Preliminary Programme

The main aim of this research is to analyze the prevalence, evolution and household structure of Latin-American economically female-headed households in Spain and how they are facing the current economic crisis. The gender composition of Latin-American migration flows and their evolution over time are highly correlated with Spanish labor market characteristics. In fact, the role of Latin-American women as pioneer migrants in Spain are highly related to the labor demand for domestic workers and care-givers, explaining the high incidence of women who are the main breadwinners of their households. Our expectation is that the increasing demand for male workers for construction and related industries during the economic boom explains the evolution towards a greater gender and occupational balance among Latin-American families. However the economic recession brought important difficulties to these families. Preliminary results suggest that unemployment is affecting men more so than women. Our hypothesis is that the current economic recession is causing an increase in female headed households in two ways. First, this increase is driven by nuclear families (couples with or without children) in which male partners become unemployed. Secondly, the increase is a result of greater number of single parent households, not only explained by single motherhood, but also as a consequence of separations, divorces, and husband’s return migration.
Using data from the Spanish Labor Force Survey (SLFS) between 2000 and 2013 we will be able to cover the beginning of the migratory boom in Spain, the economic expansion period until 2007, as well as the current economic constraints from 2008 to present. Female headed households include those households where a woman serves as the unique working member. In the first stage of the analysis, we would like to explore how these household structures are, how they change in parallel with the economic context, and which sociodemographic characteristics the women have. Additionally, we would like to understand different potential patterns by origin, especially as compared to the Spanish population. In a second stage, using the panel version of the SLFS, we will longitudinally explore transitions from husband-wife households to female single parent households to measure the impact of the economic crisis on living arrangements of Latin-American households.
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Female heads of household were listed in most existing household register of late Jeseon Dynasty in South Korea. The fact, which female was recorded as the representative of household in national archives, could raise a question when concerned to the general understanding of the characteristic of that period.
Normally, it is perceived that the ideology of patriarchy became strengthened during Jeseon Dynasty. And this comprehension is regarded conflict with the existence of female household heads. In other words, the fact that female was recorded as the representative of household in national archives, is considered as evidence to prove relatively high social status of female in late Jeseon Dynasty.
But it is still a matter of debate if we discuss female’s social status without looking at the background of recording female heads in household register as well as the feature. So this study will study into the background of how female could be recorded as a head in the national archives while the reality is that the ideology of patriarchy became strengthened.
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Until recent times, only widows and sometimes singles women were to become head of households, while married women in general were an integral part of the household, headed by their husbands. However outliving a husband, living alone, as a widow or as an unmarried woman, certainly did not represent a privileged position in the preindustrial or agricultural word. To be the head of a household - after the dead of the man of the house - very often meant having to do with the harsh reality and cruel struggle of supporting a family, with several mouths to feed. During the ancient regime, a large amount of women was left as widows with small children to raise. The percentages of women who never married were even larger; so much so, in fact, that we in certain areas may estimate that as many as one in five was destined to remain alone, without the possibility of sharing her life with a husband or children. These could be particularly problematic for a society in which a woman’s identity was based on her civil status: first as a daughter, and then as a wife.

This paper seeks to deepen our understanding of the state of widows and other single women (divorced or abandoned) that for some reason or another were to become the head of a household, in a comparative perspective. In particular the paper aims in this respect at examining the incidence and number of unattached women in the population as a whole, the types of domestic aggregates in which they lived, as well as the ages and number of their children. The areas that will be compared in our study are Italy and Spain and, in this respect, in particular two rural areas of, respectively, Albacete (Castilla-Mancha) and Oristano (Sardinia). The period of interest of the study is the Nineteenth century.
Some questions that will be sought answered in the study are: How did widows and single women organize their own lives and that of the family unit after they were left alone? How were they considered within their society, and what was their role? Can we maintain that the survival of these women was different in the two countries; or did the widows of Sardinia share the same destinies and inconveniences as their Spanish counterpart?
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Major issues like increasing women empowerment and reducing poverty of female headed households are related to our knowledge of their socio-demographic characteristics: age, education, employment status, income, household structure, etc. But, data on household heads from censuses or surveys do not capture large numbers of females who are heads of families and not household heads. This type of situation frequently occurs in developing countries. It was also frequent in Europe a few decades or centuries ago and may now be increasing due to higher unemployment following the economic crisis.

Young mothers, divorced and widowed women with low or no income often live with relatives in complex or multi-generational households. Therefore, the analysis of female headed household does not include many women with children who cannot afford to live on their own. Households headed by young and adult women represent selected populations based on employment and income. However, they also include mothers with little resources who want to have own dwelling or have been rejected by their families and live in poverty. But, the latter are only the tip of the iceberg.

We shall use data from the 2003 Fiji HIES and 2005 Kiribati census. First, we shall develop a methodology to estimate headship rates, defined as the proportion of females who are household heads among divorced, widowed and single women with children. Then, we shall use information on household structure and income to define profiles of female headed households by socio-economic status. We shall also analyze the socio-economic characteristics of adult women who are not heads of household. These methods can be replicated with any census or survey providing information at individual and household levels.

Female headed household consisting of one or several single women with high education and without children, employed single or divorced women with no or only one or two children are typical of well-off female headed households. On the contrary, lone mothers with several children and poor widows live often in poverty or stay with relatives in extended/multigenerational households. The latter are much more frequent in rural areas where there are not many jobs available for women, and among recent rural-urban migrant females, because they often live – temporarily – with relatives before being able to afford independent housing.
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