Women Left Behind? : Poverty and Headship in Africa

Milazzo, Annamaria ; van de Walle, Dominique

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: SANITATION;    LIVING STANDARDS;    PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION;    FEMALE EDUCATION;    HOUSEHOLD SURVEY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7331
RP-ID  :  WPS7331

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper is motivated by two stylizedfacts about poverty in Africa: female-headed households tendto be poorer, and poverty has been falling in the aggregatesince the 1990s.These facts raise two questions: How havefemale-headed households fared? And what role have theyplayed in Africas impressive recent aggregate growth andpoverty reduction? Using data covering the entire region,the paper reexamines the current prevalence andcharacteristics of female-headed households, and askswhether their prevalence has been rising over time, whatfactors have been associated with such changes since themid-1990s, and whether poverty has fallenequi-proportionately for male- and female-headed households.Rising gross domestic product has dampened rising femaleheadship. However, other subtle transformations occurringacross Africa—changes in marriage behavior, familyformation, health, and education—have put upward pressure onfemale headship, with the result that the share offemale-headed households has been growing. This has beenhappening alongside declining aggregate poverty incidence.However, rather than being left behind, female-headedhouseholds have generally seen faster poverty reduction. Asa whole, this group has contributed almost as much to thereduction in poverty as male-headed households, despite thesmaller share of female-headed households in the population.