Female-headed households and female-maintained families: Are they worth targeting to reduce poverty in developing countries?

• Published in: Economic development and cultural change Vol. 45; no. 2; p. 259
• Main Authors: Buvinic, Mayra, Gupta, Geeta Rao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago University of Chicago, acting through its Press 01.01.1997
• Subjects: Debates; Developing countries; Disadvantaged; Economics; Experience; Families & family life; Female headed households; Females; Headship; Households; International; LDCs; Low income groups; Poverty; Sex discrimination; Single mothers; Single parents; Statistical analysis; Studies; Welfare economics; Women; Chile
• ISSN: 0013-0079; 1539-2988
• DOI: 10.1086/452273

The subject of targeting public- and private-sector programs to female-headed households in developing countries in order to attack poverty and social disadvantage is controversial and lacking in rigorous evidence. One argument is that women who head households are worthy of special attention because they are triply disadvantages: they experience the burdens of poverty, gender discrimination, and absence of support as heads of household. The opposite argument is that female headship should not be used as the main targeting criterion because female headship is not always correlated with poverty, there are practical differences in identifying de facto headship, and there may be perverse incentive effects as a result of targeting benefits or services to single mothers - that is, it may promote rather than discourage single motherhood. An analysis of government project experience is used with a review of the empirical evidence to answer the question of the desirability and efficiency of targeting female headship to reduce poverty in developing countries.