Abstracts Womens Studies

Female-headed households and their homes : the case of Medellin, Colombia

by Jannette. Restrepo R.

This thesis investigates how female-headed households solve their housing needs. Housing is an important resource for them: first because women spend more time in the house and home conditions are of great concern to them because these determine the time and difficulties in fulfilling their domestic responsibilities and, second, because the home is the site of production and economic activities that help increase women's low incomes. The study is based on the analysis of different women's lives in three different neighborhoods in Medellin, Colombia. This is a qualitative study aimed at providing insight into household patterns, and determining housing alternatives. The prevalence of female-headed households varies greatly among countries, particularly in the developing regions, and, in recent years, these have emerged as the subject of social concern. As the availability of data increases it becomes clear that these households are heterogeneous and not a uniform group (as previously assumed) in terms of marital status, life cycles and socioeconomic conditions. For this reason, their heterogeneity needs to be taken into consideration in policy formulation.