ABSTRACT
Female-headed households around the world differ considerably with respect to the nature of female headship and the routes through which they become female headed. Widowhood occurs at both younger and older ages and is often an important cause of female headship. Single parenthood through divorce or out-of-wedlock birth plays an important part in creating female-headed households in some parts of the world, but the role of these factors is less important in other areas. Poverty and low employment opportunities are often associated with high incidence of consensual unions, which are more likely to dissolve than formal marriages. Much of the research on the consequences for children of living in female-headed households has focused on economic disadvantages rather than on other social consequences of living in male-absent families. A relatively small number of studies has directly linked the gender of the household head to children's educational outcomes.
