Poor Households Headed by Women are Increasing

The rise in the number and proportion of women among the poor is closely associated with increasing numbers of poor households headed by women. The percentage of female-headed households and of families maintained by women has risen in both developing and developed countries:

In some South and South-East Asian countries, the percentage is in the mid-teens, and in some African and Caribbean countries, this is close to half of all households:

In five of six selected Latin American countries that have compiled statistics over a period of time, the percentage of female-headed households has grown:

Female-headed households are more vulnerable to poverty A number of studies carried out in the past decade point out that female-headed households were poorer than male-headed households based on a variety of poverty indicators such as total household income, per capita household income, mean income per adult equivalence, per capita consumption of expenditures and ownership of land and assets.

The illustration in the right-hand column presents data for selected cities in Latin America:

With the exception of Bogotá, where there was a greater proportion of female-headed households in the total population than among the lower income groups, female-headed households were over-represented in the lower income groups in four other cities examined.

Female-headed households are particularly vulnerable to poverty because they often carry a higher ratio of non-income earners to income-earners than other households. Moreover, by definition, the main income-earners are women who must combine earning an income with their household responsibilities in the first place. This often means greater time and mobility constraints than male household heads. In addition, they face the same obstacles faced by most women – as compared with men:

• more limited access to the labour market,
• less chances of getting a well-paying, secure job,
• lower wage earnings, and
• more limited access to productive resources.

The latter may include a lower level of education, a narrower range of technical skills and a more precarious access to land, capital and technology.