, understand their needs, and implement urgent policies/interventions.

Changes in Consumption Needs and Purchases at Retirement

In this paper, we study the changes in needs and purchases post-retirement using a unique survey of elderly Australians. Six categories of goods and services are studied, and the research objectives are threefold. First, we study the factors related to changes in needs and purchases in retirement. We find that households where finances are managed by females are more likely to need less housing, household goods and medical care. We also find that financially literate households tend to need and purchase fewer gifts or donations. Second, the objective is to find the drivers of affordability of needs in retirement. We show that older, low-income and single-female households cannot afford their needs for household goods and medical care. Third, we analyze retirees' self-stated reasons for changes in purchases of goods and services. Via text analysis, we find that while rising costs is the primary reason for an increase in purchases, many retirees moderate expenditures through better money management.

A joint spatial model of opioid-associated deaths and treatment admissions in Ohio

PurposeOpioid misuse is a national epidemic, and Ohio is one of the states most impacted by this crisis. Ohio collects county-level counts of opioid-associated deaths and treatment admissions. We jointly model these two outcomes and assess the association of each rate with social and structural factors. MethodsWe use a joint spatial rates model of death and treatment counts using a generalized common spatial factor model. In addition to covariate effects, we estimate a spatial factor for each county that characterizes structural factors not accounted for by other covariates in the model that are associated with both outcomes. ResultsWe observed an association of health professional shortage area with death rates and the rate of people 18–64 on disability with treatment rates. The proportion of single female households was associated with both outcomes. We estimated the presence of unmeasured risk factors in the southwestern part of the state and unmeasured protective factors in the eastern region. ConclusionsWe described associations of social and structural covariates with the death and treatment rates. We also characterized counties with latent risk that can provide a launching point for future investigations to determine potential sources of that risk.

Women’s Household Preparation for Retirement at Young and Mid-Adulthood: Differences by Children and Marital Status

There are increasing concerns about whether Americans are saving enough for retirement. Recent research has called for improved understanding of the relationship between family structure and economic preparation for retirement at earlier stages of the life course. Using multiple years of the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances, we examined how number of children and marital status were associated with women’s household retirement savings at young and mid-adulthood. Several household-level indicators of retirement preparation were considered: desire to save for retirement, retirement account ownership, eligibility to participate in a defined-contribution plan, participation in defined-contribution plans, and retirement account wealth. Results from regression analyses revealed variation in women’s household financial preparation for retirement at young and mid-adulthood by family context. Additional children were negatively associated with several measures of retirement preparation among single-female households but not for couple households. Overall, we found that low economic preparation for retirement is an additional economic disadvantage facing single mothers at young and mid-adulthood, with potentially long-term implications for their financial security. The results shed light on linkages between family structure and women’s economic status.

Which Households Think They Save?

We examine household saving in the context of a prescriptive model. Using Survey of Consumer Finances data sets in the 1995–2004 period, 57% of households reported spending less than income. Many effects in the multivariate analysis are consistent with a prescriptive model. We discuss other effects in terms of possible differences in the ability to plan or the accuracy of reporting by the respondent. Young households are more likely to report saving than older households. Black households are less likely to report saving than white households. Single female households are less likely to report saving than single male households.

Heteroscedastic semiparametric models for domestic water consumption aggregated data

Heteroscedastic additive and multiplicative models are proposed to disaggregate household data on water consumption from Athens and provide individual consumption estimates. The models adjust for heteroscedasticity assuming that variances relate to covariates. Household characteristics that can influence consumption are also included into models in order to allow for a clearer measurement of individual characteristics effects. Estimation is accomplished through a penalized least squares approach. The method is applied to a sample of real data related to domestic water consumption in Athens. The results show a greater consumption of water for males while the single-female households are these that use the lowest quantities of water. The consumption curves by age and gender are constructed presenting differences between the two sexes.

Socio-economic Inequality in the Aging Society

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of income inequality and the pattern of providing support to mothers in contemporary Japan. The extent of income inequality among households with the elderly aged 65 and over has expanded between 1986 and 1995, and has declined recently. The main reason why such a recent decline in income inequality has occurred was due to the decrease in income inequality in couple-only households whose number has most increased between 1986 and 1998. While the relative difference in the average disposable income between single female households and couple-only households became small during these years, the single households of the elderly female are substantially at a disadvantage in their economic well-being.The type of the household was an important determinant in providing economic support to their own mothers. Married daughters are likely to provide economic support when they co-habit with their mothers or when their mothers live alone. On the other hand, in offering economic support to their mothers-in-law, whether their husbands were the eldest son was critical. When their husbands were the eldest son, married women tended to support their mothers-in-law economically. The household type in which their mothers-in-law lived was not significant in determining the economic support to them. The social norm of being the eldest son still had a substantial impact on providing economic support and care to mothers-in-law.The household is one of the important factors in explaining social inequality among the elderly. On the other hand, the significant change in the household structure has occurred : the number of multi-generational households has declined and the number of elderly single households and elderly couple-only households has increased. How we can reconstruct the welfare state in which the economic and social well-being of the elderly is basically guaranteed no matter which households they belong to is one of the important socio-political issues to discuss.

