ABSTRACT
Female-headed households have been termed single-parent families, mother-child households, matrifocal families and consanguineal households, depending initially on the conception of the term 'household' or 'family'. Using material collected in a survey of 244 low-income owner households in three irregular settlements in Queretaro, Mexico, this chapter shows how female-headed households survive in comparison with male-headed households. It presents the various reasons for the formation of single-parent units, indicating that they often result from female initiative. In Latin America and the Caribbean, there are also significant numbers of households headed by women. Studies of low-income groups in urban areas of Latin America have shown that female-headed households usually constitute between one-quarter and one-fifth of the populations therein. The chapter looks at three main questions: the differences in earnings between the household heads; the economic contributions from other household members; and the spending patterns and distribution of resources within the different family units.
