Women-headed Households Research Articles

Women-Headed Households: Diversity and Dynamics in Post-Conflict Settings in South Asia

Women-headed households have been reported to be emerging more than ever before in both developing and developed countries due to many reasons, from different factors affecting households in a country to regional and global determinants. This paper unpacks the diversity and dynamics of women-headed households in post-conflict contexts in South Asian countries, with a focus on Sri Lanka and Nepal using a feminist approach. Women-headed households have been reported to face higher levels of poverty than male-headed households in South Asia. There are compelling reasons to anticipate that a group of people who already experience social inequality because of their gender might also experience economic hardship. This paper discusses the challenges women face when heading households, their vulnerabilities, as well as their methods of overcoming the challenges as they take up household responsibilities in the absence of men. This paper also gives accounts of women heading households from their perspectives on how they manage the day-to-day running of the household and the challenges they face in a post-conflict setting. It concludes that the emergence of women-headed households are not only the result of conflict and that they are not a temporary aberration. The paper highlights the need to understand women-headed households in their unique settings, considering many factors that could influence their socioeconomic behaviour. Many of the household surveys fall short of analyzing the complexities associated with women-headed households and fail to identify uniqueness. Therefore, this paper argues the need for qualitative ethnographic data to understand the complexities of women-headed households. Ethnicity and cultural backgrounds need to be considered when analysing data on women-headed households as their dealings and experiences differ in the way these factors play in. This paper also emphasises the need for development practitioners to pay attention to the prevailing understandings of household headship and agency when devising policies to assist women-headed households.

The Myriad Living Arrangements of U.S. Single Men and Women in Midlife.

Attention to the living arrangements of singles has centered around young adults who increasingly reside with their parents. By comparison, midlife singles remain overlooked despite a substantial rise in singlehood during this life-course stage. Using the 2021 American Community Survey five-year estimates, the authors uncovered the disparate living arrangements of midlife single men and women household heads, defining midlife as those aged 30 to 49 and single as those who were neither cohabiting nor married. The findings revealed that the living arrangements of men and women were near inverses of each other, with most men living alone, whereas most women lived with someone else. Relative to men, a far greater share of women were residing with their children, whereas a larger share of men were in arrangements that did not include children. The distinctive living arrangements speak to the potential differences in familial obligations and available support sources.

Family farming efficiency of women headed households

The present study was conducted during in purposively selected Tumakuru district. By using ‘snow ball technique’ 160 respondents were purposively selected. Data were gathered through structured interview schedule and analyzed using appropriate statistical tools. The study revealed that in family farming efficiency, among dimensions namely productivity, profitability, employment generation, family labour, competency in farm resource use and socio - psychological sensitivity, the statements such as farm diversification is important key to enhance productivity in family farming, use of organic manures and wastes recycling helps to sustain profitability, different farm enterprise of family farming provides enough scope to employ the family members round the year, family members and their farms are linked and co-evolve and one should spend considerable amount of time in planning and searching for best resource use practices to get higher yields were ranked I.Further, more than one third (35.00%) of the respondents belonged to medium category of overall family farming efficiency. Hence, concerned developmental departments should plan programmes exclusively on women headed households practicing family farming as a target group by developing data base of women headed households to increase the family farming efficiency.

Determinants of Family Resilience in Female-Headed Families on the North Coast of Java

This study analyzes the relationship between religiosity, education, and social support to family resilience in women-headed households. Family resilience is an exciting issue discussed today, seeing the fragility of the couple's understanding based on the family itself. It is essential because it protects from life problems and difficulties arising from the internal or external family, including groups, environments, communities, and countries. The results of this study contribute to efforts to increase family resilience, especially in women-headed homes, because family resilience is the main foundation in realizing community resilience as one of the efforts to boost national development. The power of national development is sourced to families as small groups in society. Thus, an in-depth study of the factors that affect family resilience to create a prosperous family, resistance, and continuity of national development is needed. The research method uses a quantitative approach and collects data using surveys of 15-20 women-headed households in Sayung, Demak. Data analysis is carried out with Validity Test, Reliability Test, and Regression Analysis using SPSS software. This study showed that education positively and significantly affects family resilience. In contrast, religiosity and social support have a positive and insignificant impact. The government can be used as a reference in decision-making to help economic resilience in women-headed households by making programs to increase family resilience in economics.

Gender Perspectives of Responses to Climate Variability and Change among Farm Households in Southeast Nigeria.

