Transcript Who is the head of the household? Kim Robertson Human Development Programme, Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

Who is the head of the household?
Kim Robertson
Human Development Programme,
Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Presentation
Background on the SPC, PICTs
The misuse of the ‘household head’
Palau: re-defining the household head using
wage and salary income
traditional definition
a closer look at head and spouse
using all household members
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Pacific regional organisation providing training
and technical assistance from land, marine and
social resources divisions – all PICTs are
members (research a new mandate)
Recently moved to joint country programming –
5 completed in 2007 – refocusing activities on
PICT needs
SPC Pacific Women’s Bureau providing assistance
to PICTs to improve use of gender statistics
PRISM regional Internet database
www.spc.int
Pacific Island Countries and Territories
14 UN countries
1 NZ ‘affiliate’ (Tokelau)
1 UK territory
3 US territories
3 French territories
Mis-use of the household head
Not ‘true’ head of household – more like a
‘household reference person’
PICTs: culture dictates that the oldest or highest
ranking male will be the head of the household
Matrilineal societies (2 countries; other ‘islands’)
female heads normally nominate a male
son/relative to manage affairs outside ‘culture’:
husband or this person is usually the ‘survey’
household head
‘Relationship’ question not used other than for
household head identification (edited but not
used to derive family structures)
Palau – matrilineal culture
Population around 19,000.
Former US territory, independent
since 1994 (Compact of Free
Association Trust Fund, US major
donor)
Consists of more than 340 islands, of
which only 9 are inhabited (south and
north excluded from HIES because of
cost and availability of administrative
and Census data)
Relatively ‘high’ development in
terms of HDI (GDP per capita around
USD6,000, high literacy, low-ish
fertility,
high
labour
force
participation)
Sex of household head
Sex of household head
Male
Female
Total
Households
Number
3,499
1,245
4,744
Percent
74%
26%
100%
28% of households headed by females
High proportion of adults in workforce, low
subsistence activity; other significant income is
superannuation (social security)
3,838 households have income from wages or
salaries (c. 80%)
Using wages & salaries because this is related to
person number … so can analyse using other
variables such are relationship, sex and so on
‘Traditional’ definition of head
Average wage and slary income of hhold head
11,600
11,400
11,366
11,200
11,000
10,800
10,600
10,386
10,400
10,200
10,000
9,800
Male
Female
BUT we know there is a high LFPR
‘Traditional’ analysis would say that women’s
wage and salaries in households they head are
9% lower than males
‘Head and spouse’ definition of income
14,000
13,140
11,876
12,000
11,366
Female head average income
higher than males
Average household income
10,000
10,386
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Traditional
Economic A
Definition of head
Male head
Female head
When ‘head’ is defined by highest wage & salary
income of head and his or her spouse
‘All members’ definition of income
14,000
13,140
12,519
12,000
11,876
11,542
11,366
10,386
10,000
8,000
Male head
Female head
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Traditional
Economic A
Using head and spouse
only
Economic B
Using all household members
When ‘head’ is defined by highest wage & salary
income of all household members
‘All members’ definition of income
30,000
Male
Female
25,596
25,000
20,000
17,903
15,598
15,000
14,270
10,000
5,000
Traditional head
Economic head
Average household income based on ‘traditional’
and ‘all members contribution’ 40% female headed
Further work
Final edited data – ‘poverty’ datasets rather than
‘national accounts’ datasets
Derive family structures / living arrangements
Relate as many sources of income to household
members as possible
Check sampling and non-sampling errors
DEAL WITH MAJOR PROBLEMS – National
Statistics Offices do not have the capacity for
this kind of analysis and are reluctant to release
this data to researchers; Women’s focal points
probably don’t know that this kind of data /
analysis exists
Pacific Island Country and Territory
National
Statistics
Offices
Internet
websites, regional summary tables
(MDGs) can be accessed through
http://www.spc.int/prism
Population and projection information is
available from
http://www.spc.int/sdp