Children in female household headship in Brazil: are they more vulnerable?

Bila Sorj, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ
Adriana Fontes, Instituto de Estudos do Trabalho e Sociedade

As the range of family configurations has become progressively diversified, in Brazil, public discourse has been consolidating with regard to the establishment of causal links among family structure, poverty and the vulnerability of children. In this context, female-headed households have become viewed as responsible for the intergenerational transmission of poverty that affects childrens’ opportunities in life. In this article, we query as to whether children from poor families headed by women are really more vulnerable compared to those in the male headed arrangements. We apply well-being indicators to compare two types of poor family that possess dependent children (under 15 years old), female headship and two parents families headed by man. The well-being will be measured by means of indicators of living conditions, education and child work, as well as via the traditional income approach.