Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
targeting development interventions exclusively to female-headed
households is highly problematic for a number of reasons, including the
differential positions of women living in de jure and de facto
female-headed households. De jure woman-headed households (where
women are legally regarded as the head of the household due to the
death of a male partner/relative, divorce or separation) are likely to be
underrepresented in official statistics due to the fact that surveys rely
on self-reporting and women may face social stigma if they are legally
recognized as being divorced, separated, never married or widowed. De
facto women-headed households (where a husband/male relative is
absent for extended periods of time or is not considered to fulfil the role
of male breadwinner due to disability or unemployment) may in prac-
tice receive remittances from migrant husbands or other relatives. The
emphasis on household headship also ignores the financial, productive
and reproductive resources that other co-resident family members,
including children, contribute to households. Furthermore, gender dis-
crimination in resource allocation and/or gender violence within
male-headed households may be just as, if not more, detrimental to
women and children than living in a poor female-headed household.
Amartya Sen's (1987; 1999) model of household resource allocation as
characterized by 'co-operative conflict' rather than by 'altruism' and
'cohesion' is useful in understanding the complexity of intra- and
inter-household relations. Sen argues that gender divisions within the
household mean that men and women do not have the same entitle-
ments and cannot negotiate resource allocation on an equal basis, due
to differing perceptions of self-interest, self-worth and contributions to
the household that are defined by cultural norms and traditional ine-
qualities. Women with low social and economic status generally occupy
a weak bargaining position in household allocations and entitlements,
but are able to achieve a higher status through their involvement in
paid work outside the household. Women who earn an income are
regarded as making a greater contribution to the household and thus
occupy a better fall-back position should negotiations break down.
Drawing on these ideas, Naila Kabeer (1994) has pointed out that ine-
quality is not confined to the household, but is reproduced across a
range of institutions, including the state, the market, the community
and family/kinship. Kabeer's social relations framework (in which the
goal of development is human well-being) seeks to analyse gender ine-
qualities in the distribution of resources, responsibilities and power,
and to develop 'gender aware' policy and planning.
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