It has been argued that gender affects climate change response especially among farming communities yet literature is scant on gender perspectives of response. In recognition of this, the study examined responses with the associated challenges and opportunities across gender in the South East (SE) Nigeria. A mixed research approach including a participatory research approach (PRA), field observation and household questionnaire survey was used to collect data. The survey sample included 300 (150 men and women each) farm household heads from six villages in the region. Data were analyzed and presented using principal component analysis (PCA), non-parametric and descriptive statistics. The study found that men and women-headed households differed in their use of strategies like migration from affected areas and livelihood diversification (p < 0.05). Women have more challenges of insufficient improved farming knowledge than men. The challenges for men were majorly insufficient technologies like mechanization. Components of these challenges include technology, environmental-related challenges among others. Response opportunities for men and women include digital/mobile telecommunications and learning by doing respectively. Compared to men, women had less participation in opportunities for the development of human capital through training (p < 0.05). The study recommends that more opportunities should be provided for the training of farmers especially women on climate change response.

Women Political Leaders’ Participation in Local Decision-Making Structures in Tanzania

Purpose: This paper envisioned examining the participation of women political leaders in the local decision-making organs in Tanzania. Specifically, the study aimed to examine the number of women represented in the study local government structures (LGSs), the motives behind women participating in the LGSs and the duration of service in the study LGSs.&#x0D; Design/Methodology/Approach: The study used a cross-sectional descriptive research design. A cluster sampling technique was used to obtain the study villages and Mitaa. Both quantitative and qualitative research approaches with different data collection methods were used. To collect quantitative data, questionnaires were administered to 390 household heads both men and women in the study villages/Mitaa, while qualitative data were gathered using an interview guide, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and non-participant observation checklist. Quantitative data collected were analyzed and presented in tables and figures while the qualitative ones were thematically analyzed.&#x0D; Findings: The study revealed that the number of women's participation in various local committees in the study of local government structures has increased by 50% (Dodoma City) and 30% (Bahi District). However, motives for women leaders’ participation are constrained by limited continuity of tenure in the political office. Therefore, suitable interventions are recommended to address the existing capacity gaps.&#x0D; Research Limitation: The study targeted to involve an equal number of men and women household heads in each study village and Mitaa, however in some villages it happened to have less number of women than men household heads.&#x0D; Practical implication: This study recommends that more spaces should be given to women to participate in local decision-making structures and hold seats to enhance gender equality in politics.&#x0D; Originality/Value: This study focuses on the gender parity framework in local politics. It brings an understanding to the various government departments, ministries responsible for women and other stakeholders regarding the opportunities available for women to participate in local politics.

Adaptive capacity within tropical marine protected areas – Differences between men- and women-headed households

Households within tropical coastal communities face a multitude of stressors related to environmental, social and economic change. To minimise negative impacts on households, a priority is to understand and if possible build adaptive capacity to enable adjustment to both extant, and anticipated stressors. Adaptive capacity may not be equally distributed across households due to social differences and inequalities, including gender. In this study we sought to understand whether the factors underlying adaptive capacity differ between men- and women-headed households across three marine protected areas (MPAs) in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Adaptive capacity was significantly higher in men-headed households compared to women-headed households between different MPAs as a whole, however significant differences were not found for men and women-headed households within the MPAs. The factors underlying adaptive capacity were investigated through boosted regression trees, a relatively novel approach within the field, and found to be similar between men and women counterparts. These factors were agency, material conditions, low ecosystem dependence, education, occupational multiplicity and needs satisfaction (i.e. a poverty indicator) which was singularly important in women-headed households. While the factors themselves were similar in men and women–headed households, gendered differences were found regarding differing levels in the identified factors. Accordingly, the processes that underly the differences found should be addressed within initiatives seeking to understand and build adaptive capacity.

Women-headed households and housing location preferences in the informal settlements: What can we learn from Luzira, Uganda?

The decision to move to a preferred location is a phenomenon that women-headed households inevitably grapple with during their housing lifecycle. Choosing a housing location may be determined by several factors. This study sought an in-depth understanding of what drives decisions on preferred housing locations by women-headed households in the Luzira informal settlement of Kampala, Uganda. A qualitative case study design was used, in which in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis were employed. Social relations with host households, interactions in the neighbourhood, households' responses to inter-household disputes, household consensus, and informal property market information availability were exhibited as determinants for women-headed household decisions on housing options. This study recommends that policymakers should be aware of the several alternatives and informal channels through which informal property market participants access information on housing opportunities. This can be enhanced by exploiting appropriate technological innovation, such as mobile phones and creating platforms for access and dissemination of housing-related information. More so, key drivers of housing location choices for women should be integral in housing planning.