Population Recovery in Inner Tokyo in the Late 1990s

It was not until the late 1990s That inner Tokyo started to regain population. This paper explores the extent of that shift and it is argued that population recovery in Minato Ward in inner Tokyo differs from the nature of 'gentrification' observed in Western countries.The 'bubble era' of the late 1980s resulted in rapid land price inflation, land speculation on inner city plots and involved a considerable area of land while displacing former residents. The idea that Tokyo was becoming a 'global city' supported land speculation for office and commercial demands. Inner Tokyo continued to lose population in the late 1980s as a consequence of competition with business and commercial land use. Tokyo Wards implemented various policies to prevent the further outflow of residents, which included rent subsidies to renters and the substitution of mortgage interests exceeding 2%. The Wards also leased rented housing to household renters, and issued guidelines to locate rental family-sized housing in newly-built office buildings.After the collapse of the 'bubble', however, office and commercial demands suddenly disappeared and land prices fell rapidly. The financial crisis induced firms to sell or utilize their land for housing. By the late 1990s, high rise apartments were built on such speculated land. GIS-based mapping analysis revealed that the construction of public and private housing mainly contributed to population recovery, followed by the opening of new subway stations.A questionnaire survey was conducted to examine who had moved into the newly-provided housing in the inner city. Data were collected on household type, occupation, former residential location and reasons for the move.The survey revealed that single female households and double income couples with no children predominated in the private housing sector. The main reason for the move was proximity to workplace. This reflects the fact that movers into the inner city mainly consist of households placing a higher priority on employment than on nurturing children. Couples with children would move into the inner city if they secured low cost (public) housing. Many constraints still prevent the inflow of households with children, such as high housing cost in both private rented housing and owner occupied housing, and limited nursery school capacity.The provision of public housing, which is a counter policy to the population decline, results in relatively low income households returning to the inner city. Subsequent private housing construction which was caused by the collapse of the 'bubble' attracts different types of households from a wider area. Population recovery in inner Tokyo differs from gentrification in the West in that it is not limited only to more affluent people relocating to the inner city.

Perceived Risk of Crime in the Czech Republic

The authors examine models of the perceived increased risk of crime in the Czech Republic derived from both American criminology and research on the perception of risk. The sample is 740 households in the 1994 Czech Republic, with 577 husband and wife respondents, 146 single female household heads, and 17 single male household heads. Measures include criminal victimization, personal characteristics associated with exposure and vulnerability to crime, trust in government, economic stress, as well as perceived increased risk of crime since the postcommunist transformation. A victimology model of the perceived increased risk of crime based on exposure and vulnerability to crime is confirmed for the Czech Republic. Trust in government is also an independent and complementary contribution to explaining perceived increased risk of crime. The discussion includes an interpretation of the findings and their relevance to cross-national comparisons of perceived risk of crime.

The Effect of Welfare on Migration

The impact of differences in welfare funding levels and economic opportunity at the state level on interstate migration of low-income families is determined. The data set is derived from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey for the years 1979 to 1990, inclusive. Newly estimated descriptive welfare statistics permit detailed state level analysis. The decision to migrate is modeled as a binary discrete choice decision which is estimated by means of a probit procedure using maximum likelihood techniques. The poor are found to be attracted to states with greater economic opportunity in all cases and to avoid high welfare states, with the exception of single female household heads, who actually participate in the new state's welfare system. Even in this case, the effect on migration is relatively small compared to the effect of superior economic opportunities and small in absolute magnitude as well.

A comparison of the effect of welfare programme features on welfare participation: one- and two-parent families

The effect of welfare programme characteristics on the decision to enter the welfare system is modelled as a binary discrete-choice latent variable model dependent upon an underlying index function. The two chief classes of welfare beneficiaries in the US welfare system are analysed: two-parent families and single female-headed families. The data set is a large, recent, non-experimental multiyear cross-sectional pooled data set derived from the US Census Bureaus Current Population Survey. Behavioural impacts from a range of economic variables are consistent in sign with predictions made by economic theory. Newly estimated comprehensive descriptive statistics of the entire welfare system for both single female household heads and married couples with children are employed to characterize the welfare system. Statistically significant estimates of substantial magnitude are obtained for the impacts on welfare participation for the welfare guarantee level, the effective tax rate on earned income, and the effec...

Child Welfare Allocations: State‐level Estimates of Effective Guarantees

AbstractWelfare grants in the United States very from year to year and from state to state. Actual grants are very different from stated nominal levels of support for two reasons. First, grants are reduced for income. Second, not all qualified families receive welfare. Some do not apply. Others are discouraged, wrongly denied, or poorly counselled. The actual level of welfare support per child is estimated herein at the state level for single female household heads for each year from 1979 to 1990. A tobit estimation technique is employed to account for the probability of not receiving welfare when otherwise qualified.

Labour-supply impacts of effective welfare programme parameters: a reanalysis

We quantify the impact of effective welfare programme parameters on the labour supply of single female household heads – the primary group of welfare recipients in the USA. Our panel of data is derived from the US Census Bureau's Current Population Survey for the years 1979 to 1990 inclusive. Behavioural impacts from a range of economic variables are consistent in sign with predictions made by economic theory. We find that effective welfare gurantee levels and the effective tax rate on earned income both significantly decrease labour supply. The marginal effects of these welfare programme parameters are economically small: a US$1000 increase in the expected welfare guarantee level reduces annual labour supply by about 36 hours; a 10 percentage point increase in the effective tax rate on earned income reduces annual labour supply by about 7.5 hours.

Single female-headed families and public social services—Questions for the 80's

In order to document the increasing “feminization” of poverty, the authors examined the characteristics and presenting problems of single female-headed households receiving public social services, through a secondary analysis of data collected for the U.S. Children's Bureau's National Study of Social Services to Children and Their Families. The findings confirm that poverty—as defined by welfare status and financial need—is indeed the common characteristic of female-headed households receiving public social services. In all, a disproportionate number, 45%, of public social service client households are those headed by women. Generally the female household heads and their children are younger than other household heads and their children. Sixty-two percent are AFDC recipients. Except for a disproportionately greater need for and receipt of financial assistance, the presenting problems of, and services provided to, single female household heads and their children did not differ significantly from those of other household types.