IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v7y2023i5p1264-1277.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Women-Headed Households: Diversity and Dynamics in Post-Conflict Settings in South Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Arun Jentrick

    (Department Gender, Sexuality and Women Studies, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.)

Abstract

Women-headed households have been reported to be emerging more than ever before in both developing and developed countries due to many reasons, from different factors affecting households in a country to regional and global determinants. This paper unpacks the diversity and dynamics of women-headed households in post-conflict contexts in South Asian countries, with a focus on Sri Lanka and Nepal using a feminist approach. Women-headed households have been reported to face higher levels of poverty than male-headed households in South Asia. There are compelling reasons to anticipate that a group of people who already experience social inequality because of their gender might also experience economic hardship. This paper discusses the challenges women face when heading households, their vulnerabilities, as well as their methods of overcoming the challenges as they take up household responsibilities in the absence of men. This paper also gives accounts of women heading households from their perspectives on how they manage the day-to-day running of the household and the challenges they face in a post-conflict setting. It concludes that the emergence of women-headed households are not only the result of conflict and that they are not a temporary aberration. The paper highlights the need to understand women-headed households in their unique settings, considering many factors that could influence their socioeconomic behaviour. Many of the household surveys fall short of analyzing the complexities associated with women-headed households and fail to identify uniqueness. Therefore, this paper argues the need for qualitative ethnographic data to understand the complexities of women-headed households. Ethnicity and cultural backgrounds need to be considered when analysing data on women-headed households as their dealings and experiences differ in the way these factors play in. This paper also emphasises the need for development practitioners to pay attention to the prevailing understandings of household headship and agency when devising policies to assist women-headed households.

Suggested Citation

  • Arun Jentrick, 2023. "Women-Headed Households: Diversity and Dynamics in Post-Conflict Settings in South Asia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(5), pages 1264-1277, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:7:y:2023:i:5:p:1264-1277
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-7-issue-5/1264-1277.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/women-headed-households-diversity-and-dynamics-in-post-conflict-settings-in-south-asia/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maneka Jayasinghe & Christine Smith, 2021. "Poverty Implications of Household Headship and Food Consumption Economies of Scales: A Case Study from Sri Lanka," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 157-185, May.
    2. Smita Ramnarain, 2016. "Unpacking Widow Headship and Agency in Post-Conflict Nepal," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 80-105, January.
    3. Kanchana N. Ruwanpura, 2007. "Shifting theories: partial perspectives on the household," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(4), pages 525-538, July.
    4. Kanchana Ruwanpura & Jane Humphries, 2004. "Mundane Heroines: Conflict, Ethnicity, Gender, And Female Headship In Eastern Sri Lanka," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 173-205.
    5. Tilman Bruck & Kati Schindler, 2009. "The Impact of Violent Conflicts on Households: What Do We Know and What Should We Know about War Widows?," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 289-309.
    6. Naila Kabeer & Ayesha Khan, 2014. "Cultural Values or Universal Rights? Women's Narratives of Compliance and Contestation in Urban Afghanistan," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 1-24, July.
    7. Varley, Ann, 1996. "Women heading households: Some more equal than others?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 505-520, March.
    8. Buvinic, Mayra & Gupta, Geeta Rao, 1997. "Female-Headed Households and Female-Maintained Families: Are They Worth Targeting to Reduce Poverty in Developing Countries?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(2), pages 259-280, January.
    9. Maneka Jayasinghe, 2019. "Dynamic trends in household poverty and inequality in Sri Lanka: do gender and ethnicity matter?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 208-223, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maneka Jayasinghe & Christine Smith, 2021. "Poverty Implications of Household Headship and Food Consumption Economies of Scales: A Case Study from Sri Lanka," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 157-185, May.
    2. Jayasinghe, Maneka & Best, Rohan & Selvanathan, E.A. & Selvanathan, Saroja, 2025. "Towards a just transition: Unpacking the gender differences in household cleaner energy use," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Annamaria Milazzo & Dominique Walle, 2017. "Women Left Behind? Poverty and Headship in Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 1119-1145, June.
    4. Lucia Hanmer & Eliana Rubiano & Julieth Santamaria & Diana J. Arango, 2020. "How does poverty differ among refugees? Taking a gender lens to the data on Syrian refugees in Jordan," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 208-242, July.
    5. Jayasinghe, Maneka & Selvanathan, E.A. & Selvanathan, Saroja, 2021. "Energy poverty in Sri Lanka," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    6. Kabeya Clement Mulamba, 2022. "Relationship between households’ share of food expenditure and income across South African districts: a multilevel regression analysis," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. repec:rza:wpaper:288 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Michael Rogan, 2013. "Poverty and Headship in Post-apartheid South Africa, 1997–2006," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 491-511, August.
    9. Hanmer,Lucia C. & Rubiano Matulevich,Eliana Carolina & Santamaria,Julieth, 2021. "Differences in Household Composition : Hidden Dimensions of Poverty and Displacement in Somalia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9818, The World Bank.
    10. Rai, Shirin M. & Brown, Benjamin D. & Ruwanpura, Kanchana N., 2019. "SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth – A gendered analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 368-380.
    11. van de Walle, Dominique, 2011. "Lasting welfare effects of widowhood in a poor country," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5734, The World Bank.
    12. Maria Sassi, 2020. "A SEM Approach to the Direct and Indirect Links between WaSH Services and Access to Food in Countries in Protracted Crises: The Case of Western Bahr-el-Ghazal State, South Sudan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-13, November.
    13. Alkire, Sabina & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Seymour, Greg & Vaz, Ana, 2013. "The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-91.
    14. Braun, Sebastian T. & Stuhler, Jan, 2024. "The economic consequences of being widowed by war: A life-cycle perspective," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    15. Malapit, Hazel Jean L. & Sproule, Kathryn & Kovarik, Chiara, 2017. "Using cognitive interviewing to improve the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index survey instruments: Evidence from Bangladesh and Uganda," Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender), Africa Centre for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment, vol. 2(02), April.
    16. Oginni, Ayodeji & Ahonsi, Babatunde & Ukwuije, Francis, 2013. "Are female-headed households typically poorer than male-headed households in Nigeria?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 132-137.
    17. Medeiros, Marcelo & Costa, Joana, 2008. "Is There a Feminization of Poverty in Latin America?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 115-127, January.
    18. J. Devika, 2019. "Women’s Labour, Patriarchy and Feminism in Twenty-first Century Kerala: Reflections on the Glocal Present," Review of Development and Change, , vol. 24(1), pages 79-99, June.
    19. Selvanathan, Saroja & Selvanathan, E.A. & Jayasinghe, Maneka, 2021. "A new approach to analyse conditional demand: An application to Australian energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    20. Patricia Justino & Olga Shemyakina, 2012. "Remittances and labor supply in post-conflict Tajikistan," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-28, December.
    21. Sumon Kumar Bhaumik & Ira N. Gang & Myeong-Su Yun, 2008. "Gender and Ethnicity in Post-Conflict Kosovo," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-43, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:7:y:2023:i:5:p:1264-1277. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.