women-headed households

women-headed households

HOUSEHOLDS headed by women rather than men. The term has been used especially in connection with Third World and peasant economies where the norm is PATRIARCHY. Here the presence of such atypical households is liable to present special problems of poverty and disadvantage (e.g. Kumari, 1989). The sources of women-headed households include widowhood, desertion and divorce, and economic migration of the male partner.