A large and growing body of scholarship has suggested that income poverty has recently decreased in post-apartheid South Africa. Evidence for an overall drop in poverty rates notwithstanding, there has been very little work which has examined the gendered nature of poverty. There have, however, been important changes over the period which might suggest that poverty trends have been gendered. On the one hand, for example, the post-apartheid period has seen the expansion of several grants to support the care-givers of children and the elderly as well as employment growth for women. On the other hand, this same period has been characterised by declining marital rates, rising rates of female unemployment, and women increasingly overrepresented in low-wage work, changes which would be expected to have negative implications for women's economic well-being. This thesis uses nationally representative household survey data from the October Household Surveys (1997 and 1999) and the General Household Surveys (2004 and 2006) to investigate gendered trends in income poverty in several different ways. It examines first, whether females are more likely to live in poor households than males, and whether this has changed over time; and second, how poverty has changed among female- and male-headed households. The thesis also considers why females and female-headed households are more vulnerable to poverty and why the poverty differential between males and females (and female- and male-headed households) may have widened over time. Given the criticism of headship based analyses of income poverty, the thesis also investigates poverty and female headship in greater detail by adopting several alternative definitions of female headship that are commonly used in the literature. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This study examines the demographic characteristics of household heads in Salt Lake City, Utah at three points in its history: 1850, 1860, and 1870. Data was compiled on population growth, nativity, sex, age, occupation, wealth, and persistence from the United States Census for those years.The data shows that between 1850 and 1870 the makeup of Salt Lake City household heads changed dramatically from predominately American-born to predominately foreign-born. This change in the nativity of household heads over time significantly influenced several demographic characteristics including the location of immigrant settlement, occupational tendencies, and a high level of stratification of real wealth.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 G74 / Master of Science

Fuelwood is a basic need for rural households in Malawi. However, deforestation has reduced the quantity of forest products such as fuelwood available to households. This has negatively affected rural Malawian quality of life, especially for women who are forced to walk long distances to collect fuelwood, prepare foods with short cooking times, or reduce the number of meals. The Malawi government has encouraged the establishment of household owned woodlots, as a part of reforestation programs, to address the supply side of the forest product scarcity. However, fuelwood supply and use is also a gender-based issue; men plant trees and make decisions over harvesting, while women gather and use fuelwood. Within the household, woodlot products also have multiple and competing uses between men and women. It is critical to examine how gender dynamics affect women's fuelwood procurement and use from the woodlot. This study investigated how gender of the household head and women's access to woodlots affects fuelwood shortage, controlling for number of trees, household size, and use of other fuels. Fifty-one female and sixty-three male-headed households with household owned woodlots were interviewed, using questionnaire and focus group interviews. Results show that one-third of both household types reported experiencing fuelwood shortages in the past year. Logistic regression indicates that gender of household head is an important factor, along with number of trees in the woodlot, in determining fuelwood sufficiency. Female-headed households were less likely to experience fuelwood shortage than male-headed households when the interaction with number of trees was included. Whether a woman in male-headed households must seek permission to harvest fuelwood, number of trees, and cooking with maize stalk were factors that predicted fuelwood shortage. Suggestions for several interventions to address fuelwood supply and access were included. Planting more trees in woodlots and use of fuelwood efficient stoves are two important strategies. It is important to address gender-specific priorities as they relate to woodlot use. This can be done through gender sensitizations that target program planners and male household heads. For successful programs, men and women should participate in both program planning and implementation. / Graduation date: 2003

