A Comparison of Female- and Male-headed Households in Tanzania and Poverty Implications

Female- and male-headed households were compared using data from a Demographic and Health Survey conducted in Tanzania in 1996. Chi-squared tests showed that sex of head of household was highly significantly associated with: residence, household size and composition, radio ownership, having enough food to eat, and age and marital status of head of household. An analysis by the logit regression model showed that female-headed households were more likely than male-headed households to be in rural areas, be small, have fewer men, not have radios and not have enough food to eat. The majority of female heads of households were unmarried and older than male heads of households. The implication is that female-headed households are poorer than male-headed households.