Status and Survival of Dalit Women-headed Households: Socio-economic Analysis

In both developing and developed countries, women play a primary source of the social-economic support of the families. Unless there is no adult male living in the family permanently, Dalit women are not considered the head of the household. Gender bias exists when it is stated that the head of the family must always be an adult male, even if a woman’s socio-economic contribution to household upkeep is equal to or higher than a man’s. Most female-headed households are unplanned, as humans rather than natural forces established them. When males leave the family or divorce for any reason, the Dalit woman is left with the massive task of looking after the children. The Dalit women-headed households belonged to a wide area to analyse the Ranipet district of Tamil Nadu. Women, on the other hand, are unaware of their rights. It is especially true for low-income women. They are also discouraged from obtaining legal help due to a lack of financial resources and the duration of the legal process. It is possible to conclude that regulations alone will not be sufficient to prevent discrimination against Dalit women. Hence, the researcher analyses the socio-economic conditions and the status and survival of women’s headed households in the Ranipet district of Tamil Nadu.

Food insecurity and the risk of HIV acquisition: findings from population-based surveys in six sub-Saharan African countries (2016–2017)

ObjectiveTo assess the potential bidirectional relationship between food insecurity and HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa.DesignNationally representative HIV impact assessment household-based surveys.SettingZambia, Eswatini, Lesotho, Uganda and Tanzania and Namibia.Participants112 955 survey...

An Exploratory Study on Women Entrepreneurial Motivationin in the Context of Boko Haram Insurgency in North Eastern Nigeria

This paper aims to investigate the drivers for women entrepreneurship in the context of Boko-Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria. It applies pull-push theory to women entrepreneurial motivation in a violent conflict context. A semi-structured interview was conducted with a total number of 12 women entrepreneurs who were purposely selected among Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the region. The results revealed that majority of the women were driven by the urgent need for survival and livelihood which forms part of a push motivational factor. The finding also shows that previous business experience has contributed to the successful business start-ups despite the challenges these displaced women are facing in the camp. Gender-related challenges were minimal but, the paper recommended for more gender-specific programs in order to reduce the sufferings of the most vulnerable persons particularly women-headed households in post-conflict transition.

“No Woman is an Island”: The Housing Market Access Strategies by Female-Headed Households in Kampala

This paper investigates how low-income female-headed households exploit the social livelihoods assets to participate in Kampala city's informal urban housing market. It further explores the various strategies which, in the absence of financial assets, are explored by the female-headed households to access and participate in the housing markets. The study is qualitative and adopts a case study research strategy that recruited thirty-seven (n=37) participants from Luzira-Kisenyi informal settlement in Kampala city. It adopted purposive and exponential discriminative snowball sampling procedures in selecting participants. The data collection techniques employed included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis. Content analysis was primarily employed during the analysis phase, and to ensure confidentiality, the participants’ identities were allocated pseudonyms. The paper explores the various strategies which, in the absence of financial assets and amidst the inefficiencies of the formal housing delivery, are explored by the female-headed households to access and participate in the housing market of Luzira-Kisenyi, Kampala. The strategies explored by the women heads of households have been identified in four categories. These include access and interchange of the local housing market information, negotiation of rent payment modalities, maneuvering through a discriminative mainstream housing market, and security of tenancy. Overall, the strategies are socially embedded, and their sustainability depends on the actors maintaining the social ties that they accumulate from time to time. The paper finally implores housing policymakers to embrace the socialised informal participation in the property markets critically and rather lay adequate strategies for its adequate operationalisation than total disregard.

Exercising Time Geography in gender and disaster. Discourse through Women Headed Household experience during drought

Exercising Time Geography in gender and disaster. Discourse through Women Headed Household experience during drought

Paving the way to understanding female-headed households: Variation in household composition across 103 low- and middle-income countries.