A chefia feminina, presente na atualidade, remete ao crescimento da ocupação da mulher em postos antes ocupados pelos homens, culminando com a sua entrada no mercado de trabalho. Entretanto, apesar de a mulher ter alcançado visibilidade social, percebe-se ainda uma dificuldade da sociedade e da própria mulher detentora desses avanços incorporá-la ao universo feminino. Nessa perspectiva, a presente Dissertação teve como objetivo compreender o exercício da chefia materna em famílias monoparentais, que vivem em situação de vulnerabilidade social. O termo vulnerabilidade social, por ser multifacetado, devido às inúmeras situações que podem atingir indivíduos, famílias ou coletividades, é utilizado no presente estudo no sentido de englobar várias dimensões, entre as quais: a dos bens materiais, a sociodemográfica, a ambiental e a afetivo-relacional das famílias envolvidas. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida fazendo uso de uma metodologia qualitativa, com a participação de cinco mulheres, provindas de uma configuração familiar monoparental. Para a coleta dos dados, foram utilizados a entrevista semidirigida e o questionário sociodemográfico, aplicados individualmente. Os dados da entrevista foram analisados de acordo com a técnica de análise temática, proposta por Minayo, enquanto o questionário foi analisado de forma a caracterizar o perfil das mães entrevistadas. Nesse contexto, observou-se a predominância da cor negra entre as entrevistadas e uma perpetuação da configuração familiar monoparental entre elas, bem como, a importância da rede de apoio na construção dessa chefia feminina e como elas dependem desses outros autores. Como aspecto de estudo, a vulnerabilidade social foi evidenciada e vimos que a dependência por uma complementação na renda, como o Bolsa Família, fez-se presente nas cinco entrevistadas. Com isso, percebemos que as transformações ocorridas nas famílias trazem impactos significativos e que necessitam de estudos, sobretudo, junto a mulheres que têm assumido cada vez mais a chefia feminina, a fim de proporcionar reflexões sobre os papéis de homens e mulheres, delimitados pelo patriarcado e perpetuados em diversos espaços. / Female headship, currently presente, refers to the increase of women occupation in posts before occupied by men, culminated with their entrance in job market. However, dispite the woman has achieved social visibility. There is still a difficulty for society and for the woman herself - who holds these advances - to incorporate her into the feminine universe. In this perspective, this dissertation aimed to understand the exercise of maternal leadership in single-parent families, who live in situations of social vulnerability The term social vulnerability, because it is multifaceted, due to the innumerable situations that can reach individuals, families or collectivities, is used in the present study to encompass several dimensions, including: material goods, sociodemographic, environmental and Affective-relational relationship of the families involved. The research was developed using a qualitative methodology, with the participation of five women from a singleparent family configuration. To collect the data, the semi-directed interview and the sociodemographic questionnaire were used, applied individually. The interview data were analyzed according to the thematic analysis technique, proposed by Minayo, while the questionnaire was analyzed in order to characterize the profile of the mothers interviewed. In this context, we observed the predominance of the black color among the interviewees and a perpetuation of the single-parent family configuration among them, as well as the importance of the support network in the construction of this female leadership and how they depend on these other authors. As na aspect of study, social vulnerability was evidenced and we saw that the dependence for a complementation in income, such as Bolsa Família, was present in the five interviewees. With this, we realize that the transformations occurring in families bring significant impacts and that studies are required, especially, with women who have increasingly assumed the female leadership, in order to provide reflections on the roles of men and women, delimited by patriarchy and perpetuated in various spaces.

Thesis (MPhil (Industrial Psychology. Africa Centre for HIV/AIDS Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The study was about assessing the dropout rate of children who are heads of households at Mandela Village in Tshwane Municipality, Gauteng Province. Given the number of orphans who are escalating in each year as a result of HIV/AIDS pandemic especially in the Sub Saharan region, the author’s intention was to analyse what are the causes for these children to drop out from school, and what can be done to minimize the dropout rate of these children. All the participants were the children who are heads of households and residents of Mandela Village, East of Mamelodi Township, and Pretoria. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with thirty-one children who are heads of households, as well as with two educators in schools where these children are attending school or were attending school. This was followed by two focus groups with the same children. The intention of using the focus group was to investigate the issues raised during the interviews and to establish an understanding of how the children who are heads of households want to improve their own circumstances. The study findings observed that there were no strong linkages in assisting children who are heads of households between the Department of Social Development and Department of Education in the North Rand Region, Gauteng. Other findings were that the schools have no support programmes or teachers assigned to assist these children to cope with schoolwork. Due to multiplicity of responsibilities they are faced with, they are not copying with their studies.

