Female-headed households are often quoted as one of the most vulnerable groups, and are
targeted in development assistance. IFAD has identified female-headed households as
one of the poorest (IFAD website). They are categorized to be vulnerable because they
often lack labor power, and depend only on women’s income, which is normally
disadvantaged in the labor market. They often are perceived to have less assets because
women generally have less access to resources.
In Cambodia, since the Socialist regime, the government has shown concerns for femaleheaded
households and targeted them for welfare assistance. However, at the same time,
like in many other countries, there have been recognitions that not all female-headed
households are the poorest, and there are heterogeneities among the female-headed
households, so much so that it does not make the category viable. It is not possible to
conclude that the female-headed households are categorically the poorest or the betteroff.
The concept of female-headed households suffer from definitional problems. This
paper summarizes the debate on female-headed households, and attempts to clarify the
linkages between the vulnerability and female-headed households by using a case of
Cambodia.