ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on households in Middle America, with particular emphasis on the role of gender in explaining contemporary diversity in household composition, headship and organisation. It describes the key patterns and trends in household structure in different parts of Middle America and identifies the major economic, social and demographic factors bearing upon household form, organisation and dynamics. Particular reference is made to divisions of labour, power and resources, the construction of familial gender identities, and the manner in which recent changes in gender roles and relations are serving to erode in principle, if not always in practice, the idealised norm of a 'traditional' patriarchal family unit. Another influence identified as important in reducing household size is the growth in number of single-parent families. The chapter examines policy responses of state and civil society organisations to changing household realities, including social programmes and poverty alleviation initiatives.