Rapid urbanisation is one of the greatest challenges facing both developed and developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa has historically been one of the least developed and least urbanised areas of the world. However, urbanisation is now occurring much more rapidly in countries that have lower levels of per capita income. Therefore, in the coming decades, urban population growth is expected to be more widespread in the developing countries of the world. Most research on the role of natural resources focuses on rural communities and little is known about the contribution these resources make along the rural-urban continuum in small and medium sized towns as well as the contribution to total livelihoods. This is because researchers and policy makers have often treated rural and urban areas and their residents as distinct entities that should be studied in isolation. This, however, is not a true reflection of household livelihoods which often include both rural and urban elements. This study therefore analysed the impact of urbanisation on livelihoods along a rural-urban continuum with an emphasis on natural resources in South Africa. The main characteristics as well as the livelihood portfolios of respondent households were investigated. Secondly, the coping strategies used by households along the rural-urban continuum were explored, and disaggregated according to the gender of the household head. Data were collected along the rural-urban continuum of two small towns, namely Queenstown, located in the Eastern Cape province and Phalaborwa, located in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Sampling covered the town, peri-urban areas, townships and adjacent rural households. A standardised survey instrument was used to capture household details and livelihood activities and a total of 272 interviews were conducted. The rural areas near both towns were poorer than the township and urban areas with regards to assets, access to employment and annual household income across all cash and non-cash income streams. The engagement in land-based activities increased towards the rural areas. The use of natural resources, as well as the number of resources collected, increased along the continuum towards the rural areas, with 12.0% to 49.0% of urban households, 30.0% to 88.0% of township households and between 80.0% and 100.0% of rural households engaging in the use and collection of natural resources. While natural resource use and collection was lowest in the urban areas, a significant amount of resources were still collected by urban households. Income portfolios for all households were calculated to determine the direct-use value of wild natural capital to livelihoods as well as the contribution made from land (arable and livestock farming), welfare grants and employment. Employment, barring one exception in the rural areas of Phalaborwa, was the largest contributor in terms of mean annual income along the continuum in both towns, followed by grants and pensions in the township and rural areas. In Phalaborwa, however, wild natural capital was found to be the largest contributor to local livelihoods, contributing 48.0% of the mean annual income. Household portfolios become more diversified in the poorer, rural areas as well as in households headed by females. The main shocks reported along the continuum in both Queenstown and Phalaborwa were death in the family, followed by a loss of employment, which was concentrated in male-headed households. Coping strategies resulting in the attainment of cash income fast, such as borrowing money from friends/relatives and cashing in retirements savings were favoured over longer term strategies such as finding local wage employment. Female-headed households were found to rely significantly on social groups or clubs as a coping strategy, highlighting the importance of social capital and social relations in female-headed households

In recent times, the incidence of single-parent families has increased rapidly with the principle cause being the rising divorce rate. The vast majority of these single-parent families are headed by women and a predominantly common factor in these households is the extent to which they are financially impoverished after divorce. This situation has given rise to the phenomenon known as the feminisation of poverty, where women are seen to make up the majority of the poor. This study examines the many varied factors contributing to this phenomenon and discusses some of the general solutions offered world-wide to address these poverty-stricken households. An assessment is then made of those legal solutions most appropriate for South Africa / Law / LL.M.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geography. 24 March 2017 / There is substantial evidence to show that the climate has been changing on various scales across the world. The change in climate conditions has had negative impacts for developing countries, particularly poorer communities who use climate-sensitive resources such as urban agriculture which is prone to extreme weather. It is evident that urban agriculture has become a major source of income for a lot of people and its contribution to household food security is significant and in many instances it is increasing. The MSc study investigated the implications of climate variability and change on food production focusing on urban agriculture. It was also of key interest to explore the different adaptive approaches that FHH employ in reducing the impacts thereof. The approach informing the study combined two approaches; firstly, the `bottom-up' participatory research undertaken in three communities namely Inanda, Ntuzuma and Kwamashu; secondly, a rapid appraisal of policies, programs and institutions. The results were then triangulated using a micro-action planning workshop and a consultation process. A total of 84 small scale farmers who are actively involved in subsistence farming participated in the research study. From the empirical findings it is evident that climate change has manifested itself in floods and droughts and has been ranked extremely prevalent and frequent by 75% and 86% of the overall responses from the three study sites. The combination of these two extreme events has had negative impacts on food production and food accessibility. However, it has been found that FHH use asset based adaptation to modify and adjust their livelihoods as a way of coping with established threats. The eThekwini municipality has developed the Municipal Climate Change Protection Programme (eTMCCPP) with the purpose to mainstream climate change adaptation in the general city planning and development framework as well as to harmonize local urban responses to climate variability. However, only 48% of the participants have received any form of assistance and support from the Municipality. More needs to be done to help build capacity at household level and improve livelihoods of the local community particularly of Female headed households. / MT 2017

In recent times, the incidence of single-parent families has increased rapidly with the principle cause being the rising divorce rate. The vast majority of these single-parent families are headed by women and a predominantly common factor in these households is the extent to which they are financially impoverished after divorce. This situation has given rise to the phenomenon known as the feminisation of poverty, where women are seen to make up the majority of the poor. This study examines the many varied factors contributing to this phenomenon and discusses some of the general solutions offered world-wide to address these poverty-stricken households. An assessment is then made of those legal solutions most appropriate for South Africa / Law / LL.M.