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Antwort in : /alt/activism/d Absender : papadop@peak.org (MichaelP) Betreff : Woman-headed households -elderly women not visible Datum : Mo 17.08.98, 18:55 (erhalten: 19.08.98) Groesse : 5095 Bytes ----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is from the ID21 Development Research reporting service. URL: http://www.ids.ac.uk/id21/
Woman-headed households: how misleading stereotypes make elderly women invisible
A widely accepted axiom holds that women head one-third of the world's households. These women tend to be characterised as single mothers with young children. But such assertions are not borne out by statistical evidence. Nor are even higher figures that emerge from debate over how many family breadwinners are women. A recent analysis of global statistics and evidence from Latin America by a University College London researcher challenges the stereotypes behind these figures. Far from dispelling gender bias, they can contribute to the marginalisation and exclusion from social provision of those women who are not breadwinners, such as women supported by a husband or relative. In particular, they can mislead policymakers into overlooking the needs of elderly women, by focusing too narrowly on the needs of lone female parents and breadwinners.
The first United Nations conference on women in 1975 marked the public debut of the pronouncement that one-third of the world's households are headed by women. This figure was not supported by the available statistics nor by subsequent studies. Aggregate figures published more recently by the UN fail to account for variation in the size of national populations. When different population sizes are allowed for the figure for Latin America and the Caribbean falls from almost one in three to less than one in five households. Globally, one in five households was recorded as headed by a woman, and one in six in developing countries.
The higher (one in three) figure has nonetheless slipped sidelong into discussions about households maintained by a woman. Repeated and inaccurate citation has led to wild claims, for example, that one in three households have a woman as their only breadwinner. Concern about the definition of headship extends, however, beyond the figures produced. Further thought needs to be given to the implications of using economic criteria - such as an individual's material contribution to household welfare - to define headship. The UCL study revealed that in Mexico, Brazil and Peru:
* the average age of women reported as heading households is 50 years or more * many female household heads are not the main breadwinner * woman-headed households are more likely to be extended, as married sons or daughters remain with their mother and support her economically * women heading extended households are less likely than other female heads to be economically active * older women or men are often recognised as head of household by others even when economically inactive.
Questionable, too, are arguments to the effect that young single mothers living with their parents form 'concealed' households because they are responsible for supporting their children. They illustrate a tendency in development research and planning to treat households headed by women as single mothers with young or dependent children, and to assume that the mothers are always responsible for supporting their children. In practice, women heading households are a much more diverse group. It is unwise to base policy assumptions about woman-headed households on exaggerated statistics or stereotypes that suggest otherwise. Some more specific policy lessons arising from the study are that:
* policies for woman-headed households should not be based on misleading stereotypes * enabling single mothers living with their parents to become independent can have disadvantages, and the balance of advantage should be considered * emphasising economic criteria for household headship neglects elderly women supported by other members * policymakers should consider the welfare of older people living with married sons or daughters, since well-being is not guaranteed by any given residential arrangement.
Researcher(s): Ann Varley
Source(s): `Women heading households: some more equal than others?` A. Varley, World Development, 24, 3, 505-520 (1996) . Las Familias Mexicanas. INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estad stica, Geograf a e Inform tica), Aguascalientes, Mexico (1998) .
Funded by: NA
Date: 10 August 1998
Further information: Ann Varley Department of Geography University College London 26 Bedford Way London WC1H 0AP UK Tel: +44 (0)171 504 5519 Fax: +44 (0)171 380 7565 Email: a.varley@geog.ucl.ac.uk Geography Dept, University College London [LINK]
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