Female-Headed Poverty in Senegal: A Mixed Methods Study

Quantitative studies of female-headed household (FHH) poverty in Senegal suggest that they are less poor, in contrast to the common perception that FHH in Africa are poorer. We undertook qualitative research in the field to find a far more nuanced picture. We find that the determination of “poor” or “non-poor” will differ depending on the definition of headship used in the data collection and analysis. For polygamous FHHs, quantitative approaches find them to be non-poor, while qualitative research finds them to be poor. The poverty status of FHHs has important implications for effective social and anti-poverty policy.