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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Women-Headed Households and Development: The Relevance of Cross-Cultural Models for Research on Black Women in Southern Africa
Author:Preston-Whyte, Eleanor M.ISNI
Year:1988
Periodical:Africanus
Volume:18
Issue:1-2
Pages:58-76
Language:English
Geographic term:Southern Africa
Subjects:female-headed households
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Women's Issues
Bibliography/Research
Development and Technology
Cultural Roles
Family Life
Sex Roles
research
Abstract:This article starts by defining the terms 'family' and 'household', and explaining the distinction between de facto and de jure household heads. Considering the cross-cultural literature, it then turns to what appear to be three distinct types of women-headed or women-focused households, for the purposes of this paper elevated to the status of models. These are the matrifocal model (households in which women who have usually reached middle age and are supported by adult sons, control the household in economic and decisionmaking terms), the consanguineal model (households where affinal ties have been replaced by blood ties or consanguinity), and the kindred cluster model (a kinship network model that emerges in times of poverty and insecurity, and sees changing family and household structures as strategies for survival). To study women-headed households in southern Africa the consanguineal model seems to be the most useful. Bibliogr., notes.
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