BackgroundFemale-headed households (FHHs) are regarded as disadvantaged. There are multiple social trajectories that can lead to women heading households. It is important to distinguish between these trajectories, as well as societal norms and contextual factors, to understand how and when are FHHs represented as a dimension of gender inequity. Our analysis defines and describes a typology of 16 FHH types (FHH16) based on demographic characteristics.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used national Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) in 103 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to identify a typology of FHHs based on the family composition and additional household members. We performed descriptive analyses at the household level to generate median proportions of the FHH16 types and selected household characteristics. We conducted cluster analyses to explore FHH16 patterns across naturally grouped clusters of countries and described selected social and economic indicators at the ecological level.ResultsThe most common FHH16 types were those where the women household heads lived with children only, were alone, or lived with men, women, and children, but without a husband. In Africa and South Asia, the most common FHH was one where women heads resided with children only. In East Asia and the Pacific, the highest proportion of FHHs were those with men, women, and children. In MENA and Eastern Europe & Central Asia, households with women heads living alone were the most prevalent. Latin America had more FHHs with husbands, comparatively, and the most common FHHs were those with heads living alone or with children. Our exploratory cluster analysis generated five clusters with unique FHH16 patterns. The clusters had distinct geographic, contextual and economic characteristics.ConclusionsOur typology showed that FHHs are heterogeneous within and between countries. The ecological analysis emphasized further variation created by different societal and cultural factors. Research around their vulnerabilities and strengths needs to consider these factors and their influence on socioeconomic status and health-related outcomes within households headed by women.

Determinants of food insecurity among households with children in Villa el Salvador, Lima, Peru: the role of gender and employment, a cross-sectional study

BackgroundFrom 2014–2019, Latin America and the Caribbean had the fastest growth of moderate-to-severe food insecurity than any other region, rising from 22.9% to 31.7%. While the prevalence of food insecurity is higher among women than men in every continent, Latin America has the largest food insecurity gender gap. Factors contributing to this gender inequity include underrepresentation of women in formal employment, heightened burden of dependent care on women, and unequal compensation of labor for women vs. men. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between the gender of the head of the household, employment status of household members, and food insecurity in households with children in a low-income district of Lima, Peru.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was carried out in Villa El Salvador, the fifth largest district in Metropolitan Lima, Peru, where over 20% of the population lives in poverty. Data were collected on a stratified random sample (n = 329) using a household questionnaire, including a validated food security tool (HFIAS). We ran multivariate logistic regression models predicting household food insecurity, with independent variables including gender of household head, education of household head, employment of household head, household-level employment status, age, and weekly food expenses per person.ResultsIn fully adjusted models, woman-headed households had almost thrice the odds of being food insecure compared to man-headed households. Education also had a significant effect size: a household whose household head did not complete high school was 3.4 times more likely to be food insecure than if they had some post-secondary education. Woman-headed households had a significantly higher proportion of members not formally employed, compared to man-headed households, but employment status was not associated with food insecurity.ConclusionsGender of the household head was a major contributing factor to household food insecurity in Villa el Salvador. Gender dynamics affecting opportunities for employment, education, and non-remunerated work should inform national food security policies and interventions with the goal to not only lower food insecurity, but also reduce gender inequities in food insecurity and other nutritional outcomes.

Why are Children Still Working?

This study aims to determine the effect of household characteristics and children's living environment on child labor to reduce the likelihood of child labor occurrence. The data source of this research is Sakernas (Indonesian National Labor Force Survey) of August 2018, including school accreditation, household head gender, age, working sector, employment status, household size, dependency ratio, location, and school quality, towards the probability of child labor occurrence in Indonesia. Results suggest that the government must prioritize welfare programs for women household heads, asses the minimum age for marriage, improve education facilities, and increase parental awareness to eliminate child labor. The government needs to improve education infrastructure. This infrastructure improvement should be accompanied by the convenience of school access and its costs. The lack of education infrastructure, especialy in rural areas makes it difficult for children there to attend formal schooling.

Gender Analysis of Fish Production in Gambela Region, Ethiopia

Women’s access to and control over productive resources is highly constrained in most of the developing world. These constraints are usually overlooked. Gender analysis is very crucial to unpack the existing constraints and see the gap that affects technology transfer among men and women. The Objective of this study is to conduct gender analysis of capture fishery in selected woredas in Gambela region. The study was conducted in four purposively selected woredas of Anua Zone, Gambela region. Sample selection was done on household bases. Out of the 520 fisher households in the woredas, 10% of them are taken based on the minimum standard sample size requirements for social sciences. Among these, 190 were female (FHHHs) while 330 were male headed households (MHHHs). The determination of sample size is based on PPS to the size of the overall population engaged in fisheries. As a result, 19 FHHHs and 33MHHHs were included in the research. Quantitative data was collected using structured questionnaire from 52 households. In addition, a focus group discussion was made to elicit more information on gender roles and relationships. The output of the study indicated that, men in MHHHs are entirely responsible for the fishing activity. In addition, women &amp; youth in MHHHs have a significant role in maintaining the daily harvest of fish. Women in FHHHs are traditionally represented for collecting, processing, cooking and selling the catch. Though decision on selling the catch is mainly carried out by men, women were also found to have a say. Despite women’s involvement in value adding processes of capture fishery, a significant gap was observed between men and women headed households in accessing extension services. Thus, there is a significant difference in volume of fish harvested per fish type per day which was 10.5 and 7.5 kilograms per day for Male headed household and female headed household respectively. Daily fish catch of women headed household should be increased by offering improved fishing equipments. Keywords: Gender analysis, MHHHs, FHHHs, Capture fishery, Gambella region DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/12-19-03 Publication date: October 31 st 2021

Climbing up the Ladder and Watching Out for the Fall: Poverty Dynamics in Rural Bangladesh

This paper analyses poverty dynamics in rural Bangladesh using a nationally representative panel dataset of 5,020 rural households interviewed in 2011/12, 2015, and 2019. Findings show that education, savings, assets, international remittance, non-farm employment, substantial safety net transfers, and women’s empowerment are key factors in breaking chronic and transient poverty. Rural infrastructure development and market access through improved connectivity are also critical for sustained poverty alleviation. On the other hand, woman-headed households (widowed, divorced or abandoned) are found to be particularly vulnerable to impoverishments. The results are consistent across multinomial logit, simultaneous quantile regression, and panel fixed effects models. Thus, policies and programs that address the determinants of chronic and transient poverty identified in this study hold promise for sustained poverty reduction in rural Bangladesh.

DIVERSIFIKASI PEKERJAAN SEBAGAI STRATEGI BERTAHAN HIDUP RUMAH TANGGA NELAYAN DI GALESONG UTARA

This study aims to: 1) find out the opportunities for Bontolebang fishermen's households to survive, 2) find out the strategies of fishermen households to survive through job diversification. This type of research is ethnographic qualitative. Data was collected by observation, interviews, and documentation. The data analysis used is qualitative data analysis through the reduction stage, data presentation and conclusion drawing. The results showed that the strategy adopted was an adaptation strategy, and a job diversification strategy by empowering fisherwomen and women-headed households (WKRT) of fishermen, both related to fishing and outside activities. Job diversification opportunities have a dependence on nature that provides resources, so that resource potential is optimized in job diversification alternatives. The diversity of characteristics of the natural environment that each fisherman has. Fishing for fishermen's households is a speculative activity, therefore, fishermen always have an uncertain income. Women become an important part in fulfilling the needs of household life because of the system based on the division of labor. The research implication is that the government, stakeholders and other communities can work together with each other to build policies, or go directly to build fishing villages that are low-income

INFLUENCE OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE ON ABSOLUTE POVERTY AMONG WOMEN IN MADOGO WARD, TANA RIVER COUNTY, KENYA

&lt;p&gt;Gender inequality oppresses development among women and girls and is worsened by absolute poverty among women in Kenya. Poverty denies people choices and opportunities to participate in economic, political, and social activities while gender inequality denies women and girls equal opportunities as men and boys. Despite numerous interventions by the government through policies and laws gender inequality is on the rise and a great hindrance to development. Many women-headed households are not able to meet their basic needs due to inadequate income, lack of education, gender-based violence, and inaccessibility of primary health care. The objectives of this research were to analyze the influence of gender-based violence on absolute poverty among women in Madogo Ward, Tana River County. A descriptive research design and a quantitative research approach were used for the investigation to assemble the necessary quantitative information in Madogo Ward. The units of observation for this study were women who live in the Madogo Ward. The research has found out that there is a high level of absolute poverty among women with 86% of respondents living below the absolute poverty line. The results also indicated that there is a high likelihood of women to face gender-based violence in the village and at home. The research found out that many women access medical facilities but lack of medication and being unable to afford private health care leaves women without primary health care when needed. This research recommends that the government works towards addressing the high levels of gender-based violence by developing community-based protection mechanism for women and girls and provision of primary healthcare for women in Madogo Ward which would reduce the high levels of absolute poverty. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0870/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;